What happens after you apply for a business loan

What the presenter says

The video is half a minute long and answers one question: what actually happens after you press apply. The presenter takes it in order. You complete a short application, which takes around sixty seconds and needs no documents. HomeSec reviews the property, the equity and the loan requirement. If the deal looks viable it moves quickly, and if it does not, you are told upfront. No chasing, no waiting and no false promises, and a last line on how soon an approved loan can fund.

The three things being reviewed

• The property. Residential, commercial, rural or vacant land, almost anywhere in Australia. Its type and location set the lending limit: up to 80% on residential and 70% on commercial property, lower on large acreage.
• The equity. What the property is worth today, less what is already owed on it. That difference, not your turnover, is what sizes the loan.
• The requirement. How much, for what business purpose, by when, and how the loan will be repaid. Anything from $20,000 to $5,000,000.

None of those needs a financial statement, which is why the application does not ask for one. A credit file is looked at later, with your consent, but it is not what the answer rests on.

Why "we tell you upfront" matters

A slow no is the most expensive answer in business lending. It costs the weeks you waited, and if the application involved a credit enquiry, it leaves a mark on your file that the next lender will see. Most of the reasons a property-secured loan cannot be done are visible at the start, in the property, what is owed on it and what the money is for, and none of them needs a month of paperwork to discover. Hearing it on the first call means you can take the file somewhere it fits while the deadline is still ahead of you. If you have already been declined elsewhere, the guide on what to do after a business loan decline sets out the next steps.

One habit follows from that. Before applying anywhere, ask whether the first step involves a credit enquiry, and whether what comes back will be a real indication or only an acknowledgement that the form arrived. A lender that decides on the property, the amount and the purpose should be able to say yes or no before it goes near your credit file.

From the application to the money

After the online application a Lending Manager calls, talks through the property, the purpose and the exit, and gives an indicative answer, usually in minutes. Conditional approval needs three documents and about fifteen minutes. Settlement follows, and funds can be in your account in as little as 24 hours from a clean, complete scenario. The things that slow a file are almost always outside the application itself: a missing document, someone on the title who has not been told, or, in New South Wales and Queensland, the first mortgagee's consent to a registered second mortgage. The guide to how long a business loan takes breaks that timetable down step by step, and when you are ready, the application is here.