Business Owners & Entrepreneurs: When Our Expertise Is Right for You
Business owners and entrepreneurs usually borrow in two roles at once, personally and through the business, and we arrange finance with both in view.
This includes clients with complex income structures, where financials require interpretation to show how a lender may assess borrowing capacity, rather than relying on surface-level assessments.
We work with clients who require a deeper understanding of how their business performance, tax position, and financial structure impact lending outcomes.
We can help you see how a lender may assess your borrowing capacity, structure the lending sensibly, and present your financial position in the way a lender expects to see it.
We also support clients through business growth, changes in income, and evolving financial strategies, arranging finance with lenders whose policies may suit you and staying in touch as your business develops.
Why Business Professionals Choose Oakwood Finance
At Oakwood Finance, commercial lending is approached as an ongoing financial relationship rather than an isolated transaction.
We focus on:
Structure
Ensuring the lending arrangement is appropriate for the transaction and broader financial position.
Clarity
Explaining the options, risks and trade-offs so clients can make informed decisions.
Coordination
Working alongside lenders and professional advisers throughout the transaction.
Discretion
Managing sensitive financial information and significant transactions with care and confidentiality.
Long-Term Strategy
Considering not only what the client needs today, but what they may need to fund next.
Why good businesses get declined
Self-employed borrowers are not necessarily riskier than employees, but their income can be harder for a lender to read. If you have been told no despite a profitable business, the reason is usually one of the four below.
1. Your tax return is doing its job too well
A good accountant minimises your assessable income. A lender reads that same return as your capacity to repay. The fix is add-backs: depreciation, one-off expenses, interest on debts being refinanced, superannuation above the required rate, and the private-use portion of company vehicles can often be added back to the income a lender assesses. Lenders differ on which they accept. Knowing that before lodging can matter as much as the rate.
2. Profits retained in the company
Money left in the business to fund growth does not appear as personal income, so on paper you earn far less than you do. Several lenders will assess retained company profits where you control the entity. Not all will, and the ones that do want it evidenced properly.
3. The ATO
An unmanaged tax debt can hold up or stop an application. A disclosed debt under a payment arrangement being met on time is workable with a number of lenders. Not disclosing it is the worst approach: lenders may check a borrower’s ATO account, and a debt that is found can count against you more than one that is raised openly.
4. Two years of figures, or not
Most lenders want two full years of financials. Some will lend on one year plus interim figures, and low-doc options exist using BAS statements or an accountant’s declaration where the full picture is not yet available. These can cost more, so they are worth using when timing genuinely requires it rather than as a default.
What we do differently
We build the income case before choosing a lender, with your accountant involved from the start rather than chased for a letter at week three. Then we look for a lender whose policy may already suit the file, because every application leaves an enquiry on your credit file, and a decline can cost you time you may not have.
What business owners come to us for
Commercial finance · Buying your premises · Equipment and vehicles · Lending across entities · A home loan on self-employed income
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