Yes. There is no blanket prohibition in Singapore on using a loan from a licensed moneylender to repay another licensed moneylender’s loan — the debt consolidation scheme is built around that purpose. What a new loan does not do is give you a fresh borrowing limit. And as of September 2026, the Registrar’s Directions specifically tell licensees not to use a re-loan from the same lender to reset your borrowing cost. Here is how the limits, the cost, and the rules work. Can you take a new moneylender loan to pay off an existing loan? Yes, subject to the borrowing limits. Licensed moneylenders in Singapore can lend you money that you then use to repay an existing loan, and the Ministry of Law’s debt consolidation scheme is defined around exactly that purpose. What does not change is the ceiling: everything you owe across all licensed moneylenders counts towards one aggregate cap. Approval is subject to the lender’s assessment of your income, existing loans, and repayment ability. Is it legal in Singapore to borrow from one licensed moneylender to repay another? Yes, and the regulatory framework contemplates it. The Registry of Moneylenders’ Professional Service Handbook for Licensed Moneylenders (Version 3.1, dated 13 August 2026) defines a debt consolidation loan as “a loan granted by a licensed moneylender under the debt consolidation scheme to a borrower for the purpose of enabling the borrower to repay all outstanding debts owed by the borrower to all licensed moneylenders”. There is no blanket ban. What still applies are the aggregate borrowing limits, the lender’s assessment, the rules on excluded persons, and the restriction on same-lender re-loans set out next. Can the same moneylender give you a new loan to clear the one you already owe them? Not where it resets your borrowing cost. Registrar’s Directions No. 1 of 2026, effective 1 April 2026, state that licensees “should not grant loans or ‘re-loans’ to borrowers to reduce or extinguish an existing debt owed to the same licensee such that this serves to ‘reset’ the total borrowing cost charged, as this is tantamount to deliberately circumventing rules 11, 12 and 12A of the Moneylenders Rules 2009”. Paragraph 1.3 of the same Directions lists as an undesirable practice “offering loans or ‘re-loans’ to pay off existing loans when borrowers are unable to fully pay sums that are due, and charging the borrowers a 10% ‘administrative fee’ repeatedly to roll over the existing loan”. Genuine loan restructuring that complies with the Moneylenders Rules 2009 is still permitted. But the Directions state that these practices may be grounds for refusing a licence renewal, or for suspending or revoking a licence. If a lender offers to clear your existing loan with them by writing a new one that starts the cost over, that is the arrangement the Directions target. Ask about restructuring instead. How much can you borrow if you already have outstanding moneylender loans? As of September 2026, the unsecured borrowing cap for licensed moneylender loans in Singapore is an aggregate figure — it applies to everything you owe across all licensed moneylenders combined, not to each lender separately. A Singapore Citizen or PR earning below S$20,000 a year can borrow up to S$3,000 in total. At S$20,000 or more, the cap is six times monthly income. Existing outstanding unsecured principal counts towards it. Unsecured borrowing caps, aggregate across all licensed moneylenders (as of September 2026) Annual income Singapore Citizens and PRs Foreigners residing in Singapore Below S$10,000 S$3,000 S$500 S$10,000 to below S$20,000 S$3,000 S$3,000 S$20,000 or more 6 × monthly income 6 × monthly income For secured loans, the Registry of Moneylenders states you can obtain a loan of any amount. Your existing loans are visible through the Moneylenders Credit Bureau (MLCB), operated by Credit Bureau (Singapore) Pte Ltd as the designated credit bureau, which a licensed moneylender checks when assessing an application. Source: Registry of Moneylenders, FAQs on Borrowing From Licensed Moneylenders. If I’ve joined the MLCB self-exclusion scheme, can I still take a loan to repay my existing one? Generally no, with one exception. Self-exclusion is a voluntary scheme through the MLCB. Singapore Citizens and PRs may choose a minimum period of 1 or 2 years; foreigners have a minimum of 2 years. While you are registered, you generally cannot obtain unsecured loans from licensed moneylenders, except for a debt consolidation loan. What would a new loan to repay an old one actually cost you? As of September 2026, licensed moneylenders in Singapore may charge at most 4% interest per month on the outstanding principal, and at most 10% of the principal as an administrative fee when the loan is granted. Late interest is capped at 4% per month on the overdue amount, plus a fee of at most S$60 for each month of late repayment. These are legal maximums, not the rate any lender quotes. One further limit matters here: total charges — interest, late interest, the administrative fee and late fees combined — cannot exceed the principal. How is 4% monthly interest worked out on a balance that shrinks as I repay? Interest is charged on what is still outstanding, so it falls as the principal comes down. Illustration only, using the legal maximum rate on an S$3,000 loan repaid in six monthly principal instalments of S$500: Month 1: S$3,000 outstanding, interest S$120 Month 2: S$2,500 outstanding, interest S$100 Month 3: S$2,000 outstanding, interest S$80 Month 4: S$1,500 outstanding, interest S$60 Month 5: S$1,000 outstanding, interest S$40 Month 6: S$500 outstanding, interest S$20 Total interest: S$420. Add an administrative fee of up to 10% of the principal at grant (S$300), and borrowing S$3,000 costs up to S$720. This is an illustration calculated from the statutory maximums — not a SuCredit product or quotation. Do I pay the administrative fee again on the new loan? As of September 2026, a licensed moneylender in Singapore may charge an administrative fee of up to 10% of the principal when a loan is granted, so a new
