New businesses: your questions answered

Asset finance is usually the most accessible starting point, because the equipment provides security. Lenders with start-up or new-ABN policies will typically consider a first vehicle, ute or machine where you have verifiable industry experience, a clean personal credit file, and often property ownership or a deposit of around 10% to 20%. Unsecured working capital is much harder in the first six to twelve months. As BAS and bank history build, the panel available to you widens.

Several things carry weight in place of financials. Lenders look at your industry experience and prior employment in the same trade, licences and tickets, signed contracts or letters of intent showing where income will come from, personal credit history and bank conduct, property ownership, and any deposit you can contribute. Interim figures from your accountant and lodged BAS help once you have them. The more of these you can evidence, the wider the panel available and the better the terms.

It counts for a great deal, particularly in asset finance. A lender assessing a first truck, ute or machine wants to know the person operating it knows the work and has a source of income. Years of employment in the same trade, a current licence of the right class and a subcontract with your former employer or another operator address exactly that. It does not remove the short ABN history, but it often turns a decline into an approval with a deposit.