Questions and answers about loans and consumer credits

You can apply for a home loan by filling in our online application. Once you have sent us your home loan application, we will invite you to a loan negotiation.

After the loan negotiation, you will receive a preliminary loan offer from us with detailed information on the loan amount and the margin. 

If you apply for a preliminary loan offer, you have no obligation to take out a loan from us.

How to apply for a home loan

If you are a first-time home buyer, you will need to have saved at least 5% of the cost of the home you’d like to buy. Other buyers need to have saved 10% of the cost of the home.

The maximum home loan amount you may be granted is determined by a loan cap set by the Finnish authorities. For a first-time home buyer, it may be no more than 95% of the value of the collateral provided for the loan and for other buyers no more than 90%.

The standard collateral value of a home is 75% of the purchase price. This means that if the loan amount exceeds 75% of the value of the home, you need to provide additional collateral or have more savings. 

If you don’t have enough savings or additional collateral, you can purchase an OwnGuarantee from Nordea.

Read more about collateral for a home loan

Read more about the self-financing share and the loan cap

The easiest way to change the monthly payment of a home loan is to use our free FlexiPayment feature. It allows you to decrease or increase your monthly payment in Nordea Mobile or Netbank whenever you want without asking us first.

If your home loan doesn’t include FlexiPayment yet or if you want to adjust your monthly payment permanently, you can apply for a change to your repayment schedule online.

Note that FlexiPayment is not available for loans that have a state guarantee, an interest subsidy or a fixed interest rate.

See how to use FlexiPayment

You can apply for changes to your home loan repayment schedule in Nordea Mobile or Netbank under Manage loan.

You can apply for changes to your loan’s payment date or repayment method, for example. If your loan doesn’t include FlexiPayment yet, you can also apply for it or an instalment-free period.

Read more about changes to the repayment schedule

At the start of the home loan application, select that there are two people applying for the loan. Both applicants must confirm their personal details by authenticating themselves.

The application will guide you and your co-applicant to fill in the required information in the correct order. Before the application can be submitted to us, both applicants must review and confirm the application details. ​

We will begin processing the home loan application once both applicants have confirmed it.

Read more about joint home loans

As a Nordea customer, you can apply for a FlexiCredit of 2,000–50,000 euros for up to 8 years to meet your various needs. You can apply for FlexiCredit easily online. 

Secured consumer credit, in turn, is a way to finance the larger purchases in life. It can be a solution for you when you need to borrow more than 15,000 euros and you have collateral to back the loan. You can apply for a secured loan in the Nordea Netbank and Nordea Mobile.

Explore your loan options.

We process loan applications in the order we receive them. The processing times for home loans and secured consumer loans is generally 3 banking days. We will contact you once we have processed your application. 

In most cases, you will be given a decision on your FlexiCredit application instantly, but sometimes it may take a few days at the most. If granted, the FlexiCredit will be paid to your account immediately after our decision (Mon–Sun 7.00–22.30) and the credit agreement will be sent to you in Nordea Mobile and Netbank. You can find it in your documents by going to Profile > Documents > Sign agreements and documents > Open documents for signing. 

If we need additional information, we will contact you. If you wish to consolidate loans or transfer loans to Nordea, or if there is more than one debtor in the loan, we will always call you before giving you a loan decision.  

If we are unable to grant the loan, we will notify you of our decision with a message in Nordea Mobile and Netbank. You can find the message under the Help tab. 

To be eligible for a loan, you need to have sufficient regular income to cover your loan repayments, a good repayment history from previous loans and a clean credit record. In general, regular income includes salary and pension income.

To be eligible for secured consumer credit, you also need to mainly bank with us and have collateral to back the loan.

We will make the credit decision based on your application, taking into account all the information you have provided. We use this information to make an overall assessment of your eligibility.  

If you have FlexiCredit, you can make changes to your loan in Nordea Mobile under Overview -> Loans. Open the details of your FlexiCredit and select ‘Apply for changes’. You can edit your FlexiCredit settings, including the instalment-free months, payment date and instalment amount. If you want to repay some extra or pay off your loan in full, you can do this using the account number and reference number on your previous invoices. 

Please note that the instalment-free months cannot be consecutive months. The minimum monthly instalment is 2%. 

Please make sure you have updated your Nordea Mobile app to the latest version to enjoy all the new features. 

The changes are free of charge except if you want to reduce your instalment percentage, which is subject to the fee stated in our tariff.

If you have secured consumer credit, you can make changes to your credit in Nordea Netbank or Nordea Mobile. Simply open your credit details and apply for changes.

See the fees we change for changes to secured consumer credit

Here’s how you can increase the amount of your FlexiCredit:

• In Nordea Netbank, go to Loans > Apply for FlexiCredit > Raise your credit amount.
• In Nordea Mobile, go to Overview > Services > Loans > FlexiCredit > Apply for FlexiCredit > Increase existing FlexiCredit.
• Alternatively, you can contact our Customer Service.

Apply for an increase to your FlexiCredit

You must submit a new application in Nordea Netbank or Nordea Mobile every time you want to increase your secured consumer credit. Apply for a secured consumer credit

If you have outstanding FlexiCredit, you can repay it in full or partially using the reference number and account number on your latest invoice. If you choose to repay your outstanding loan in full, you will receive one final invoice including the remaining interest and fees to be paid. 

If you have outstanding secured consumer credit, you can repay it in full by calling us on 0200 70 000 or contacting us via chat.

FlexiPayment is a free-of-charge feature included in Nordea’s loans which allows you to decrease or increase the amount of your loan instalment or skip it entirely (you still have to pay interest and fees, though). For example, you can halve the instalment, in which case you will continue to repay your loan, or alternatively pay only interest and fees.

