Personal loans market in Poland has changed substantially within last years. Relevant aspect of the change was the emergence of personal loan companies and other non-banking entities with their offer addressed to clients excluded by banks. Positive results of the change were offset by increased concerns regarding financial safety of those who take loans from such institutions, not fully encompassed by the regulations followed by banks and credit unions. We investigated opinions of private individuals to study their perception of loans and attitudes towards selected loan-related issues within the new lending environment. To achieve the goal, we conducted survey in a representative sample of 1004 adult Poles and we utilized logistic regression model to get additional insight into the survey results. We found that negative opinions outweigh positive ones, both in general attitude towards loans and in the perception of particular loan-related issues such as connotations concerning payday loans and parabanks. Despite the study was not meant to ascertain the level of Poles’ debt knowledge, we perceive the results of our study as evidencing, though indirectly, the lack of such knowledge. Hence, we believe that the findings call for more activity – both regulatory and market-driven – aimed at making private individuals more debt knowledgeable.