No property security
Unsecured business loans
Borrow a lump sum against how your business trades, not against your house. Comparing is free and it does not mark your credit file.
Unsecured Business Loans at a glance
- Amount
- $5,000 to $500,000
- Term
- Up to 60 months
- Security
- No property security. A personal guarantee from the directors is standard.
- Time to funding
- Once your documents are in, the lender sets the pace.
- Typical use
- Stock, wages, a GST bill, a deposit on a contract you have to fund before you can invoice it
- What you'll need
- Your NZBN or company number (or trading details if you are a sole trader), photo ID, and recent business bank statements
What it is
What is an unsecured business loan?
An unsecured business loan is a lump sum you repay over a fixed term with no property offered as security. The lender reads how your business trades, the money moving through your bank account week to week, instead of valuing something you own. In New Zealand a personal guarantee from the directors is standard, so you are personally on the hook if the business cannot pay. That is the trade-off for keeping a mortgage off your home.
Repayments are usually monthly by direct debit, and some lenders collect weekly. Because the lender has no asset to fall back on, the rate is higher and the term is shorter than a secured loan. What you are buying is speed and the fact that your property stays out of it.
Worked example
A worked example
- A café in Hamilton borrows $50,000 over 12 months to fit out a second site.
- Whatever the rate, the test is the same: the repayment should come out of the new site's takings, not out of the original site's margin.
Shown to explain the maths, not to quote you a price. Your rate depends on the lender, your turnover and your credit file.
Is this right for you?
Is an unsecured business loan right for you?
Good fit if…
- You need the money quickly and cannot wait for a property valuation.
- Your business banks steady turnover, month after month.
- You do not own property, or you do not want a mortgage registered over the property you have.
- The money has a job that pays for itself: stock you will sell, a contract you will invoice.
- You can cover the repayment out of normal trading, not out of hope.
Probably not if…
- You want the cheapest rate available. Secured lending is cheaper. Full stop.
- You need more than 5 years to repay it. Unsecured terms are short by design.
- You are buying a van, a truck or a machine. Asset finance uses the asset as security and usually costs less.
- Your turnover swings hard month to month and a fixed repayment would break you. A line of credit fits that better.
- You are borrowing to cover a loss you have not fixed. A loan moves the problem forward, it does not solve it.
What it costs
What an unsecured business loan costs
Pricing is set by the lender on the day, not by us. Here is the shape of the cost.
- Interest rate
- Rates are set by the lender for your deal, not by us, and depend on your trading, your credit file and the product. Unsecured lending prices above secured lending because there is no asset behind it.
- Arrangement fee
- Charged once and often deducted from the amount advanced, so you receive slightly less than the face amount.
- Ongoing fees
- Some lenders charge a monthly account fee, others build everything into the rate. Compare the total amount repayable, not the headline rate.
- Paying it out early
- Some lenders rebate the unearned interest, others hold you to the full agreed payback whenever you exit. On a 12-month loan this is the single biggest difference between two offers that look identical. Ask us before you sign.
Bizzloans is a commercial finance broker, not a lender. The lender that funds your deal pays us a commission, which we disclose to you. You pay us nothing to compare.
Eligibility
Who can apply
- A New Zealand business: limited company, sole trader, partnership or trust
- Photo ID (passport or NZ driver licence) for each director, partner, trustee or owner
- In business for at least 6 months
- Turnover of at least $6,000 a month
- Bad credit considered
Don’t meet these? Talk to us. We have lenders for most situations, and we’ll tell you straight if we don’t.
Contact usWhat you'll need
What you’ll need
No documents
To get a quote
- Nothing. Tell us the amount, what it is for, and your rough monthly turnover.
- No credit file is pulled to compare, so looking at your options does not mark your file.
Once you pick a lender
To settle
- Recent business bank statements, as PDFs or through secure bank statement retrieval
- Your NZBN or company number, and photo ID and proof of address for each director
- Your most recent GST return or financial statements, if the lender asks for them
- A signed direct debit authority
- The loan agreement and personal guarantee, signed electronically
How it works
How it works
A few minutes
Tell us what you need
Amount, purpose, how long you have traded and your monthly turnover. That is enough to rule lenders in or out. No credit check happens at this stage.
Once your details are in
We compare the panel
We take your file to the lenders whose criteria you actually fit, rather than firing it at everyone and leaving searches all over your credit file. You get amounts, rates and terms side by side.
Sign and get funded
Pick an option, sign the agreement, guarantee and direct debit, and the lender pays into your business account. A tax arrears position or a messy statement adds time.
This vs the alternative
Unsecured loan vs line of credit
These two get confused constantly, and picking the wrong one is expensive. The difference is not the rate. It is what you pay interest on.
| Unsecured business loan | Business line of credit | |
|---|---|---|
| How you get the money | One lump sum, up front | A limit you draw from whenever you want |
| What you pay interest on | The full amount, from day one | Only the balance you have drawn |
| Repayments | Fixed monthly (sometimes weekly), set at the start | Interest on the drawn balance, plus any facility fee |
| Can you re-use it? | No. Repay it and you apply again. | Yes. Repay and the limit is available again. |
| Term | Up to 60 months | Ongoing, reviewed periodically |
| Best for | A one-off cost you can name today | Gaps you cannot predict: stock, wages, slow payers |
If you can name the amount and the reason today, take the loan. If you are covering a gap that keeps reappearing, take the line.
What the lender is actually reading in your bank statements
Unsecured lending lives and dies on bank conduct. Knowing what an underwriter looks for tells you whether to apply now or wait a month.
- Average monthly credits, and whether they are steady or lumpy across recent months.
- Days overdrawn beyond your arranged limit. A handful is normal. Most of the month is a decline.
- Returned direct debits. One is a bad week. Several is a pattern.
- Existing lenders. Two or three current facilities being collected from the account will cap what anyone else will lend.
- Gambling transactions. Small and occasional is usually ignored. Regular and material is not.
FAQ
Unsecured Business Loans questions
What does unsecured actually mean?
Will comparing hurt my credit score?
How fast can I actually have the money?
Can I get an unsecured loan with bad credit?
How much can I borrow?
Do I need to say what the money is for?
What is a personal guarantee?
What if I want to repay it early?
Can I have two unsecured loans at once?
Is Bizzloans the lender?
A person reads this, not a scoring engine
A named advisor takes your file to the lenders on the panel that fund your industry and your turnover, and tells you plainly when an unsecured business loan is the wrong answer and what to use instead.
Ready when you are
Compare Unsecured Business Loans today
Comparing is free, you’re never locked in, and checking won’t affect your credit score. If we can’t help, we’ll tell you that too.
