| “First call, what is the rate?” |
"Great question. Rates and overall loan terms in working capital are entirely subjective to your individual business profile. This means that there is no ‘one-size-fits-all’ rate that can be given to clients, and any rates advertised are subject to whether you qualify for them or not. This is why it's important for us to discuss details about your business in detail. The benefit of going through us here at Valiant is we're also able to provide you with a solution without any upfront credit checks, unlike going to lenders directly."
A specific example to help them contextualise this idea is: "Just like you wouldn’t be able to get the terms of a home loan without the bank understanding your personal profile, a commercial loan is similar in this aspect. Except, we can provide this information for you with no lock-ins, contracts, or fees, and overall risk-free." |
| “I need finance quickly.” |
"You mentioned you're on a bit of a tight timeline for getting this done. At Valiant, because of the large volume we send through to our lenders, I’ll be able to get your application submitted, prioritised, and funded a lot faster than you would be able to directly or through another broker." |
| “I need a 4% rate.” (rate sensitive) |
"Sounds like getting the cheapest rate possible is something you prioritise. A good thing about working with Valiant is we can essentially look around in the market and come back to you with the best rate you qualify for, whether that's with the bank or a non-bank lender. Better yet, because of the amount of volume we send to our lenders, we have strong lending partnerships and preferential pricing that you get access to through us." |
| “What’s the difference between going through you and the lender?” |
"Usually, when working with lenders directly, they’ll conduct an upfront credit check, even if you think you’re only making an enquiry. The great thing about Valiant is that we’re able to compare with multiple lenders available on the market and bring you some concrete options so you can make an informed decision." |
| “Can I just give you PDFs of my bank statements?” |
"Lenders do prefer the illion link, as it provides a more holistic snapshot of your business’s current conduct in a read-only PDF format. Not only do we need this for our internal assessment, but a credit analyst needs this in order to assess your serviceability. We want to make sure we can get you the most accurate indicative quote possible." |
| “What are the payout penalties?” |
"The specifics will depend on which lenders you qualify for across the market, which I'll be able to provide as a part of your indicative quote. However, I always encourage it with my clients. You'll always receive a discount for paying out early, so it allows you to save on some interest payments." |
| “Are there additional fees to the loan amount itself?” |
"There is an establishment/origination fee alongside the loan, which covers the cost of setting up the facility. It will be a percentage of the facility. I'll be able to provide what the specific figure will be along with your indicative quote following this conversation." |
| “I understand my circumstances, but the rate is just too high.” (unsecured loan) |
"What price point were you expecting?"
[Client answers]
"Where did you get that figure from?"
[Client answers]
"I completely understand where you’re coming from, especially if you haven't taken unsecured lending before. The pricing you're referring to is mortgage-type pricing. This, of course, is a completely different ball game than working capital lending, so we can't compare like for like. A mortgage is an extremely long-term commitment over, say, 30-40 years, in comparison to this short-term loan, which helps you meet your immediate needs over a 6-12-month period. A mortgage is also a secured loan, meaning that if something were to happen to you and you couldn't pay off the loan anymore, the financier would simply take away the house. This is why you’ll find rates under 4%. As this is an unsecured loan, it is much higher risk for the lender but extremely high reward for the borrower."
In case of bank rate objection: "Whilst it is a higher interest loan, interest on a business loan is generally tax-deductible, as it's a business expense. On the flip side, paying more in interest reduces your taxable income, which can mean you pay less tax on your income—definitely talk to your accountant and they can walk you through it."
*Focus on their monthly income instead of the monthly repayments to show they can easily service. |
| “I have found another lender who's offering cheaper.” |
"What is the approval you have been presented with, and with which lender/ broker? I want the best outcome for your business regardless if it is through Valiant or not. Are you sure it was an approval you were given, or just an indicative quote? Were all the fees and loading communicated to you? I have found in the past customers are told they’re able to get a better rate elsewhere, but are just verbally told the lowest rate available at that lender—not given a formal or even conditional approval.
