Demand for loans to buy new cars is falling despite record low interest rates and the cheapest petrol in six years.
Personal loan applications continued to decline in the final three months of 2014, data from consumer credit check group Veda shows, as demand for cars also fell.
Veda general manager of consumer risk, Angus Luffman, says consumer caution is hurting demand for new loans to buy items such as a car, even though petrol prices have fallen to 2009 levels.
"While interest rates are low in historic terms and fuel prices are at post GFC lows, consumers seem to be cautious about taking on new credit commitments," he said.
The Australian dollar's strength in 2013 may have encouraged people to buy imported cars, which would have caused demand for personal loans to fall away in 2014, Mr Luffman said.
"When you get an area of opportunity like that, you can see demand effectively brought forward so that brings a spike period," he said.
Personal loan applications in the three months to December were down 5.8 per cent from a year earlier, which followed a 10.1 per cent contraction in the September quarter.
Annual growth in personal loans has been flat or shrinking since the December quarter of 2013.
Consumers were more eager to apply for a credit card, with demand for new plastic increasing by 8.3 per cent in the year to December.
Applications for new home mortgages during that time rose by 2.8 per cent, as interest rates remained at record lows, and several major banks forecast further rate cuts in 2015.
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