Business loan solutions for awkward deals

Some funding needs fit neatly into a bank product. Plenty don’t. A business might need money this week, have security spread across two entities, carry an old tax debt and expect a large payment in four months, all at once. No single product handles all of that well. A structured solution can.

Start with the problem, not the product

Before thinking about loans, we ask four questions:

1. What exactly does the money need to do, and by when?
2. What security is available, and who owns it?
3. How will the money be repaid, and how confident is that?
4. What does the business want its finance to look like in a year?

The answers usually point to a structure. Sometimes it’s a single loan. Often it’s two or three facilities working in a deliberate order.

Common structures we arrange

Situation	A structure that often fits
Urgent need, bank-friendly business	Short private loan now, bank refinance in 6 to 12 months
Tax debt plus working capital	Secured loan clears the ATO; unsecured line covers day-to-day
Property purchase before a sale	Private bridging loan, repaid from the sale
Large project with staged costs	Private facility with staged draws
Security owned by a trust, borrower is a company	Cross-entity security with guarantees
Several expensive small loans	One secured loan consolidating them

Sequencing private and bank money

The most common solution pairs a fast private loan with a slower, cheaper bank loan. The private loan does the urgent job: settling a purchase, clearing a debt or funding an opportunity. The bank loan replaces it once the business can meet the bank’s requirements.

The trick is building the private loan around the bank’s future needs. That means choosing a term long enough for accounts to be lodged, keeping records clean during the loan, and talking to the bank early about what it will need. Our private loan refinance page covers the exit side in more detail.

Secured and unsecured together

Property-secured loans are cost-effective for large, one-off needs. Unsecured facilities, such as a business line of credit, suit day-to-day fluctuations. Using both, each for what it does best, can be cheaper and more flexible than stretching one product to cover everything.

For example, a business might use a second mortgage to clear a large ATO debt and buy equipment, then keep a modest unsecured line for wages in slow months.

Restructuring what’s already there

Many owners come to us with finance already in place that isn’t working: a private loan nearing expiry, several merchant cash advances with daily repayments, or a bank overdraft that has been cut back. The solution may be to consolidate, refinance or restructure rather than add another layer.

A worked example

A Toowoomba agricultural equipment dealer had three problems at once: a $210,000 ATO debt, a fully drawn overdraft, and a chance to buy discounted stock ahead of a price rise. Its bank was supportive but slow, and wouldn’t lend further until the tax debt was cleared.

The solution came in two steps. A private lender took a second mortgage over the owner’s home for $420,000, clearing the ATO debt and funding the stock purchase. Nine months later, with the debt gone, stock sold and a strong year on record, the bank increased the overdraft and refinanced the private loan into a commercial facility over the dealership premises. Each lender did the part it was best at.

What a good solution avoids

• a short-term loan with no realistic exit
• repayments that drain cash flow faster than income arrives
• security over the family home when other assets would do
• refinancing into the same problem a few months later
• costs that outweigh the benefit of the deal being funded

If a proposed structure has any of these, it needs rethinking. Test the repayment plan with our exit plan checker.

Who designs the structure

You stay in charge. We explain the options, introduce the lender or lenders best suited to each part, and coordinate the timing. Your accountant and solicitor remain central, because tax and legal advice should shape any structure involving several entities or facilities.

Talk it through with us

Tell us what’s happening across the business, not just the amount you think you need. We’ll suggest the simplest structure that solves the problem. There’s no credit check when you first enquire, and your information isn’t sent to a list of lenders.

Complete answers in the form help us design the right solution first time. Start your enquiry, or read about private business loans and then check your eligibility.