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If your Aave health factor is falling, act in the live Aave interface: either repay part or all of the borrowed asset, or supply an eligible token and enable it as collateral. A health factor below 1 makes the position eligible for liquidation, and neither a submitted transaction nor a value barely above 1 is a guarantee of safety. Check the current debt, collateral, network, fees and projected health factor immediately before signing.

Start with the health factor, not the calendar

Aave uses the term borrow position rather than a fixed-term loan. Its health factor is the main liquidation indicator. Aave defines it as:

Health factor = (total collateral value × weighted-average liquidation threshold) ÷ total borrow value.

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The calculation uses live asset prices, each supplied asset’s risk parameters and the debt balance, including accrued interest. When the result falls below 1, the position is eligible for liquidation. Eligibility can change while you are preparing a transaction because prices and interest continue to move. See Aave’s explanation of the calculation and liquidation rules at Aave’s Health Factor & Liquidations guide.

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Position change Effect on the calculation
Repay borrowed tokens Reduces total borrow value directly; a full repayment can make the backing collateral available for withdrawal.
Supply eligible collateral and use it as collateral Raises the collateral side of the calculation and can increase the health factor.
Collateral price falls or debt-asset price rises Can lower the health factor even if you have not made a transaction.
Interest accrues on the borrow Increases debt over time, which can gradually lower the health factor.

A value just over 1 is not a universal safety threshold. Aave says there is no single safe health-factor level because volatility, liquidity and correlation differ by market and asset. Treat a rapidly declining value as an urgent risk signal rather than waiting for a particular number.

Choose the fastest workable remedy

Your practical choice depends on which assets you control and which features your market supports.

Option What it changes When it fits Verify before signing
Repay the borrowed asset Reduces debt directly. Full repayment closes the borrow and releases associated collateral, subject to the interface’s current position state. Your wallet has the same token that Aave shows as borrowed. Current repay amount including accrued interest, token approval, network fee and final confirmation.
Supply more collateral Increases collateral only after the asset is supplied and enabled for collateral use. You have an eligible asset and want to improve the health factor without first obtaining the debt token. Market eligibility, collateral toggle, transaction completion and projected health-factor change.
Repay using collateral Uses a supported conversion route to turn collateral into repayment of the debt. The feature appears for your market and the quoted route is acceptable. Market support, output quote, swap or flash-loan details, fees, slippage information and the exact transaction you are signing.

Aave’s help specifically recommends supplying more collateral or repaying part of the borrow when health factor deteriorates. Do not assume that every token in your wallet, or every supplied token, can serve as collateral.

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Repay the borrowed asset in Aave’s interface

Repayment is made in the same asset you borrowed and includes interest accrued since the debt was created. Because the balance changes continuously, use the amount shown by the live interface rather than an older note, screenshot or calculator. Aave documents the interface flow at Repay Tokens.

  1. Connect the wallet that will pay. Open the Aave app on the correct network and connect the wallet holding the repayment tokens. Confirm that the selected network is the one where the borrow exists; a balance on another network cannot repay this position.
  2. Open your borrowings. In the dashboard, go to the borrowings section and select the token you want to repay. The position panel should show the outstanding debt and the available repayment controls.
  3. Approve the token when prompted. For an ERC-20 repayment, Aave may request an allowance approval before the repayment transaction. Aave says the approval can be submitted as a transaction or, where supported, as a signature. An approval transaction itself consumes network gas. Check the spender, token and network in your wallet before approving.
  4. Enter a partial or full amount. Type the amount displayed for your intended repayment. A full repayment must account for the current principal and accrued interest; leaving a small remainder is possible if the debt changes between reading the balance and confirmation. If the interface offers a maximum button, review the resulting amount instead of assuming it is a static number.
  5. Confirm in the wallet. Review the token, amount, network, gas estimate and destination details, then sign the repayment transaction. For a base asset, Aave says the interface may use its WrappedTokenGateway to unwrap and repay in one transaction, so the wallet transaction can look different from a normal ERC-20 transfer.
  6. Wait for confirmation and refresh. Do not treat a wallet’s submitted status as completion. After the transaction confirms, refresh the dashboard and check the remaining debt and health factor. If the transaction is pending while prices move, the position can still become liquidatable.

