Business Loans

Most businesses need finance at some point — to smooth cash flow through a slow quarter, fund stock ahead of a busy season, open a second location, take on a larger contract, buy out a partner or clear an ATO liability. The right facility depends on the purpose and how quickly the money will be repaid. Term loans suit longer-term investments; overdrafts and lines of credit suit fluctuating working capital; invoice finance releases cash tied up in unpaid invoices; and equipment should usually be financed against the asset itself rather than from general borrowings.

Business loans fall broadly into secured and unsecured. Secured loans use property or other assets as collateral and generally offer lower rates and longer terms, but they involve valuations and legal work and can tie up the family home. Unsecured loans rely on your trading history and cash flow — many lenders assess recent bank statements and ATO records directly — and can be approved within days, at the cost of higher rates and shorter terms, usually with a director's guarantee. Lenders typically want a trading history of six to twelve months or more, a registered ABN, and a clean record on existing commitments.

Common traps include borrowing on a short-term facility for a long-term purpose, misreading a factor rate as an interest rate, stacking several small loans that together strain cash flow, and signing personal guarantees without understanding them. There's also a growing number of lenders offering fast, app-based approvals; some are excellent, others expensive. We compare the true cost across our panel — banks, non-banks and fintech lenders — and present it plainly. Where your situation is stronger than a fast unsecured product warrants, we'll say so and look at cheaper secured options instead.