Bank or credit union · United Kingdom
first direct personal loan: what you repay on £10,000
At its lowest published APR of 5.90%, first direct costs £303.07 a month on £10,000 over 36 months, or £10,911 in total — £911 of interest.
At the top of its published range, 18.90% APR, the same loan is £358.70 a month and £12,913 in total. The published range is worth £2,003 on this loan.
What does the lender publish?
first direct publishes the terms below on its own site; the wording of its rate disclosure is quoted further down.
| Term | As published |
|---|---|
| Representative APR | 5.90% representative |
| Highest published APR | 18.90% |
| Origination or arrangement fee | not stated |
| Loan amounts | £1,000 to £50,000 |
| Terms | 12 to 96 months |
| Early-repayment charge | not stated |
| Late fee | not stated |
| Rate check without a hard credit search | not stated |
Ownership: not stated in the provider's published documentation (checked 2026-08-25).
Representative example: not stated in the provider's published documentation (checked 2026-08-25).
Lowest origination fee: not stated in the provider's published documentation (checked 2026-08-25).
Highest origination fee: not stated in the provider's published documentation (checked 2026-08-25).
Whether the fee is deducted from the proceeds: not stated in the provider's published documentation (checked 2026-08-25).
Late fee: not stated in the provider's published documentation (checked 2026-08-25).
Early-repayment charge: not stated in the provider's published documentation (checked 2026-08-25).
Minimum credit score: not stated in the provider's published documentation (checked 2026-08-25).
Whether the rate check is a soft search: not stated in the provider's published documentation (checked 2026-08-25).
What does it come to at other amounts and terms?
Each row re-computes the loan at the lowest and highest published APR, with the lowest and highest published fee.
| Borrow | Over | You sign for (worst fee) | Monthly, best case | Total repayable, best case | Monthly, worst case | Total repayable, worst case |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| £5,000 | 36 months | £5,000 | £151.54 | £5,455 | £179.35 | £6,457 |
| £5,000 | 60 months | £5,000 | £96.08 | £5,765 | £125.44 | £7,526 |
| £10,000 | 36 months | £10,000 | £303.07 | £10,911 | £358.70 | £12,913 |
| £10,000 | 60 months | £10,000 | £192.15 | £11,529 | £250.88 | £15,053 |
| £20,000 | 36 months | £20,000 | £606.14 | £21,821 | £717.41 | £25,827 |
| £20,000 | 60 months | £20,000 | £384.30 | £23,058 | £501.76 | £30,106 |
| £35,000 | 36 months | £35,000 | £1,060.75 | £38,187 | £1,255.47 | £45,197 |
| £35,000 | 60 months | £35,000 | £672.53 | £40,352 | £878.08 | £52,685 |
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How that is worked out
Nothing else is added. The APR already includes the origination fee by law in both markets, so the payment is worked out on the amount you actually receive, at the APR, over the term — which is exactly how the lender's own representative example is built. The fee shows up as the larger amount you sign for, and the interest on it is inside the APR. Late fees, optional insurance and early-settlement charges are not in any figure on this site, because they depend on what happens after you sign. Best case uses the lowest published APR and the lowest published fee; worst case the highest of each. The full method is at Method.
Is there an origination fee?
first direct's rates page does not say whether it charges an origination fee. We have not assumed either way; the figures above use no fee and say so. checked 2026-08-25
The APR published by the lender already includes the origination fee, which is why the payment here is worked out on the amount you receive at the published APR, not on the larger amount you sign for at a lower interest rate. Both routes give the same payment; the lender's own example, where it publishes one, is the check.
What does the rate disclosure say?
Representative 5.9% APR for loans between £10,000 and £30,000.
Quoted from the lender's page. checked 2026-08-25
What we recorded when we read the page
The checker's notes for this row, kept as written so that you can see what was read, what was quoted and what could not be read. Wording in quotation marks is the lender's.
Maximum APR 18.9%. A calculator-driven worked example was present on the page but produced internally inconsistent figures under automated extraction (quoted monthly repayment x term did not match the quoted total, and the total was less than the principal borrowed) — this is very likely a JS-calculator rendering artifact, so it was NOT transcribed into rep_example per the no-guessing/no-invented-numbers rule; needs manual verification against the live page. Early repayment described as a daily-interest regulatory formula with possible rebate, not a clearly stated flat penalty.
Who owns it?
Who owns this lender is not stated on its own site, and we could not confirm it from a primary source. We have left it blank rather than repeat what other sites say.
Where this leaves you
- If your credit is not at the top, the number to budget is £358.70 a month, not £303.07. The advertised figure is the floor of a range £2,003 wide on this loan.
- Do not decide yet if you are choosing the term to get the payment down: the same £10,000 over 60 months is £192.15 a month instead of £303.07, but £11,529 in total instead of £10,911 — the term is the number you control.
Who this page is not for
This is not a review and it is not an offer. We have not borrowed from first direct, we hold no opinion on its service, and nothing here is a recommendation or advice. It answers one question: what the published range turns into as a monthly payment and a total, before you apply.
Sources
- first direct rates page — every figure on this page. checked 2026-08-25
- data.json — the row behind this page, with the source URL and check date on every figure.
Related
- first direct alternatives, by total repayable
- Every lender we hold, and which publish a range
- Work out your own repayment
- APR, fee and term: the three numbers behind the payment
- How these figures are produced
- first direct vs M&S Bank
- first direct vs Nationwide
- first direct vs TSB
Written by Kaz (pen name). Figures are copied from providers' published pricing pages on the dates shown. We have not used these products. Corrections: contact form.