Business loans for retail businesses
HomeSec lends to retailers against equity in real property rather than against sales figures. From $20,000 to $5,000,000, with no financial statements, no valuation and no minimum turnover, funded in as little as 24 hours — fast enough to buy stock at a price that will not still be there next month.
See if you qualify in sixty seconds. No credit check to apply, no financials, no payments for the first six months. That's the HomeSec Advantage.
See if you qualifyThe cash cycle you are actually borrowing against
Retail buys before it sells, and the gap is measured in seasons rather than weeks. Winter stock is ordered and often paid for in autumn. Christmas is bought in August and September. An importer pays a deposit on a container, then the balance before it ships, then freight and duty on arrival, and only then does the first unit reach a shelf. Every dollar of growth is a dollar tied up in inventory months before it becomes a sale.
The revenue side is lumpy in a way that has nothing to do with how well the shop is run. November and December can be a third of the year. January is rent and wages against a fraction of the trade. End of financial year, back to school, Mother's Day and the local event calendar all move money around the year without changing the fixed costs at all.
Underneath sit obligations that are easy to underestimate: a lease with a fixed annual increase and a make-good clause at the end of it, a fit-out that was capitalised and is still being paid for, gift cards and lay-bys that are a liability until they are redeemed, and a payment terminal that settles a day or two behind the sale.
What makes the phone ring
| The event | What it looks like |
|---|---|
| A stock opportunity with a deadline | A wholesaler clearing inventory, an importer's container, an end-of-line run at a price that does not last. The margin is in the buying, and the buying needs cash now. |
| Buying ahead of the season | Christmas, winter or back-to-school stock paid for months before any of it sells. |
| A quiet quarter after a strong one | The costs stay where they are. A loan with no repayments for six months covers the trough and is repaid out of the peak. |
| Fit-out, refit or a second store | A landlord requirement, a refresh, or a site that has become available at the right rent. |
| An ATO balance | GST is collected on every sale and PAYG on every wage, and both are spent on stock long before the activity statement falls due. |
| A supplier moving you to cash on delivery | One late payment can change your terms, and reversing that decision usually means clearing the account in full. |
What you can offer as security
Most retailers lease their premises, so the security is generally the owner's own property — a home, an investment property, or a shop bought in better years. That is normal here, and the business can borrow with a director's property behind it, provided everyone on the title signs.
Where the retailer owns the shop, a strip building or a warehouse, that is commercial security assessed to 70% of value and can carry a first or second mortgage.
Stock is not security. A trade financier or a floor-plan facility may already hold a charge over it, and in any case inventory in a shop is worth a fraction of its retail value to anyone who has to sell it quickly. Real property is the asset that supports a loan of any size.
How much you can borrow
Take the property's value, multiply by 80% for residential security or 70% for commercial, and subtract what is already owing on it. What is left is roughly what is available, between $20,000 and $5,000,000. Several properties can be added together, and the borrower does not have to be the owner — companies, trusts and sole traders — including start-ups, with everyone on title signing. Up to 80% on residential and 70% on commercial. Lower on large acreage, and LVRs may reduce on properties worth less than $800,000.
Why the bank is slow here, and we are not
Retail has spent a decade being read by lenders as a structurally declining category, and that view is applied to the sector before anyone looks at a particular shop. A profitable specialty retailer with a loyal customer base is assessed with the same scepticism as a struggling one.
A serviceability test on the last two years also misreads seasonality, treating a thin quarter as a trend. And a bank's timetable — weeks, plus a valuation — is simply the wrong instrument for a stock buy that is priced to move this month.
We assess the property and how the loan gets repaid. A container arriving, a season turning, a sale completing: that is an exit, and it is what the decision rests on.
What the money is used for
- Buying stock ahead of a season. Funded now, repaid out of the trade the stock produces.
- Taking a clearance or container opportunity. Where the discount is larger than the cost of the money.
- Fit-out, refurbishment or a second site. Against property, because a lease and a shopfit are not security a lender can take.
- Clearing an ATO balance. Paid direct to the ATO from settlement, which stops the interest and the enforcement.
- Getting a supplier back onto terms. Clearing an aged account in one payment so the trading relationship resets.
- Buying the premises. A first mortgage over the shop or warehouse the business has been renting.
From the call to the money
Tell us the deal
Amount, purpose, timing, the property and how the loan gets repaid. A Lending Manager gives you an indicative answer on that call — usually in minutes.
Minutes
Conditional approval
Photo ID, a rates notice and your most recent mortgage statement. That is the whole list, and it takes about fifteen minutes.
About 15 minutes
Funds released
As little as 24 hours from a clean, complete scenario. Paid where you tell us — to your account, or straight to the ATO.
As little as 24 hours
What it costs
Priced per file, on the property, the position, the amount and the exit. No rate is published, because a rate with "from" in front of it is the best file's number. How it is priced, and every fee that exists.
Questions we get from this industry
Can I get a loan to buy stock?
My shop is leased and my business owns nothing. Can I borrow?
Do you look at my turnover or my point-of-sale data?
Can I repay it after Christmas?
I have a trade finance or floor-plan facility already. Does that block a loan?
Can I fund a second store?
What if my ABN is registered but the shop only opened this year?
Is a retail loan different from a commercial loan?
Not a call centre. Tell us the property, the amount and what the money is for, and you will have an indicative answer on the call. 1300 93 83 87, Mon–Fri, 8:30am – 5:30pm Melbourne time.
The assessment is the same in every one of them: property, purpose and exit.
See if you qualify in sixty seconds
Three short questions, no credit check to apply and no financial statements. A Lending Manager reads it and calls you back with a real answer — not a call centre, not an algorithm.
That's the HomeSec Advantage.
Reviewed by Catriona Anderson, General Manager