Your Questions,
Answered Straight.

In the majority of cases, our service costs the borrower nothing directly. Finance brokers in Australia are typically remunerated through a commission paid by the lender upon loan settlement. This is a standard industry model and is disclosed as part of our credit guide and proposal documentation.

For more complex commercial transactions — where significant structuring work, multiple lender negotiations, or specialised deal preparation is involved — a broker fee may apply. If that is the case, we disclose this clearly before any work commences. You will never be surprised by a fee.

All remuneration we receive is disclosed in full in accordance with our obligations under the National Consumer Credit Protection Act and ASIC's responsible lending guidelines.

Every client at Financery works directly with Athba Al-Bazargan — from the first conversation through to settlement and beyond. There are no hand-offs, no junior processors, and no call centre. You will not need to repeat yourself.

This is intentional. Financery operates as a boutique brokerage because the quality of advice and outcomes is directly linked to continuity and senior involvement. Complex deals — particularly commercial loans, construction finance, and structured working capital solutions — require consistent oversight from someone who understands the full picture of your business.

Post-settlement, we remain available. Whether you need to revisit a facility, increase a limit, refinance, or plan for your next stage of growth, we stay involved for the long term.

In Australia, a formal credit application results in a credit enquiry recorded on your Equifax or illion credit file. Multiple enquiries within a short window can signal to lenders that you've been declined elsewhere or are urgently seeking credit — which can negatively impact future application outcomes.

This is one of the key reasons why working with a broker who approaches lenders selectively matters. At Financery, we assess your situation thoroughly before approaching any lender, identify the best-fit lender for your deal, and approach one or a small number of well-matched providers — rather than blanketing the market.

Financery arranges a broad range of business and commercial finance solutions across the full lending market, including:

• Equipment & machinery finance — chattel mortgage, finance lease, operating lease, hire purchase
• Vehicle & fleet finance — cars, utes, trucks, trailers, and commercial fleets
• Business cashflow & working capital — overdraft facilities, revolving credit lines
• Invoice finance — debtor finance, invoice discounting, selective invoice finance
• Trade finance — import finance, letters of credit, supplier payment facilities
• Construction finance — residential development, commercial builds, fit-out finance
• Unsecured business loans — short-term facilities for operational needs
• Commercial property finance — owner-occupied and investment

For complex transactions requiring layered funding structures or lenders outside the standard bank panel, we also work with private credit providers and specialist non-bank lenders.

Often, yes. Not all lenders require full financial statements for every transaction. The documentation required depends on the type of facility, the loan amount, and the individual lender's credit criteria.

For smaller equipment and asset finance transactions, many lenders will assess applications using business bank statements from the last 3–6 months, combined with ABN registration, GST turnover, and basic trading evidence. This is commonly referred to as a "low-doc" or "alt-doc" assessment.

For larger commercial facilities, full financials — including tax returns, profit and loss statements, and balance sheets — are typically required. If your financials are not yet prepared, we'll advise you on what documentation is available and which lenders can work within that constraint.

Don't assume a lack of current financials rules you out. Have the conversation first — we'll tell you honestly what's possible.

A bank decline is not a final answer — it reflects one lender's appetite and criteria at one point in time. Australia's lending market extends well beyond the major banks, and different lenders assess risk very differently.

Non-bank lenders, private credit providers, and specialist commercial lenders often have more flexible criteria, particularly for businesses with complex structures, industry-specific risk profiles, or situations that fall outside standard bank policy.

What matters after a decline is understanding why it happened — whether it was credit history, insufficient security, serviceability, industry type, or simply the wrong lender for the deal. We assess the situation, determine the cause, and identify the appropriate path forward. In many cases, restructuring the deal or improving the application narrative resolves the issue entirely.

Fixed rate: The interest rate is locked for the agreed loan term — typically 1 to 7 years. Your repayments are identical each month regardless of changes to the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) cash rate. Fixed rates suit businesses that prioritise cash flow predictability.

Variable rate: The interest rate moves in line with market conditions or the lender's own pricing decisions. Variable rates are more common in revolving facilities, lines of credit, and working capital products where flexibility to draw down and redraw is required.

For equipment and asset finance, the majority of Australian businesses opt for fixed rates to ensure repayments align with depreciation schedules and cash flow forecasting. For cashflow facilities and invoice finance, variable structures are typically standard.

