Is your business fundable? Score the file out of 10.
Commercial lenders don't price businesses; they price files. Seven quick questions across the markers a credit desk actually reads: structure, numbers, profit, add-backs, the ATO, facilities and security. Your score and the groundwork show up immediately.
3 minutes. 7 areas. One real score.
No sign-up. No email wall.
About the business·Context
First, which of these describe the business?
Tick everything that's true. This doesn't move the score; it shapes the next steps.
The bones·Structure
How is the business structured?
Structure decides what lenders can lend to, and how tax-effectively debt sits.
The bones·Numbers
How current are the financials?
Lenders price the file, and the file is mostly the numbers.
The engine·Profit
What's the profit trend over the last two years?
The engine·Add-backs
Which of these are true about what the business really earns?
Tick everything that applies. Lenders assess maintainable earnings: profit AFTER the story is understood.
The engine·ATO
Where does the ATO position sit?
Arrears aren't fatal to a deal. Surprises are.
The debt·Facilities
The existing debt: which of these are true?
Tick everything that applies.
The debt·Security
Do you know what security the business could offer, and what's already pledged?
Your file's shape, live
0 of 8 answeredYour score builds here.
Tap an answer on any question to begin.
Each scored answer pulls the shape outward. The dashed ring is the strong mark.
What your score means, band by band.
The check scores 7 areas out of 10 each and averages them, so every area carries 14.3% of the result. The bands describe how a credit desk would receive the file today, and each one has a different next move.
| Score | Band | Next move |
|---|---|---|
| 8.5 to 10 | Bankable | Run a competitive process: two or three lenders, priced against each other |
| 6.5 to 8.5 | Fundable | Close the one or two gaps before applying, not after the first decline |
| 4 to 6.5 | Preparable | Book the accountant conversation first, the lender conversation second |
| 0 to 4 | Groundwork first | Fix the file before anyone sees it: numbers, then the ATO position |
The same bands the tool applies. General information only: the score weighs general markers of borrowing readiness and knows nothing about your revenue, industry or security.
What the tool tells you at each band, in full:
Bankable. This file would read well on a credit desk. The wins from here are pricing and structure: competition between lenders, and security working as hard as it can.
Fundable. The bones are good; one or two gaps are costing pricing power. Closing them before the next application usually pays for itself in the rate.
Preparable. Fundable with preparation. Most businesses sit here. The flags this check raises are the pre-lender checklist; several are accountant conversations, not lending ones.
Groundwork first. No judgement, but going to lenders now would price badly or stall. The flags this check raises, roughly in order, are the groundwork that changes the answer.
What a commercial credit team actually weights.
Home lending is largely a formula: income in, buffer applied, capacity out. Commercial lending is a judgement, made by a person reading a file, and the seven areas below are what that person looks for. They are scored equally here because the tool cannot see your numbers; in a real assessment their weight moves with the deal.
| Area | Weight | What a credit team reads into it |
|---|---|---|
| Structure | 14.3% | Who the borrower is, and what a lender can take security over. Sole trader, company or trust changes the lender pool, the guarantees required and how tax-effectively the debt sits. |
| Numbers | 14.3% | How current and how credible the financials are. Stale numbers are the most common reason a commercial deal stalls, ahead of anything about the business itself. |
| Profit | 14.3% | The trend, not the last figure. Credit teams read two years and price volatility as risk, so a bumpy but profitable business needs the bumps explained in the file. |
| Add-backs | 14.3% | The gap between taxable profit and maintainable earnings. Documented add-backs are what serviceability is actually calculated on, and undocumented ones simply do not exist. |
| ATO | 14.3% | Whether tax is current, on a plan, or a surprise waiting in the bank statements. Disclosed arrears on a plan are fundable; discovered arrears are not. |
| Facilities | 14.3% | What debt already exists, at what rate, on what terms. Facilities roll over at last year's margin unless someone reviews them, and stacked short-term debt reads badly and prices badly. |
| Security | 14.3% | What is available, what is already pledged, and who has personally guaranteed what. Security is the pricing lever most business owners have never mapped. |
Areas and weights read directly from the model the tool scores with. Each area contributes equally to the average.
Underneath those seven, a credit team is answering three questions in order. Can the business service the debt from earnings it can evidence? If it stops, what is the security worth and how quickly can it be realised? And is the borrower the kind of operator who tells you about problems before you find them? The first is arithmetic, the second is valuation, and the third is the one that quietly decides pricing.
The numbers a credit desk sizes a deal with.
Commercial capacity is not a multiple of income. It is whichever of two limits binds first: what the earnings can service, and what the security supports. The typical security limits differ a lot by what you are buying, which is why the same business can be told two completely different numbers depending on the question it asked.
| What you're funding | Typical limit | What moves it |
|---|---|---|
| Commercial property | 65-80% of value | Asset type, lease term and tenant quality, location, and whether you occupy it yourself |
| Premises bought through an SMSF | Typically 60-80% | Fund balance and contributions, the limited recourse structure, and lender appetite |
| Buying a business or a franchise | 50-70% of maintainable earnings | Evidence quality of the add-backs, franchise system, and whether property security backs it |
| Property development | 65-80% of total development cost | Presales, builder and contract type, planning risk, and the developer's track record |
Indicative market ranges as at August 2026, not any single lender's policy and not an offer of credit. Every lender publishes its own credit policy and revises it. Serviceability is assessed separately and is often the binding constraint before the security limit is reached.
Serviceability on the commercial side is usually tested as a coverage ratio rather than a surplus: earnings before interest and tax, or net operating income on a property, measured against the loan's interest and principal commitments. Which is why add-backs are not a technicality. Every documented dollar of maintainable earnings you can evidence lifts the coverage ratio and therefore the loan. Every undocumented one is worth nothing at all, no matter how real it is.
