What is a Loan Application?
Understand how a MyMicroFinance loan application works — the amount and repayment term, the fees you may be charged, the documents required, and every status your application moves through.
A loan application is the record that carries your personal-loan request from first submission to final decision. It bundles everything a lender needs in one place — how much you're asking for, how long you need to repay it, your personal and employment details, and the documents that prove them.
This article explains the moving parts before you apply. When you're ready, Apply for a Loan walks through the application wizard step by step.
What Makes Up a Loan#
Every application captures the same core request:
| Part | What it means |
|---|---|
| Requested amount | How much you want to borrow, in rands (ZAR). Your lender sets a minimum and maximum. |
| Repayment term | How long you have to repay — chosen from the terms your lender offers (for example 1–12 months). |
| Fees | The costs your lender attaches to the loan, shown on your application detail page. |
There is no interest-rate field on an application. The cost of your loan comes from the fees your lender has configured — each fee is listed on your application detail page with a plain-language description, for example "R165 + 10% above R1,000, capped at R1,050".
Fees can be charged at different moments — once-off on disbursement, on your first instalment, monthly, per instalment, or on settlement — so read each fee's description to understand when it applies.
What You'll Need#
Applying takes one sitting if you have these ready:
- Identity — your ID number, full name, email, and phone number.
- Address — your current residential address.
- Employer details — who you work for, your salary date, and whether you're permanent or on contract. Some lenders require you to pick from a pre-verified employer list.
- Bank details — the account where money is paid out and collected: bank, account holder, account number, branch code, and account type (Cheque, Savings, Transmission, or Credit card).
- Affordability — your monthly income and expenses, plus the number of people who depend on you.
- Next of kin — a fallback contact person.
- Three documents — an ID copy, a payslip, and a bank statement. PDF, JPG, or PNG, each up to 5MB.
Your saved profile pre-fills most of these fields on every new application, so keeping your profile up to date makes applying much faster.
Application Statuses#
Your application moves through clearly-named statuses. You'll see the current one as a badge everywhere the application appears:
| Status | What it means |
|---|---|
| Created | The application record exists but documents are still being collected. |
| Received | All required documents are in — the application is ready for review. |
| Processing | A staff member is actively assessing your application. |
| Invalid | One or more documents were rejected and need to be replaced. |
| Resolved | You've fixed the outstanding items and review can continue. |
| Approved | Your application was successful. |
| Declined | Your application was not successful. |
| Archived | The application is closed and no longer under active review. |
Your application starts as Created and moves to Received automatically once all three required documents have uploaded successfully. If a reviewer marks a document Invalid, you'll be asked to upload a replacement — see Track Your Application.
Ways to Apply#
There are two routes into the same application record:
- In the app — the eight-step application wizard, started from New Application in the sidebar.
- Over WhatsApp — if your lender has set up a WhatsApp intake workflow, you can apply in a guided chat conversation. Applications that arrive this way show a WhatsApp badge in the channel column.
Either way, your application lands in the same review queue and follows the same statuses.
You need a verified email address before you can start a new application. If your email isn't verified yet, the app will point you to Settings → Security to complete verification first.