An instalment-free period is a one-off change to your agreed loan repayment schedule. You will have to agree with us on the duration of an instalment-free period, during which you will only pay interest and fees. The amount of your loan will not be reduced during an instalment-free period. Usually the instalments you leave unpaid will be postponed until the future, extending your loan period.

You can add FlexiPayment to your home loan by sending us an application through Nordea Mobile or Netbank. The FlexiPayment feature will become available as of the next home loan payment as long as you apply for the change well in advance of the due date on your next loan payment.

If there are two borrowers, the other borrower will receive a notification of the requested change through Nordea Mobile and Netbank. The other borrower must check and accept the request before we can process it.

Read more about changes to the home loan repayment schedule

If your loan has the FlexiPayment feature, then it is the primary and easiest way of obtaining flexibility for your loan repayments. If you still would like to apply for an instalment-free period (e.g. if you have used up the FlexiPayment feature), it is possible to do so and your application will be processed based on your specific case.

You can use FlexiPayment at any time during your loan period. The amount of the FlexiPayment available, however, will decrease every time you skip instalments. Here’s how you can check the amount of your FlexiPayment in Nordea Mobile: go to the Overview tab and tap Loans, then select the loan you want to check to open its details. In Nordea Netbank, you can find this information by selecting the loan you want to check from the Overview page. In the loan details, you will see the amount of FlexiPayment that is still available for this loan.

FlexiPayment allows you to pay only a part of your instalment or to skip instalments entirely, although you must still pay interest and fees. FlexiPayment usually amounts to 5–10% of your total loan amount, so when used as a repayment holiday, it will last from one to two years.

Student loans are state-guaranteed loans. If Kela grants you a loan guarantee, you can apply for the loan from the bank of your choice. The student loan should be paid back according to the agreed repayment schedule, which begins 1,5–2 years after graduation.

The amount of your student loan depends on how old you are and where you study. The loan guarantee covers between 400–850 euros a month, or up to 1,000 euros a month if you’re studying abroad.

You can see the size of your student loan from the student financial aid decision you received from Kela.

• Most students can draw down their student loan in two instalments during the academic year.
• In the autumn term, the earliest possible drawdown date is 1st of August, and in the spring term, it’s 1st of January.
• In certain exceptional cases, you can draw down your student loan in one instalment for the entire academic year.

You will need to apply for the state guarantee from Kela. If you are a university student entitled to a study grant, you will receive a decision on the state guarantee for your student loan automatically.

If you are studying in a secondary school or a vocational school, you should apply for the state guarantee at the same time as you apply for a study grant and the housing supplement. And you should apply for the state guarantee for your entire period of study on one application. After Kela has granted you the state guarantee, you can apply for the student loan from the bank of your choice.

Since the state guarantees the student loan in full, you won’t need any other collateral for the loan. The state guarantee is valid for a maximum of 30 years from the first time you draw down your student loan.

1. Start by applying for a state guarantee from Kela.
2. After this, apply for a student loan either on an application form provided at Nordea.fi or in Nordea Netbank or Nordea Mobile.

Drawing down a student loan means that the loan will be disbursed to your account. There are two options for drawing down a student loan:

1. Automatic drawdowns – with this option your loan instalments are disbursed automatically to your account.
2. Partial drawdowns – with this option you need to submit a student loan application to us every time you wish to have a loan instalment disbursed to your account.

A drawdown agreement means automatic drawdowns

When you make a drawdown agreement, we will disburse the student loan to your account automatically on the first possible drawdown date in accordance with Kela’s guarantee decision. The loan will be disbursed to your account in full on the payment dates mentioned in the guarantee decision. You can check the payment dates on Kela’s website or from the guarantee decision. 

A partial drawdown agreement means partial drawdowns

A partial drawdown agreement means that the student loan won’t be disbursed to your account automatically on the first possible drawdown date. You can submit a drawdown request using the student loan application when you want to transfer some of the loan to your account. You can make a partial drawdown when you have a student loan but haven’t drawn down the full loan amount and wish to have a part of it disbursed to your account. 

A partial drawdown agreement means that the student loan won’t be transferred to your account automatically on the first possible drawdown date. You can submit a drawdown request using the student loan application when you want to transfer some of the loan to your account. 

You can make a partial drawdown when you have outstanding loan balance and wish to have a part of your loan amount transferred to your account. 

The first partial drawdown is free of charge. Subsequent drawdowns are subject to an arrangement fee or a raising fee (10,00 €) as well as a partial drawdown fee (10,00 €).

The monthly student loan amount stated in Kela’s student financial aid decision cannot be raised. However, if you switch to another educational institution or change your country of study and are therefore entitled to a bigger student loan, you can apply for an adjustment to Kela’s student financial aid decision. Your student loan amount is stated in the student financial aid decision and it may be between 400 and 850 euros a month, or up to 1 000 euros a month if you’re studying abroad. The size of your student loan depends on your age and educational institution and whether you study in Finland or abroad. Your student loan is guaranteed by Kela, and it cannot grant a loan guarantee higher than the maximum amount.

Before you start your student loan repayments, we will send you a proposal for a repayment schedule in a message to Nordea Mobile and Netbank.

If you want to make changes to the proposed schedule, you can contact Nordea Customer Service. If you accept the proposed schedule, you don’t need to do anything.

The repayment of a student loan begins when you no longer receive student financial aid. A student loan payment means the amount you pay each month to Nordea. The monthly payment includes the instalment (which amortises the student loan principal), interest and fees.

No, you won’t need to repay your entire student loan in a single payment. Instead, you will agree on a repayment schedule together with us.

Yes, you can. You can apply for an instalment-free period for your student loan or change the amount and due date of your repayment, the management account and the repayment method. 

Any changes are subject to a fee in accordance with our tariff and it will be charged in connection with the next repayment of the loan.