SG Bank Loan

A small loan is not a small version of a big loan.

Facility fees usually have a minimum. Once your loan is small enough that the minimum bites instead of the percentage, you are paying a fixed cost out of a smaller sum, and the real rate climbs fast. This is the part of a quote that nobody points at.


The fee stops being a percentage belowS$33,333

Because 1.5% of S$33,333 is exactly S$500. Borrow less than that and the minimum governs, so the fee stops shrinking with the loan.

True annualised cost by loan size, at the rate and tenure entered above
AmountFeeYou receiveReal cost

The counterintuitive half

Above the threshold, the real cost stops depending on how much you borrow. A percentage fee scales with the loan, so the rate you truly pay on S$200,000 is the same as on S$1,000,000. All the damage from a minimum fee lands on the smallest borrowers, which is usually whoever can least afford it.

What this does and does not tell you

It tells you the arithmetic of one published fee structure. It does not tell you what any bank will offer you, and we are not suggesting one lender over another. Fee structures differ, some are negotiable, and a fee is only one line of an offer. The point is narrower than advice: ask what the fee is and whether it has a minimum, before you compare two quotes on their headline rates.