An illustrative animated example · Video · 0:57

Equipment breakdown loan when your business is too new for most lenders

0:57 · Posted 4 October 2026 on the HomeSec YouTube channel

A cartoon told in captions: a key machine fails, Jan's business is too new for the lenders she tries, her bank refinance is months away, and a loan against her property pays for the repair.

In short

A repair is harder to finance than a purchase: equipment finance takes the machine as security, and a repair bill buys nothing new to secure.
A business that has not traded long enough fails most lenders' first test. A loan secured on property does not have one: there is no minimum trading period.
The video's exit is the bank refinance of Jan's home loan. The property loan covers the months until it settles, and the refinance repays it.
Every day the machine is down costs revenue and goodwill, which is the sum to set against the cost of borrowing.

What the video shows

The story is told in captions over a cartoon, with no one speaking. Jan's key machine fails and she needs money for the repair. She tries several lenders, and each turns her down because her business has not been trading for long enough. Her bank is willing to refinance her home loan and release the money, only not for months. On a friend's advice she turns to HomeSec for a caveat loan, and the repair is paid for. The video's point is what that saved her: weeks of lost sales, and her standing with customers who were waiting on her.

Why the repair is the hard part to fund

Had Jan needed a new machine, an equipment financier might have taken it on, because the machine itself would have been the security. A repair gives a financier nothing to hold. The money goes on labour and parts inside an asset that is already owned, and possibly already financed. So repair money usually comes from cash in the bank or an unsecured loan, and unsecured lenders score a business on its trading record. A young business has very little of one, so it is declined for reasons that say nothing about whether it is any good.

What a stopped machine costs

The cost of a breakdown is not the repair bill. It is the work that cannot be done while the machine is down. As an illustration, a machine behind $2,000 a day in sales that stays idle for 15 working days, about three weeks, costs $30,000 in sales that do not come back, before counting the customer who takes the next order elsewhere. That is the number to set against the cost of a faster loan. If the repair can wait without losing anything, waiting for cheaper money is the sensible choice.

How the bridge to the refinance works

Jan's position is common: plenty of equity in her home, and a bank willing to release it, just not on the timetable the business needs. HomeSec lends against that same property. It wants to see the equity, a business reason for the money and a way out, and it does not ask for financial records or a minimum time in business. Funds can be available in as little as 24 hours from a clean, complete scenario. With interest added to the loan for as long as 6 months, no repayment falls due while the bank processes the refinance. The refinance then repays the HomeSec loan, and if that happens early the interest for the unused months is credited back.

The animation calls it a caveat loan. That is how it is secured in every state and territory except New South Wales and Queensland. For property in New South Wales and Queensland, HomeSec takes a registered second mortgage, and the home-loan lender is normally asked to consent. A new business with property behind it is also the case the guide to start-up business loans is written for.

What to have ready when you call

The repairer's quote or invoice, so the amount and the purpose are clear; the latest council rates notice for the property and a current statement for the loan already on it; and a word on where the bank refinance is up to. With those in hand, a Lending Manager can usually say in one conversation whether the scenario works, before anyone fills in a long form.

Questions people ask next

Why won't equipment finance pay for a repair?

Because equipment finance is built around the asset it buys. The financier takes security over the new machine, and a repair invoice does not create anything it can register or recover. That leaves cash, an unsecured loan, or equity somewhere else. An unsecured lender will usually want a trading record the business may not yet have, which is the wall Jan hits in the video.

Does the bank refinance have to be approved before HomeSec lends?

No. What matters is that the refinance, or another way of repaying, is realistic and under way, not that a bank has already said yes. If the bank is slower than hoped, tell us: there is no set end date on a HomeSec loan, and carrying it for longer does not trigger an extension fee.

What if the machine is beyond repair?

Then the same loan can fund the replacement. The property is the security rather than the machine, so a second-hand, imported or specialised unit is as acceptable as a new one, and there is no deposit. Loans run from $20,000 up to $5,000,000, and the equity in the property sets where in that band yours sits. Funding an equipment purchase covers the replacement case.

The full guide

The video is the short version. The written guide has the detail: business bridging loans, repaid by the refinance or sale that is coming.

To talk it through about your own property, ring a Lending Manager on 1300 93 83 87, Mon–Fri, 8:30am – 5:30pm Melbourne time.