How much can I borrow for a business loan?

How much can you borrow for a business loan?

It depends on which of three lending models you fit. Unsecured online lenders advance a slice of your revenue, verified from bank statements, and cap loans at $500,000 to $1M with a hard floor on monthly turnover and months trading. Banks lend against profit and cash flow, want financials, and lend more on secured than unsecured terms. Property-secured lenders lend a percentage of the property's value and care less about trading history. The table below shows the published thresholds for each; the sections after it explain how the amount inside those limits is set.

Checked against each lender's published criteria on 19 September 2026. Criteria change without notice, so confirm the current figure with the lender or your broker before relying on it.

What do lenders look at when setting the amount?

• Turnover. The starting point for every unsecured lender. Revenue is read directly from your business bank statements, usually the last 6 to 12 months, so what matters is money that actually lands in the account, not invoices raised.
• Time trading. A gate rather than a dial. Four months opens one lender, six months opens several, twelve months opens most. Nothing you do before those milestones changes the answer.
• Profit and cash flow. Banks and larger loans are assessed on whether the business generates enough after expenses to cover the proposed repayments with room to spare.
• Security. Offering property or an asset moves you from turnover-based to value-based lending, with larger amounts and lower rates.
• Credit history. Both the business and the directors. Recent defaults, tax debt enforcement or insolvency events are published exclusions at several lenders.
• Existing debt. Every current repayment, including guaranteed loans and any ATO payment plan, is deducted before the new loan is sized.
• Industry and structure. Some industries are restricted or priced higher, and sole traders, companies and trusts are assessed slightly differently.

How do unsecured lenders decide the amount?

Online lenders connect to your bank account, read 6 to 12 months of transactions, and size the loan from the revenue pattern they see. They publish the thresholds you must clear but not the formula, and each says the amount "depends on your business data". In practice the loan is a fraction of your annual revenue, scaled down by short trading history, uneven cash flow, existing debt and any credit issues, and scaled up by security. Two published signals show where the ceilings sit: Prospa requires no upfront security up to $150,000 but property ownership above it, and OnDeck asks for a tax return or accountant-prepared financials once a loan moves into its larger band up to $300,000.

The practical implication is that for an unsecured loan the fastest way to a bigger number is more revenue through one clean business account, not a better business plan.

How do banks work out business serviceability?

Banks look past turnover to profit. The test is whether the cash the business generates after operating expenses covers all of its debt repayments, existing and proposed, with a margin. Lenders express this as a debt service cover ratio: cash available for debt service divided by total annual repayments. A ratio of exactly 1.0 means every dollar of surplus goes to debt; lenders want it comfortably above that, and the exact benchmark varies by lender, industry and whether the loan is secured.

For the calculation they use financial statements, usually two years, and add back non-cash expenses such as depreciation and any one-off items. They also apply their own interest rate buffer, so a loan is tested at a rate above the one you will pay. Secured lending is then capped by the property or asset value: with residential security some lenders go to 80% of value, while commercial property is typically limited to 65% to 70%.

Two worked examples

A cafe, 18 months trading, $30,000 a month through the business account. It clears every published turnover floor and every trading-history gate, so all of the unsecured lenders in the table are open to it. The amount will be a fraction of its $360,000 annual revenue, and the owner should expect to be asked for financials if the request goes past the low hundreds of thousands. Existing equipment finance repayments will be deducted first.

A trades company, four years trading, $150,000 net profit before interest and depreciation, applying to a bank for $400,000 over five years. At an assessment rate of around 10%, repayments on that loan are roughly $8,500 a month, or $102,000 a year. Cash available for debt service of $150,000 against $102,000 of repayments is a cover ratio of about 1.5, before any other business debt. That is a comfortable margin for most lenders. If the business also carries $40,000 a year of vehicle finance, the ratio falls to about 1.06 and the bank will trim the amount or ask for security.

Run your own numbers through the business loan calculator, then confirm the lender's view with a broker before relying on the figure.

How can you increase your business borrowing capacity?

• Wait for the next trading milestone: six months and twelve months each open a new tier of lenders.
• Run all revenue through a single business account so the bank-statement read shows everything.
• Register for GST; Moula requires it and others read lodged BAS as evidence of consistent turnover.
• Get accountant-prepared financials before you need them; they are the gate to larger loans at OnDeck, Prospa and every bank.
• Close unused facilities and clear small debts; each existing repayment is deducted before the new loan is sized.
• Offer security if you have it: property moves you from turnover-limited to value-limited lending.
• Fix credit issues first; a recent default or an ATO enforcement action is a published exclusion at several lenders.