We'll always present both options where available and recommend the structure that fits your business model — not just the lowest advertised rate.

Almost always, yes. Most business owners arrange finance at a particular point in time and rarely revisit it — which means their current facilities often don't reflect their current creditworthiness, trading position, or growth plans.

A finance position review can identify:

• Rates that no longer reflect your credit profile — refinancing may reduce your cost of capital
• Facilities that restrict growth — limit increases or restructured terms may be available
• Loan structures costing you more than necessary — e.g. residual/balloon arrangements that no longer fit
• Gaps in your funding — working capital or invoice finance that could unlock growth
• Overlapping securities or guarantees that could be renegotiated

A review costs you nothing and carries no obligation. If everything is in good shape, we'll tell you that too.

A complex commercial loan typically involves one or more of the following that takes it outside standard bank lending criteria:

• Loan size exceeding standard SME thresholds (generally above $1M–$2M)
• Unusual or layered business structure — trusts, multiple entities, special purpose vehicles
• Industry-specific risk — construction, agriculture, hospitality, early-stage businesses
• Transactions requiring multiple funding sources — senior debt combined with mezzanine or private credit
• Businesses with non-standard financials — high growth, seasonal revenue, recent restructure
• Deals involving acquisitions, management buyouts, or business purchases

These deals require upfront structuring — determining the right security position, the most appropriate lender type, the correct loan-to-value ratio, and a clear credit narrative before any application is submitted. Submitting a poorly structured complex deal to the wrong lender wastes time, creates unnecessary credit enquiries, and closes doors.

At Financery, we do the structuring work first. Every mandate is prepared before it goes anywhere near a lender.

Operating through a discretionary family trust, unit trust, or multi-entity structure is common among Australian SMEs and does not prevent access to finance — but it does require the application to be prepared correctly.

Lenders assess trust structures by looking through to the underlying beneficiaries, trustees, and guarantors. Key requirements include clear documentation of the trust deed, financials that accurately reflect the trading entity and trust distributions, personal guarantees from directors or trustees as required, and correct identification of the borrowing entity versus operating entities.

We work regularly with accountants and lawyers to ensure the application reflects the actual financial position of the business. Multi-entity structures can often be used advantageously in structuring security and serviceability assessments.

Yes — and come to us early rather than waiting until the situation is critical. The options available to a business under cash flow pressure narrow significantly as the pressure increases.

Depending on your situation, solutions may include:

• Setting up an invoice finance facility to unlock cash from outstanding receivables
• Establishing a revolving line of credit or overdraft facility
• Refinancing existing equipment or asset loans to reduce monthly repayment obligations
• Restructuring existing debt to improve serviceability
• Short-term unsecured business loans to bridge a specific gap
• Trade finance to manage supplier payment cycles

If a situation requires a conversation with a restructuring specialist or accountant first, we'll say so. But in many cases, a cashflow problem has a straightforward funding solution.

Invoice finance — also known as debtor finance or accounts receivable finance — is a funding facility that allows businesses to access cash tied up in outstanding invoices before the customer has paid.

How it works:

• You issue an invoice to your customer with standard payment terms (e.g. 30 or 60 days)
• The lender advances you typically 70–85% of the invoice value, usually within 24–48 hours
• When your customer pays, the remaining balance is released to you minus the lender's fee

There are two main structures: whole-of-ledger facilities, where all eligible invoices are financed, and selective invoice finance, where you choose which invoices to fund on a case-by-case basis.

Invoice finance is particularly suited to businesses in construction, manufacturing, transport, staffing, wholesale, and professional services — industries where long debtor cycles create persistent cash flow gaps despite strong underlying revenue.

Trade finance bridges the timing gap between paying a supplier for goods and receiving payment from your customer — a cycle that in import/export businesses can span weeks or months.

Common trade finance products include:

• Import finance / import loans — funds to pay overseas suppliers before goods arrive and are sold
• Letters of credit (LC) — a bank guarantee to the supplier that payment will be made once conditions are met, reducing counterparty risk in international trade
• Supplier payment facilities — structured credit lines to fund domestic or international stock purchases
• Supply chain finance — financing tied to confirmed purchase orders from creditworthy buyers

Trade finance is typically relevant for businesses importing goods from Asia, the US, or Europe; wholesalers and distributors managing large stock orders; and retailers or manufacturers with significant upfront supplier payment obligations.

