Personal Loan Experience
Company:
Oney
Product:
Personal Loan Application
Timeline
2024 / 2025
Team
Product Manager, Engineers, Data Analyst, Designer
Goal
Reduce user hesitation and improve clarity in the loan application journey.
Applying for a personal loan is a high-stakes decision where users need clarity, trust and confidence.
However, the existing experience made it difficult for users to fully understand loan conditions, leading to hesitation during the application process.
Oney offers personal loan solutions across Europe, allowing users to request and manage loans digitally.
This project focused on improving the experience of the loan application process, where users must understand financial conditions and make high-stakes decisions.
Problem
Users interested in personal loans often feel insecure during the application process, especially when asked to review financial conditions and provide sensitive personal information.
The existing flow presented key details—such as repayment terms, interest rates, and required steps—in a fragmented and complex way, making it difficult for users to fully understand what they were committing to.
This lack of clarity led to hesitation, reduced confidence, and increased drop-off during the decision-making process.
Key Design Decisions
Simplifying loan information
Reorganized loan details into structured sections to make key information easier to understand and compare.
Critical elements such as total amount, interest rate, monthly payment, and repayment timeline were grouped and progressively disclosed to reduce cognitive load.
Improving trust through transparency
Introduced a clearer visual hierarchy to highlight essential financial information and reduce ambiguity.
This approach helped users better understand what they were committing to, increasing confidence during the decision-making process.
Basic Flow
Authentication Flow with Government Entitie
We designed a new authentication flow that allows users to connect with official government entities.
This approach reduces the need for manual document submission while increasing trust by using verified data sources.helped streamline the process and reduce perceived effort
Process information
Start of the authentication process
Redirect to official platform
Authorize data sharing /
authentication 2 /
Redirect to official platform
Authorize data sharing / conclusion
The Simulator - A Key Moment in the Journey
The loan simulator is the first real interaction users have with financial information. It's where they decide whether to continue or abandon the process.
The Challenge
New regulatory requirements made it mandatory to display more financial information during the simulation — including fees and rates that were previously less visible. While this increased transparency, it also risked overwhelming users at a critical decision-making moment.
Design Process
To find the right balance, I benchmarked competitor simulators and ran usability tests with a high-fidelity prototype. The research revealed that presenting all information in a single step created cognitive overload, especially for users who were less familiar with financial products.
The Solution: A 2-Step Simulator
The simulator was redesigned into two distinct stages:
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Step 1 — The user selects the loan amount and repayment period
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Step 2 — Full financial details are revealed clearly, including all rates and fees required by the new regulations
This structure reduced cognitive load while fully meeting the new transparency requirements.
Validation
User testing confirmed that despite the increased complexity of the new regulations, the redesigned simulator was consistently rated as easy to understand and use.
Accessibility as a Design Requirement
Accessibility was a priority throughout the entire project, but the simulator received special attention — it was one of the least accessible components in the previous version.
Following WCAG guidelines, the redesigned simulator addressed four key areas:
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Color contrast — ensuring text and interactive elements meet minimum contrast ratios
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Font size and readability — improving legibility across different screen sizes and user contexts
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Keyboard navigation and focus — making the simulator fully operable without a mouse
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Labels and screen reader hierarchy — structuring information so assistive technologies can interpret it correctly
The accessibility improvements were validated by an external specialized company, ensuring the new simulator met compliance standards and was genuinely usable by a broader range of users.
old simulator
new simulator
Step 01
Step 02
Prototype Walkthrough (Figma)
The video below shows the complete loan application experience through a high-fidelity prototype built in Figma. It covers the full user journey — from the initial simulation to the final contract signature — reflecting the key design decisions made throughout the project, including the redesigned simulator, the government authentication flow, and the accessibility improvements.
Results & Current Status
The redesigned personal loan experience is currently in development and QA testing, with design actively involved in the validation process — ensuring the implemented product stays true to the original design decisions and interaction principles.
User Testing — Simulator The redesigned simulator was validated through moderated usability tests conducted by an external research company. Sessions were recorded and observed, with real users interacting with a high-fidelity Figma prototype. The results consistently showed that users found the new 2-step simulator easy to understand and navigate — even with the increased amount of financial information required by the new regulations.
Accessibility Validation The accessibility improvements were independently reviewed and validated by a specialized external company, confirming compliance with WCAG standards across color contrast, font legibility, keyboard navigation, and screen reader hierarchy.
Next Steps Once the product is live, key metrics such as simulator completion rate, drop-off points, and user satisfaction will be tracked to continue improving the experience.