Here at Valiant, our quotes are produced via our connections at lenders who work closely with their internal credit assessors, or by the credit assessor’s themselves—subject to a credit check, of course. So, the indicative quotes we provide are very accurate.
As Australia’s largest finance brokerage of this type, and with the volume of business we provide to these lenders, I’m confident that we'll be able to get you the strongest outcome. Are you able to send me the quote/approval you got so I can compare and look to beat it for you?" |
| “The term is too short.” (unsecured loan) |
"Typical loan terms in the industry range between 12 and 24 months. This is a fully unsecured loan, which is short-term cash-flow finance to help you meet your immediate business goals. Not a huge longer-term commitment and something you want hanging over your head for a long period of time." |
| “The term is too short.” (secured loan) |
"Typical loan terms in the industry range between 12 and 24 months. This is a large loan amount that we were able to look at for you in such a short amount of time to address [CUSTOMER FUNDING NEED]. This is short-term cash-flow finance to help you meet your immediate business goals. Not a huge longer-term commitment and something you want hanging over your head for a long period of time." |
| “This is not enough funding to achieve what I need.” |
"As a rule of thumb, in the unsecured lending space, lenders work off a ratio of 1:1 lending—meaning if you turn over, say, $10k/month, you should be able to lend $10k as well. This isn't to say that people can’t get 2 or even 3 times their monthly turnover. In your case, you had [CUSTOMER CIRCUMSTANCE], which prevented you from achieving the full capital needed at this time. At least this way, you can address [PART OF FUNDING] more immediately so you can achieve [NEED PAYOFF] and/or avoid [IMPLICATION]. We can start off with a lower amount, which will get your foot in the door. As your business grows and you build rapport with the lender, we can look at a larger loan amount down the track. You can achieve this through demonstrating strong repayment history, increased turnover, etc."
Tip: Provide an example, if you can, to strengthen this idea. For example: "With another client in [industry], they initially only secured $X. However, once they grew their turnover to $Y, they were able to secure a loan of $Z." |
| “The bank will do me a better rate.” |
"As you can imagine, having run your business for X years, the bank has a much tougher, black-and-white criteria that is unfortunately pretty difficult to qualify for. Since…
- You have only been trading for less than 2 years
- You don’t own any property
- Your credit score is a little lower than required for the banks
- You have outstanding ATO debt…
You don’t quite qualify for bank-level lending at the moment. We can start off with a strong non-bank lender so you have a foot in the door and can meet your immediate business goals. As your business continues to grow, we can look at refinancing for something sharper when you qualify." |
| “The bank can provide me with $X, but it’s not enough, as I am looking for more.” |
"Fantastic! Well, bank lenders won’t do what we call ‘stacking’ in the industry with other bank lenders. Meaning, they won’t lend alongside other banks. However, we can make up the funds with one of our non-bank lenders, as they'll be more inclined to stack. We can get the approval in place fairly quickly, so you can then proceed with it following the settlement of the bank loan. " |
| “Does this hit my credit file?" OR "I don’t want this to affect my credit.” |
"We don’t run any hard credit checks. Essentially, we assess everything else and provide you with a strong indicative quote."
If they continue to object: "We get an idea of what your credit looks like through an Equifax credit report. This is a soft credit check and doesn't affect your credit score. In fact, it’s very similar to the report you have access to for free every 3 months via Equifax. We can provide you with the file, as it is yours. This allows us to ensure we’re sending you to the right lender from the beginning, taking into consideration any credit issues and credit score requirements by lenders." |
| “I can get a credit card for cheaper than this.” |
"While I understand a credit card may appear cheaper on the surface, there are usually hidden costs and marginal ongoing maintenance fees that aren’t disclosed upfront, unlike our loan facilities, provided all repayments are made on time. In addition to this, our loans are structured as set principle plus interest repayments meaning by the end of the term, you will have everything paid off. However, a credit card has less certainty, as interest will continue to accrue even if you fall behind on repayments. This means the cost can get very high, very quickly. Overall, a loan will provide you with more certainty and transparency than a credit card." |
