Part 9 loans for apprentices
7 min read
This is the hardest combination on the site, and pretending otherwise would waste your time. An apprentice wage is low by design, a debt agreement narrows the lender panel, and you need a car to get to a job that is the entire point of the exercise. There are still ways through, but which one applies depends heavily on what year you are in and who is around you.
What your stress is saying
“I'm 20 and already in a debt agreement. Nobody's going to touch me.”
What's actually true
The agreement will be gone before your trade is.
What your stress is saying
“Asking my parents to go guarantor means telling them everything.”
What's actually true
A guarantor is one option of several, and not always the right one.
What a lender sees when they read an apprentice payslip
Apprentice wages are set as a percentage of the qualified tradesperson rate under the relevant award, stepping up each year of the apprenticeship. A first-year rate sits well below what the same award pays a qualified worker; by third and fourth year the gap has closed substantially.
Lenders assess the rate you are on today, not the one your training contract says you will be on in eighteen months. That is worth knowing because it is the single most common source of frustration here, the progression is documented, it is contractual, and it still generally will not be counted.
Adult apprentices are treated differently and usually better, because adult apprentice minimum rates are higher. If you started your apprenticeship after a previous career, say so early rather than letting the assessment default to a junior rate.
The thing that works in your favour, which most apprentices underplay
Your training contract is registered with your state or territory training authority. It is a formal, verifiable document that says a named employer has committed to employing and training you for a defined period. Very few borrowers on a low income can produce anything that solid about their next two years.
Living arrangements matter more here than at any other income level. Lenders assess your expenses against benchmark minimums as well as your declared figures, and an apprentice living at home with low board has genuinely more capacity than the same wage paying full market rent. It feels like a small detail. On an apprentice wage it can be the difference between an approval and a decline.
Guarantors: how they actually work, and what to weigh up
For apprentices, a guarantor, usually a parent, is the most common route to an approval that would otherwise not happen. The guarantor agrees to be liable for the loan if you cannot pay it. That is the whole mechanism, and it is not a formality.
Two things are worth being clear-eyed about. First, if you default, the lender can pursue them, and it can affect their own credit and borrowing capacity in the meantime. Second, a guarantor does not erase your debt agreement. It addresses capacity, not conduct, and a lender with a blanket policy against active agreements will still say no.
If someone is considering going guarantor for you, they are entitled to independent legal advice before signing, and a good lender will insist on it. Take that seriously rather than treating it as a delay.
When 'wait' is the honest answer
Sometimes the arithmetic does not work, and being told that plainly is more useful than a polite decline. A first-year apprentice, in an active debt agreement, renting privately, with no guarantor, asking for a large loan, is a combination that very few lenders will write no matter who asks on your behalf.
That is not a permanent state. Three things change it, and at least two of them will happen on their own: your wage steps up each year, your agreement moves toward completion, and every month of clean conduct since it started strengthens your file. Coming back at third year with a completed agreement is a completely different application.
If that is where you land, ask for a specific month to come back rather than a vague 'later'. It is a reasonable thing to ask for and it makes the wait a plan instead of a rejection.
Keeping the loan small enough to actually get written
The instinct is to borrow for the car you want to end up with. On an apprentice wage inside a debt agreement, the approvable loan is usually a smaller, older, cheaper vehicle than the one you had in mind, and the gap between what you can borrow now and in two years is large.
A practical framing: what is the cheapest reliable vehicle that gets you to site every day for the next two years? That is the loan most likely to be approved, most likely to be affordable, and least likely to put you back where you started.
The rule most people find out too late
Above $7,457, you must tell the lender you're in a debt agreement
Under section 269 of the Bankruptcy Act 1966, while you are in a debt agreement you must disclose that fact before obtaining credit above $7,457. This is not a lender policy or a preference. Failing to do it is a criminal offence and serious penalties apply.
In practice it is paperwork rather than an obstacle. A lender who writes in this space expects it and it does not, by itself, cause a decline. The risk is not the disclosure. It is going to a lender who never asks, never records it, and leaves you exposed. We raise it as a matter of course.
Figures current at 17 August 2026. AFSA reindexes 20 March and 20 September. Source: AFSA indexed amounts.
During, just after, or well after: three different answers
Where you sit relative to your agreement changes the lender panel more than anything else about you. Whatever your occupation, this is the shape of it:
- Still in the agreementThe smallest panel. A handful of specialist lenders write here, and they want agreement payments up to date, no new defaults since it started, and stable income. The s269 disclosure applies above $7,457.
- Recently completedA noticeably wider panel, and the moment most worth checking. It is common for someone declined a year earlier to be approved shortly after completion with nothing else in their life having changed. Make sure the completion is formally recorded before applying.
- Completed more than 12 months agoWider again, with better pricing available. The agreement may still appear on your credit file. AFSA's guidance is up to five years, and longer in some cases. A year of clean conduct behind you changes how it is read.
What this site does, and what nobody here can do
This site can
- Explain how lenders read a debt agreement
- Pass your enquiry to Simple Loans, who arrange the finance
- Tell you plainly when the answer is “not yet”
Nobody here can
- Provide credit, or credit assistance, from this website
- Advise you to enter, change or end an agreement
- Negotiate with your creditors or administrator
- Remove or dispute anything on your credit file
This website provides information only. Advising on an agreement, negotiating with creditors and fixing credit files are debt management services, which require a credit licence authorisation Simple Loans does not hold. For help with the agreement itself, speak to your registered administrator, or the National Debt Helpline on 1800 007 007 which is free, independent, and not selling anything. There is also a plain-English explainer here.
Worth thinking about before you call anyone
What year of your apprenticeship are you in, and when does it finish?
This sets both your current rate and how long until the picture changes on its own.
Are you living at home, sharing, or renting on your own?
At this income level it moves the assessment more than almost anything else.
How are you getting to site at the moment, and what is that costing you in money or hours?
What is the cheapest vehicle that would genuinely do the job for the next two years?
Not the one you want at the end of your trade. The one that gets you there.
No one is going to ask you these on a call to catch you out. They're here because the answers are yours, and they're the same ones a broker needs before they can tell you anything useful.
Apprentices: common questions
Can an apprentice in a Part 9 debt agreement get a car loan?
It is difficult but not impossible, and it depends heavily on the specifics. A later-year or adult apprentice, with agreement payments up to date, no new defaults, low living costs and a modest secured loan has a genuine chance. A first-year apprentice renting privately with an active agreement and no guarantor usually does not, and in that case the useful answer is a date to come back rather than an application.
Will a lender count the pay rises in my training contract?
Generally no. Lenders assess your current rate, even where the increase is contractual and documented. The exception is that if your rate steps up before settlement, an updated payslip is worth providing. It is the most common frustration for apprentices and it is worth knowing up front rather than being surprised by it.
Do I need a guarantor?
Not always, but it is the most common route to approval for apprentices. A guarantor is legally liable for the loan if you cannot pay, so it is a significant thing to ask of someone and they should get independent legal advice first. A guarantor addresses borrowing capacity, not credit conduct, so a lender that refuses to write during an active debt agreement will still refuse with one.
Does an apprenticeship support loan from the government count as debt?
Yes. Government apprenticeship support loans are a debt and will generally be visible and assessed as a commitment, in the same way a HELP debt is. It does not disqualify you. It just reduces the amount available, so it is better raised early than discovered late.
Find out where you actually stand
Nine questions, about two minutes, no credit check. You'll get a straight answer, including “not yet, come back in six months” if that's the honest one.