Choosing your route
Bank vs broker for a business loan
We are a broker, so read this knowing that. This is the comparison written the way we would want to read it if we were on the other side of the desk, including the situations where going straight to your bank is the right answer.
There are two ways to arrange a business loan in Australia: walk into the bank you already use, or put your file in front of a broker who compares across a panel of banks and non-bank lenders. Most of what ranks for this question is written by brokers telling you to use a broker. So is this, which is exactly why it names the bank's genuine advantages instead of pretending it has none.
The honest frame is this. The bank route gives you one institution's answer, delivered with full knowledge of your accounts. The broker route gives you a comparison across lenders whose credit policies differ, at the cost of introducing a middle party whose quality you also have to judge. Which trade wins depends on your file, not on a slogan.
The options
What each one actually is
-
Straight to your bank
One lender, one credit policy, assessed by the institution that already sees your accounts.
- Suits
- Clean files, simple deals, strong existing banking relationships, and businesses that value one institution holding the whole picture.
- Watch out for
- One credit policy means one answer. A decline tells you about that bank's appetite, not about your business, and the next application starts from zero.
-
Through a broker
One conversation, taken to a panel of banks and non-bank lenders whose appetite is matched to your file.
- Suits
- Anything with complexity: newer trading history, credit blemishes, unusual industries, asset types banks dislike. And owners who do not have time to run multiple applications.
- Watch out for
- Broker quality varies across the industry. Ask any broker, including us, how they are paid and which lenders they can actually access.
At a glance
Side by side
| Straight to your bank | Through a broker | |
|---|---|---|
| Lenders considered | One | A panel of banks and non-bank lenders |
| Whose credit policy applies | That bank's | The policies matched to your file |
| Who does the legwork | You | The broker |
| Cost to you | The bank's pricing | Lender-paid commission in most business lending, disclosed. See the FAQ below |
| What a decline means | Start again elsewhere | The next lender on the panel |
| Complex or non-standard files | Harder | The core use case |
| Existing relationship leverage | Strong, if you have one | Kept. A broker may still place you with your own bank |
How to actually choose
The honest answer
When the bank wins: a clean file, a simple need, sharp pricing from a relationship you have earned, or a structure where one institution seeing the whole picture genuinely helps. If that is you, go to your bank first and use this page as the checklist for reading their offer.
When a broker wins: complexity of any kind, time you do not have, or the moment the first bank says no and the alternative is applying serially, one lender at a time, collecting enquiries on your file as you go. A panel exposes credit policies and pricing that one bank will not show you, though nobody can promise what any lender will decide.
A good test of any broker is whether they will tell you to stay with your bank when that is the answer. We do, and it costs us deals. We would rather that than arrange finance the comparison did not support.
FAQs
Common questions
Does using a broker make the loan dearer than going direct?
Generally no fee is added to your loan for using a broker. In most Australian business lending the broker is paid a commission by the lender when the finance settles, and we disclose how we are paid. The lender sets the pricing either way, on your file and its own credit policy. Where any client fee could ever apply, it is disclosed and agreed before you commit to anything.
Will a broker get me a better rate than my bank?
Sometimes, and nobody honest will put it stronger than that. A panel exposes pricing and credit policies that one bank will not show you, which is the structural reason a comparison can land better. But the lender sets the rate on your file, and no broker controls that decision. If your bank's offer survives the comparison, that is a good outcome too: now you know.
Does going through a broker slow things down?
The channel matters less than the file. What genuinely moves speed, in either route, is a complete application: full bank statements, a clear purpose, and anything awkward disclosed up front rather than discovered at assessment. We do not quote turnaround times, because assessment and funding sit with the lender in both routes. A broker's job is to make sure the file arrives complete, at lenders with actual appetite for it.
Can a broker place me with my own bank?
Often, yes. If your bank is on the panel and its offer wins the comparison, that is where the finance goes. The value is not moving you somewhere new, it is that the comparison actually happened: you take your bank's offer knowing what the rest of the market would have done, rather than hoping it was competitive.
The right answer depends on your numbers.
A comparison page can show you the shape of the decision. Which option is actually cheaper for your business depends on what the lenders would offer you, and that is the part we do.
An enquiry is a conversation, not an application. We won't submit anything to a lender without your say-so.