What can I borrow against?

Two shelves, one question

Business funding sits on two shelves, and the quiz simply tells you which one to reach for first. The lower shelf is unsecured and cash-flow funding. Unsecured, cash-flow and line-of-credit options for trading businesses, typically $5,000 to $500,000, sized on turnover and bank statements. Nothing is pledged, so the decision rests on how your business trades. The upper shelf is property-backed funding, from $20,000 to $5,000,000, as a first mortgage, second mortgage or caveat loan over residential or commercial property. It reaches larger amounts, but the property is at risk if the loan cannot be repaid.

How the quiz decides

It weighs five things. Time in business and monthly turnover tell us how much trading evidence a lender will have, which matters most on the lower shelf. The amount tells us which shelf can reach that far. The property question tells us whether the upper shelf is open to you at all. Timing tells us whether to look at the quicker options first. If you are choosing between the shelves, our guide on choosing between unsecured and property-backed goes through the same steps in more detail, and the property or unsecured page compares them side by side.

What the quiz cannot tell you

It cannot see your bank statements, your credit file or your property. Past credit issues and ATO debt considered case by case, and that is something a person has to look at with you. It also cannot tell you what a facility will cost, because every one is priced on the individual circumstances, so we do not publish rates. Treat the answer as a sensible first move, then check the numbers with the Dough gap calculator, which sizes the amount you actually need.

A few examples, none of them real businesses

A mobile mechanic trading for three years, with steady monthly takings and a gap of $25,000 for a van upgrade, usually lands on the lower shelf. A restaurant group with a 14-month-old second site, a $400,000 fit-out in view and a commercial property in the owner's name might see both shelves. A new online store with six weeks of trading and no property would be pointed to talking it through, because thin statements limit what unsecured sizing can do. In each case the useful part is not the label, it is the reasoning behind it.

Ready to talk?

When you have an answer, start a 60-second enquiry. There is no credit check when you first enquire. A real person reads each one, and your details are not sprayed across a pile of lenders. If you want to prepare first, read what lenders see in your bank statements.