Where each of those sits in practice: commercial property loans for premises and investment, SMSF lending if the fund is buying the premises your business rents, acquisition and franchise funding for buying a business, and development finance for projects.
Add-backs: what counts, and what evidence they need.
A tax return is prepared to minimise tax. A credit assessment is trying to find the earnings the business genuinely produces. Add-backs are the bridge between the two, and they are the single biggest swing factor in what a small business file supports.
The ones lenders commonly accept: depreciation and amortisation, interest on debt being refinanced or repaid, directors' wages and superannuation above a market salary for the role, one-off costs that will not repeat (a legal dispute, a relocation, a failed project), personal expenses run through the business, and rent paid to a related party where the property is part of the transaction. The ones they usually will not: optimistic forecasts, revenue that has not happened yet, and "savings we will make once the loan settles".
Evidence is what separates the two lists. An add-back a credit team will use is one it can trace: a line in the financials, an invoice, a director's minute, or an accountant's letter that identifies the item and confirms it will not recur. Turning up with a number and no paper trail is worse than not raising it, because it invites the assessor to discount everything else you have said. This is the part where your accountant earns their fee, and it is why the preparation should start well before the deal.
The ATO position, said plainly.
Tax debt is the most misunderstood item on a commercial file. Lenders fund businesses with ATO arrears every week, provided the arrears are disclosed, on a documented payment plan, and being met. What ends a deal is discovery: an assessor finds ATO payments in the bank statements that were not mentioned, and the question stops being about the debt and starts being about the disclosure.
There is a second reason to deal with it early. The ATO can report business tax debts above a threshold to credit reporting bureaus where the business has not engaged with it, which turns a private problem into a credit file problem visible to every lender. Engaging, agreeing a plan and keeping to it is the difference. If cash flow is what caused the arrears in the first place, the facility, not the tax, is usually the thing to fix, and working capital finance is the conversation about matching the right facility to the actual gap.
What to do with a low score.
Nothing in this check is permanent. Most low scores are three or four months of preparation, and the order matters more than the effort: numbers first, because nothing else can be assessed without them; then the ATO position, because it decides which lenders can look at you at all; then add-backs and security, because those set the price rather than the answer.
Two moves are worth considering regardless of score. If you rent your premises, the rent you are already paying reliably is evidence you could service a loan on the same building, and buying the premises changes where that money ends up. And if the existing debt has never been reviewed, an annual facility review is the commercial version of a repricing call: rates, fees, terms and covenants across every facility, compared rather than rolled over. Our commercial lending page covers how that works, and business loans covers the unsecured and cash-flow end of the market.
If you also have a mortgage in your own name, it is worth running the home loan health check alongside this one: personal debt and card limits sit in a commercial assessment too, and directors are usually guaranteeing both sides. The full set of tools, including personal borrowing power, is on the calculators and checks hub.
Frequently asked questions.
What makes a business 'fundable'?
Commercial lenders read the same file every time: current financials, a clear profit story (including add-backs), a clean or managed ATO position, sensible structure, and security they can understand. The check scores those markers because they're fixable, and fixing them changes both approval odds and pricing.
What are add-backs?
Adjustments that show a business's true earning power: directors' wages above or below market, one-off costs, personal expenses run through the business. Lenders assess 'maintainable earnings' (profit after the story is understood), and documented add-backs can substantially lift what a file supports.
Will an ATO debt stop us borrowing?
Not by itself. An ATO debt on a payment plan, disclosed up front, is routinely fundable. The deal-killer is the undisclosed version a lender finds in the bank statements. If there's tax debt, the move is a plan plus honesty, both of which we help arrange.
Is this credit advice?
No. It weighs seven general markers of borrowing readiness and returns general observations. It doesn't know your revenue, industry or circumstances. The review with Jacob is where the real assessment happens; structure and tax questions belong with your accountant (LINK Advisors, if you'd like ours).
How much can a business borrow?
There is no income multiple the way there is in home lending. Commercial capacity is set by what the security supports and what the earnings service. Against commercial property, lenders typically go to 65% to 80% of value depending on the asset and the tenant, and an SMSF buying its own premises typically sits at 60% to 80%. Buying a business rather than a building, funding is commonly 50% to 70% of maintainable earnings. Development finance is usually sized at 65% to 80% of total development cost. Which of those applies to you is the first question worth answering.
What deposit do I need to buy commercial property?
Plan on 20% to 35% of value in cash or other security, since commercial LVRs typically run 65% to 80% and the stronger end usually requires a strong tenant, a standard asset type and a strong borrower. Duty, legal costs and any GST treatment sit on top of that, and lenders will often want to see working capital left in the business afterwards rather than every spare dollar in the deposit. Buying premises through an SMSF is a separate structure with its own rules and typically a similar or larger deposit.
How long does commercial finance take?
The honest answer is that the timeline is mostly set by your paperwork, not the lender. With current financials, tax lodgements up to date, an ATO position that is either clean or on a documented plan, and clear security, a straightforward commercial deal moves in weeks. Missing financials or a surprise in the statements turns the same deal into months, because every question restarts the credit queue. That is exactly what this check is scoring.
Will I have to give a personal guarantee?
Almost always, for a small or medium business. Lenders take directors' guarantees as standard, and where the guarantee is supported by a property they will often want a mortgage over it as well. What is negotiable is the scope: whether the guarantee is limited to an amount, whether both directors' spouses are required, and whether it can be released once a covenant is met. Those are worth negotiating at term sheet stage, because they are far harder to change afterwards.
Your broker for life.
A score is a start. A funded deal is the point.
Bring your result to a review. Jacob turns the flags into a fundable file and takes it to the lenders who want it.
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