Business Loans & Equipment Finance

These are three distinct things. Commercial lending is about commercial property and larger commercial facilities — buying business premises or a commercial investment, assessed against the property and the business. A business owner home loan is a personal home loan for someone whose income comes through a company or trust. This page covers the funding the business itself uses to operate and grow: equipment and vehicle finance, working capital, overdrafts and invoice finance. If your need is a commercial property purchase, the commercial lending page is the right place; if it is a personal home loan, the business owner home loan page fits; this page is for the business borrowing itself.

Equipment and vehicle finance lets a business acquire an asset — a vehicle, machinery, fit-out or technology — and pay for it over time rather than in one outlay. A chattel mortgage is one common structure, where the business owns the asset and the lender takes security over it; other structures include hire purchase and finance lease. Which suits depends on cash flow, the asset, and how it is treated for tax and GST. The accounting and tax treatment differs between the structures, which is one reason scoping the finance and the tax position together helps. Any approval still depends on the lender assessing the business and the asset.

In some cases, yes. Unsecured business loans, overdrafts and lines of credit can provide working capital without real-property security, assessed on the strength of the business cash flow, trading history and the borrower entity rather than on a property. Pricing and limits are generally tighter than property-secured lending because the lender carries more risk, and policy varies materially between lenders. Whether a facility is available, and on what terms, depends on the lender's assessment of the business, its lending criteria and your circumstances. We scope the realistic options before any application rather than assuming a facility will be approved.

Invoice finance (also called debtor finance) advances a portion of the value of unpaid customer invoices, so a business with long payment terms is not left waiting on cash it has already earned. Trade finance supports the purchase of stock or goods, often in the supply chain. Both are cash-flow tools rather than asset purchases, and both suit some businesses and not others — they carry their own costs and conditions, and lender appetite varies. We assess whether they fit the business or whether a simpler facility would serve better, rather than defaulting to them.

The structure of business and equipment finance interacts with tax and GST — for example, how an asset is depreciated, how GST on the purchase is treated, and whether interest is deductible. These depend on the finance structure and your circumstances, and are general information here rather than personal tax advice. Because the practice handles both the lending and the accounting, the finance can be scoped with the tax treatment in view, and the detail confirmed through the accounting side. We do not promise a particular tax outcome; we make sure the two are considered together.

Remuneration on business and asset finance varies more than on residential lending. In many transactions the lender or financier pays commission on settlement; on some facilities a fee-for-service arrangement applies. Whichever model applies is confirmed in writing before any application is submitted, alongside the lender panel and any conflicts of interest, in our Credit Guide and disclosure documents. We set out how we are paid up front rather than leaving it unclear.

No. Business and equipment finance suits businesses with a clear purpose for the funds and the cash flow to service the facility comfortably. Borrowing to cover a structural cash-flow problem, rather than to fund growth or an asset, often makes the problem worse. Where the position is marginal or the facility is the wrong tool, we say so before any application. Eligibility, lender criteria, fees and charges apply, and lender appetite varies between institutions and over time. Any approval depends on the lender's assessment and your circumstances.