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Business loans
A business loan is not one product. It is five, and they price differently.
Tell a lender you want a business loan and the first thing it decides is which of five deals you are actually doing: buying a business, buying premises, working capital, equipment, or fixing facilities you already hold. That decision sets your rate and your deposit more than your industry does. Start with the deal you are doing, or bring the messy version to a seven-minute call and we will place it for you.
Subject to lender criteria, security position and eligibility.
30 minutes with Priyank. No application, and no lender sees anything until you say so.
Who this is for
Business owners and buyers borrowing $400,000 to $10 million+, from a first acquisition to a portfolio of facilities that has never been looked at as one position.
The numbers
- Secured business lending at banks broadly runs 7.5–9.5% p.a. as at mid-2026; owner-occupier commercial from around 6%
- Up to 100% funding on business and commercial transactions, deal and policy dependent
- Bank, non-bank and private credit run from one file
Indicative market ranges, reviewed quarterly, not offers. Subject to lender criteria, security position and eligibility.
What happens next
A 30-minute Action Plan meeting with Priyank: free, no application, and no lender sees anything until you say so.
Get Your Action Plan →Start here
Six ways this enquiry usually arrives.
Working capital
Priced by what stands behind it.
The words on the application say overdraft, line of credit or term loan. The price says something simpler: what can the lender hold if it goes wrong?
Secured against property
The cheapest working capital in the market. Facilities secured by residential or commercial property price at secured business lending rates, and the limit is set by equity and serviceability rather than last quarter’s takings. If you own property and are paying unsecured rates, that gap is the first thing we would look at.
Secured against the business
Invoice finance, trade facilities and lending against the general security of the business itself. Priced above property-backed debt, useful where the cash cycle is the real problem, and assessed on the quality of your debtors and your reporting as much as on you.
Unsecured
Fast, document-light and priced far above secured lending. Rational as a bridge measured in months. Ruinous as a habit, because the repayments are sized to clear the debt quickly whether your cash flow likes it or not.
The request behind the request
Half the working capital enquiries we see are actually something else: a restructure wearing overdraft clothing, an equipment purchase, or the first sign that buying your premises would serve you better than funding the rent. Part of the Action Plan is telling you which one you have, and it costs nothing to find out.
Equipment and vehicles
Financed against the asset, not against your future flexibility.
Vehicles, trucks, hoists, machinery, commercial kitchens and medical plant are usually best financed against the asset itself, on terms typically three to seven years, with balloon options where the numbers support one.
Why against the asset
Asset-secured pricing is set by the equipment’s value and life, not by how much property you can pledge. Established businesses can often access streamlined approval pathways on income-producing assets. That keeps your property equity in reserve for the purchase that actually needs it.
The structuring angle
The mistake we unwind most often: equipment rolled into a property-secured facility, or financed with a lender whose security net covers the whole business. It looks tidy on the day and it quietly caps your next transaction. We keep the asset finance in its own lane so the rest of your file stays free to move.
Buying equipment as part of buying a business? The funding envelope gets planned as one number. Start with the business acquisition page.
Before any of it
The answer comes before the loan.
Whichever deal you are doing, the work is the same: your position built and verified, the structure chosen, the lender class matched to the deal, and a written Action Plan with the terms we are working to and a fixed fee quoted before you decide. Everything up to and including that meeting is free, whichever way the answer goes.
No application, no credit enquiry, and no lender sees anything until you say so.
Straight answers
Fair questions.
How much can I borrow with a business loan?
It depends on what secures it, not on a universal multiple. Property-backed structures reach the highest levels, up to 100% of business and commercial transactions where the security package supports it. Lending against the business alone typically funds 50–70% of a purchase price. Unsecured lending is capped by serviceability and priced accordingly. Subject to lender criteria, security position and eligibility.
Secured or unsecured, which should I take?
Secured is cheaper and slower; unsecured is faster and priced far above it. The honest rule: unsecured suits a bridge measured in months, where speed is worth the premium. Anything structural, an acquisition, premises, a facility you will hold for years, belongs on secured terms. If you are holding unsecured debt while owning property with equity, you are usually paying for a speed you no longer need.
Can I use equity in my home for a business loan?
Yes, and it is the most common path: around half of Australian small business lending is secured against residential property, per Reserve Bank data. Equity can be released as a separate facility or the property offered as additional security, and the two routes price and behave differently. Which one, and in which entity, is a structuring decision worth making before lodgement.
Should I use equipment finance or a business loan for the asset?
Usually equipment finance: it is priced against the asset, approved on lighter documents for established businesses, and keeps your property equity free for transactions that genuinely need it. The exception is when the equipment is part of a larger purchase, where one planned funding envelope beats two separate approvals.
The bank declined my business loan. What now?
First, find out what was actually declined: the deal, or the way it was presented. The two look identical in a decline letter. We rebuild the position, choose the lender class that fits it, and where policy is the obstacle we argue the exception in writing. Where the answer is a timeline rather than a loan, you will hear that plainly, with the plan to get there.
How fast can a business loan settle?
Unsecured facilities can fund in days. Secured lending and purchases run on weeks: once your documents are complete, finance for a business purchase typically reaches settlement in three to four weeks, and the slowest step is almost always assembling the paperwork, not the lender. The fix is starting the file before you need the money.
Next step
Bring the deal you are actually doing.
Seven minutes on the phone places it. Thirty minutes with Priyank prices and plans it, free, with nothing lodged and no lender seeing your name until you say so.
30 minutes with Priyank. No application, and no lender sees anything until you say so. You’ll know whether we can fund it, and either way, you leave with a plan.
Related free guide. Wondering where your pricing sits? Our free guide compares bank, non-bank and private credit, with dated published rates.
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