Business loans and working capital, matched to how you actually trade.

What is a business loan?

A business loan is funding advanced to your business rather than to you personally — assessed on how the business trades, not just what you earn.

It might arrive as a lump sum you repay over a fixed term, or as a revolving facility you draw against and repay as cash flow allows. What it funds is almost anything a business legitimately needs money for: buying stock, covering a tax or BAS bill, bridging the gap while invoices are outstanding, hiring ahead of growth, or consolidating messy, expensive debt into one cleaner facility. Because it's judged on trading performance, a strong business can often borrow more — and more cheaply — than the owner could personally.

The finance we arrange

"Business loan" is a broad label. Matching the right structure to the need is most of the value a broker adds:

• Term loans — a lump sum over a fixed term for a defined purpose: expansion, fit-out, a large purchase, or refinancing existing debt. Shorter terms (three months to two years) suit bridging a specific gap; longer-term business loans of three to five years and beyond spread the cost of bigger investments, with fixed- and variable-rate structures available depending on the lender. The trade-off is the usual one — a longer term lowers the repayment but raises the total interest paid.
• Working capital & cash-flow loans — shorter facilities that smooth the timing gap between money going out and coming in.
• Lines of credit & overdrafts — revolving headroom you draw and repay repeatedly, paying interest only on what you use.
• Debt consolidation — rolling several costly facilities into one, to cut the total cost and free up cash flow.
• Unsecured loans — funding without pledging property, sized on turnover and trading history.

Working capital finance

Most business borrowing isn't for a grand plan — it's for the gap between doing the work and getting paid for it. That's working capital finance.

Working capital lenders range from the major banks to non-bank specialists who do nothing else, and they assess differently to a mortgage-style lender. What they read is your cash flow: recent bank statements, the rhythm of money in and out, and whether turnover comfortably carries the proposed repayment alongside what you already owe. Profit on paper matters less than you'd expect — a profitable business with lumpy cash flow can be a harder approval than a thinner-margin business that banks steadily. Our guides on cash flow vs profit and how lenders actually assess applications unpack exactly what's being read, and why.

On speed: fast working-capital funding is real, with indicative outcomes in 24–48 hours and some unsecured lenders settling within days — but "fast and easy" marketing deserves scrutiny, because speed is usually priced in. The honest version is that a well-packaged application to the right lender is both fast and properly priced; a rushed application to the wrong one is neither.

For newer businesses and startups the path is narrower but open: most unsecured lenders want to see roughly six to twelve months of trading, so the first facility is often smaller — sized to demonstrated monthly revenue — or supported by security or a director guarantee, and upgraded as history builds. We structure the first step so it doesn't box in the second.

Refinancing & debt consolidation

Business debt has a way of accumulating structure problems: a facility taken in a hurry two years ago, a short-term loan that never got cleared, an ATO arrangement running alongside it all. Refinancing replaces a facility with a better-priced or better-structured one; consolidation rolls several — including tax debt — into a single repayment. They overlap but answer different questions, and the difference matters: our guide to consolidation vs refinancing draws the line, and when to refinance a business loan covers the timing.

The test for either move is the all-in position, not the headline rate: exit costs on the old facility, establishment costs on the new one, the term you're resetting, and what the freed-up monthly cash flow is actually worth to the business. Sometimes a refinance that looks marginal on rate is transformative on cash flow; sometimes a tempting rate saves nothing once the switching costs are counted. That arithmetic — run across the panel — is precisely a broker's job.

Secured vs unsecured

The biggest fork is whether you offer security. It's the lever that most changes your limit, rate and speed.

Most businesses don't need to choose in the abstract — we run the scenario across the lenders we can access and show which structure actually prices and approves best for your situation.

Rates & what drives your pricing

There's no single "business loan rate" in Australia. The same business can see very different offers across lenders. What moves your rate:

• Security — property-secured lending prices sharpest; unsecured carries a premium.
• Trading history & turnover — longer, steadier trading and stronger cash flow earn better pricing.
• Serviceability — how comfortably your cash flow covers the repayment.
• Credit profile — the business's and directors' credit standing.
• Lender fit — each lender has an appetite; the right match is often the difference between a sharp rate and a decline.

Any figures on this page are indicative only and do not constitute a formal finance offer or approval.

How much can you borrow — and pre-approval

Unsecured facilities are generally sized to a share of monthly turnover — often around one to two months' — while secured and asset-backed lending is driven by the value of the security and can run well into the millions. Turnover, trading history, existing commitments and serviceability all shape the final number. For a first estimate, the business borrowing power calculator turns your turnover and trading profile into an indicative range, and the repayment calculator below sanity-checks what a given amount costs each month.

If you want a number you can act on — negotiating a purchase, planning a fit-out — the sequence is: run the free eligibility check (about 90 seconds, no credit check to start) for your personalised indicative range, then have your broker take the strongest-fit lender to formal pre-approval. That order matters, because a formal application lodges a credit enquiry — you want it aimed at the right lender the first time.

Bank loans vs a broker panel

For many businesses the first call is their own bank — reasonably so. The majors all lend to business, an existing relationship genuinely helps, and if your file is strong and your banker engaged, a bank term loan can be a very good answer. The consistent trade-offs are process and vantage: bank credit assessment can be slower, appetite for unsecured and newer-business lending is more conservative, and however good the offer, it's one lender's view of your file.

A broker's job is to put that offer in context. We arrange lending with access to a panel of 60+ lenders — the majors alongside non-bank and specialist working-capital lenders — so the same application is priced against the market rather than a single credit policy. Sometimes your bank wins the comparison; often a lender you'd never have approached does. Either way you decide with the whole board visible, not one square.

What lenders look for

Approval usually comes down to a few clear signals: an active ABN with a reasonable trading history, turnover that comfortably services the facility, clean recent bank conduct, and — for secured lending — acceptable security. A tidy, well-presented application moves faster and prices better, which is exactly what a DeMarque broker packages for you before anything is lodged.