A business overdraft is a credit limit attached to your bank account. It's flexible, but typically requires real property or significant assets as security, and the limit is set by the bank based on historical financials. Increasing the limit is slow and bureaucratic.

Invoice finance is directly tied to your debtor ledger. Your available funding grows as your invoicing grows — meaning it scales with your business automatically. It doesn't require property security; it's secured against the invoices themselves. For growing businesses with large debtor books, this makes invoice finance significantly more scalable than a fixed overdraft limit.

In practice, some businesses use both — a modest overdraft for day-to-day operational expenses, and invoice finance to fund the working capital gap created by debtor cycles. We'll assess which approach, or combination, makes the most sense for your situation.

Construction finance — also referred to as a construction loan or development finance — is a specialised facility designed to fund the building process progressively, drawing down in stages as construction milestones are reached, rather than as a single lump sum upfront.

Unlike a standard term loan, funds are released against a pre-agreed drawdown schedule, typically aligned with certified progress claims from the builder or quantity surveyor. Interest is charged only on the amount drawn, not the total facility.

Financery arranges construction finance for:

• Residential development — knockdown rebuilds, duplexes, townhouses, multi-residential projects
• Commercial builds — offices, warehouses, retail premises, mixed-use developments
• Industrial construction — manufacturing facilities, logistics and storage
• Hospitality & retail fit-outs — restaurant, gym, and retail premises using specialised fit-out finance

Construction finance is assessed on a different framework to standard business loans. Lenders are evaluating both the creditworthiness of the borrower and the viability of the project itself. Key criteria typically include:

• Loan-to-cost (LTC) and loan-to-value ratio (LVR) — most lenders fund up to 65–80% of completed project value
• Project feasibility — evidence of commercial viability via a quantity surveyor or feasibility report
• Registered builder with a fixed-price contract — cost overrun risk is a primary lender concern
• Development approval (DA) — confirmed DA or building permit from the relevant council or authority
• Pre-sales or pre-leasing — for larger developments, lenders may require a percentage of pre-sales before funds are released
• Exit strategy — how the construction loan will be repaid at completion, via sale, refinance to a term loan, or a combination

Yes — and this is one of the most common situations we work with. Construction subcontractors face a structural cash flow challenge: they complete work, issue invoices, and then wait 30, 60, or even 90 days to be paid — while wages, materials, and equipment costs need to be covered in the meantime.

Finance solutions commonly used by construction trades include:

• Invoice finance / debtor finance — advance against progress claims and invoices issued to builders or head contractors
• Equipment and plant finance — chattel mortgage or hire purchase for plant, tools, vehicles, and machinery
• Business line of credit — a revolving facility to cover payroll, materials, and operational costs between payment cycles
• Trade finance — for businesses purchasing materials in bulk or from suppliers with upfront payment terms

Not all invoice finance lenders accept construction-related invoices due to retention clauses and progress claim risk. We know which lenders actively support the construction sector and how to structure facilities accordingly.

Equipment & asset finance (up to ~$250K):

• 2 years business tax returns or financials (or recent bank statements for low-doc)
• Business bank statements — last 3–6 months
• Details of the asset being purchased
• Driver's licence / ID

Invoice finance & working capital facilities:

• Aged debtors and creditors report
• Business bank statements — last 6 months
• 2 years business financials
• Sample invoices and debtor details

Construction finance:

• Development approval and plans
• Fixed-price building contract and quantity surveyor report
• Project feasibility or cost-to-complete estimate
• 2–3 years personal and business financials
• Evidence of equity contribution and exit strategy

We will provide you with a clear document checklist tailored to your specific transaction before we begin.

The first step is a straightforward conversation — no commitment, no paperwork, no obligation. We'll ask about your business, what you're trying to achieve, where you are right now, and where you want to go.

From that conversation, you'll get a clear picture of your realistic options, what the process looks like, and what we'd need to move forward. Most people leave that initial call with more clarity than they came in with — whether they proceed with us immediately or not.

You can reach us by phone on 1300 445 890, by email at info@financery.com.au, or through the contact form on our website. We're based in Hawthorn East, Melbourne, but work with business owners across all of Australia.