Partial repayment

Repaying any confirmed amount reduces debt and normally improves the health factor, but the size of the improvement depends on the collateral mix, debt asset price and interest accrued. If the factor is close to 1 or falling quickly, calculate whether the proposed amount creates enough margin for the volatility of your assets; Aave does not publish a universal target that guarantees protection.

Full repayment

When the debt is fully repaid, Aave’s help says the associated collateral becomes available for withdrawal or other uses. Confirm that the debt balance is actually zero in the dashboard before attempting to withdraw, because a tiny residual balance or a pending transaction can continue to restrict the collateral.

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Add collateral to raise the health factor

Simply holding a token in your wallet does not strengthen an Aave position. The token must first be supplied to the same market, and it must be an asset that the market allows to count as collateral. Aave’s collateral controls are described in Toggle Collateral Status.

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  1. Check the market and asset. In the Aave dashboard, review the supply list for the network and market containing your borrow. Confirm that the asset is accepted for supply and that its collateral parameters permit it to be used for your position. Governance-set loan-to-value and liquidation-threshold values differ by asset and market.
  2. Supply the token. In the supplies area, choose the eligible asset, enter the amount and submit the supply transaction. Approve the token transfer if Aave requests an allowance, then confirm the supply transaction and wait for it to settle.
  3. Enable collateral use. After the token is supplied, use the asset’s collateral toggle in the supplies area. Confirm the status-changing transaction. A supplied balance that is not enabled for collateral does not increase the collateral side of the health-factor calculation.
  4. Recheck the projected result. Refresh the position after confirmation and inspect the updated health factor, borrow capacity and liquidation threshold. The displayed change is specific to your asset mix and current prices; do not rely on a generic estimate from another market.

Supplying versus enabling collateral

These are separate actions. Supplying deposits the asset into Aave and gives you a supplied position; enabling collateral tells the protocol that the supplied balance may secure borrowing. The interface can show a supplied token with collateral use switched off. Conversely, a collateral toggle cannot use tokens that remain only in your wallet.

When an asset cannot be used

An asset may be supplyable but ineligible as collateral, or it may have a collateral setting that limits its borrowing contribution. If the dashboard does not offer the collateral toggle, do not force the transaction or assume the token will protect the position. Choose an asset the current market explicitly marks as eligible, or reduce the debt instead.

Repay with collateral when the market supports it

Aave’s FAQ says the V3 Interface or Aave Pro (V4) can support a repay-with-collateral feature using aTokens, flash loans and decentralized-exchange integrations. Availability is market-dependent, so the control may not appear for your position. Read the current wording in Aave’s FAQs and rely on what the live interface offers for your selected market.

This route is useful when you do not already hold the borrowed token. The interface can convert or otherwise use supplied collateral, then direct the resulting asset to repayment. It is more complex than paying with a wallet balance because the transaction can involve a swap, a flash-loan leg, protocol fees and price impact.

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  1. Open the repayment controls for the debt and look specifically for a repay-with-collateral option.
  2. Confirm that the displayed route uses the collateral asset and debt asset you intend; check the quoted output and any minimum received or price-impact information.
  3. Review every fee shown, including network gas and any swap or flash-loan cost. Aave’s FAQ does not promise a universal fee or universal availability.
  4. Check the resulting debt and health-factor preview. A quote that repays only part of the debt may leave the position closer to liquidation if prices move while it executes.
  5. Sign only after verifying the transaction details in your wallet, then wait for on-chain confirmation and refresh the position.

If the option is absent, use ordinary repayment or supply additional eligible collateral. Do not attempt to recreate the route manually unless you understand each contract interaction and its risks.

