How a business loan broker works
Free to you, paid by the lender at settlement, and not always the answer. Here’s what a broker actually does, and when going direct is the better call.
A business loan broker works with dozens of lenders at once, matches your business to the ones actually funding deals like yours right now, and manages the application on your behalf. You don’t pay for it. The lender does, and only once your loan settles.
That’s the mechanics. The real value is somewhere else: there is so much choice in the lending market now that going direct often means picking a product without ever finding out what else was on the table.
Why not just go directly to a lender?
Choice is the problem, not the solution. With 80-plus non-bank lenders active in the SME space alone, plus every major bank, a business owner comparing offers on their own is working from a handful of quotes when dozens of better-fitting ones exist. A broker’s job is keeping in-depth, current knowledge of what each lender is actually funding right now, not what their website says they fund.
- 01Lender appetite shifts constantly, by industry, by loan size, by how a business’s bank statements read. A product that was competitive six months ago might not be the best fit today, and a business owner researching once has no way to know that.
- 02Going direct to one or two lenders means comparing against yourself, not the market. You can still make a reasonable decision. You just can’t know if it was the right one.
Does a broker always steer you away from your bank?
No. If your existing bank has given you a genuinely good offer, or the bank is the right fit for your situation, we’ll tell you to take it. The job is finding the right outcome for your business, not proving the broker channel was necessary.
For most applications, we’re only paid by the lender once your loan settles. Everything before that, the research, the comparisons, the application, costs you nothing.
How does a business loan broker actually get paid?
By the lender, after your loan settles, not by you. The lender pays a commission for bringing them a completed, credit-ready application, and that amount is disclosed to you in writing before you sign anything. If your application doesn’t settle, there’s no fee either way.
| Cost to you | Nothing upfront. Paid by the lender at settlement, disclosed in writing before you sign |
| If it doesn’t settle | No fee, to you or from the lender |
| After settlement | Ongoing service included, not a one-off transaction |
| Access | Whatever mix of banks and non-bank lenders actually suits the deal |
What happens after settlement?
The relationship doesn’t end when the loan does. Think of your broker as a sounding board for what the market is doing: rates move, new lenders enter, your business’s position changes, and you get to check in on any of that without starting a new search from scratch.
What actually makes one broker different from another
Lender-side experience, not just access
Most brokers can technically submit to 50-plus lenders. Fewer have actually worked inside them. Years spent on the lender side, across multiple businesses, building the relationships and the credit-policy knowledge, changes what “matching you to the right lender” actually means.
Knowing what lenders are buying, not just what they list
A lender’s published criteria and what their credit team is actually approving this month are two different things. In-depth, current relationships are what closes that gap, and it’s the difference between a broker who submits applications and one who places them correctly the first time.
When doesn’t a broker matter?
If your bank has already offered you a strong, competitive deal and you’re happy with the relationship, there’s often no reason to shop it around through a broker. The value of a broker shows up when there’s genuine complexity to navigate, multiple lenders to weigh up, or a deal that a generic application would get knocked back for. If your situation is simple and your existing offer is fair, say so on the call. We’d rather tell you that than run a comparison that doesn’t change the outcome.
Want a second opinion on your options?
Tell us what you’re financing and what you’ve already been offered, and we’ll tell you honestly whether a broader search is worth it, or whether what you’ve got is already the right deal.
Give us the basics below and Andrew will come back with the two or three offers actually worth your time, usually within a business day.