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Why liquidation can still happen during a rescue transaction

Liquidation eligibility is based on the position at the time a liquidator’s transaction is processed, not when you first opened the dashboard. A pending approval or repayment can take time, and collateral prices can fall or debt prices can rise during that interval. Accrued interest can also increase the debt. Aave’s published material does not establish a grace period before liquidation, so there is no guaranteed window in which a submitted transaction must settle first.

Aave’s FAQ gives an illustrative calculation: $10,000 of collateral, an 80% liquidation threshold and $6,000 of debt produce a health factor of 1.333 because $10,000 × 0.80 ÷ $6,000 = 1.333. Those inputs are an example, not a current market parameter or a recommendation. Your live thresholds and prices may be different. The same FAQ notes that a health factor above 2 provides more margin in its discussion, while Aave’s health-factor guide cautions that no value is universally safe; treat the figure as an example of additional buffer, not a guarantee.

What liquidation changes and why waiting is costly

When health factor is below 1, the position is eligible for liquidation. Aave explains that the amount liquidated depends on factors including health factor and position size. Liquidation can therefore reduce your collateral and leave you with a smaller, altered position even if only part of the debt is repaid by a liquidator. The protocol parameters are market-specific and can change, so do not use a generic liquidation percentage or timeline as a planning assumption.

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The practical implication is to reduce debt or add eligible collateral while you still control the transaction. Once the factor is below 1, concentrate on the action that can settle fastest with the assets and network conditions you actually have, and verify the updated dashboard after every confirmed transaction.

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Troubleshoot common failure points

The wallet has the token, but repayment says insufficient balance

Check that the token is on the same network as the borrow, that the amount includes accrued interest and that you have enough of the network’s gas asset left for approval and repayment. A wallet balance on another chain or a stale maximum amount will not satisfy the current debt.

The approval succeeded but repayment is still unavailable

Refresh the Aave dashboard and verify that the approval was for the exact token and network. If the approval transaction is pending or failed, the repayment cannot use it. Review the spender shown in the wallet rather than approving an unrelated contract.

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The collateral toggle is missing

The supplied asset may not be eligible as collateral in that market, or the supply transaction may not have confirmed. Check the asset’s status in the supplies area and wait for confirmation. Do not assume that supply alone changes the health factor.

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The health factor fell after adding collateral

Confirm that the asset is enabled as collateral and inspect its current price and liquidation threshold. A market move in another collateral asset or in the debt asset can outweigh the new deposit. Also confirm that you supplied on the market containing the borrow, not a different deployment.

The transaction is pending while the factor approaches 1

Monitor the live position and the transaction status in your wallet and block explorer. There is no protocol-wide promise that a pending transaction will confirm before liquidation. If it fails, reassess immediately using the current debt and prices rather than resubmitting an old amount.

A full repayment does not release collateral

Refresh after confirmation and look for any remaining debt, including a small accrued-interest balance. Aave’s withdrawal guidance explains that collateral backing an active borrow can require partial repayment or additional collateral before withdrawal. See Withdraw Tokens for the withdrawal constraints.

Use this checklist before signing

  • Correct wallet, network and Aave market are selected.
  • Health factor, debt balance and collateral values are current in the dashboard.
  • For repayment, the token and amount include current accrued interest.
  • For new collateral, the asset is explicitly eligible and will be enabled for collateral use.
  • Approval, gas and transaction fees are visible and affordable on the selected network.
  • For repay-with-collateral, the route, quote, minimum output, swap or flash-loan details and fees are acceptable.
  • You understand that a submitted transaction is not a liquidation guarantee and that no universal health-factor target exists.
  • After confirmation, you will refresh the position and verify the new debt and health factor.

Monitoring after the position is stabilized

Keep checking the health factor when collateral or debt prices are volatile, when borrowing rates increase the debt, or when you change the collateral mix. Aave also refers users to simulation and automation tools, but those are optional and their current market coverage must be checked separately. Manual monitoring in the live Aave dashboard remains the reference for the position’s current state.

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