Unsecured business loans
Up to R5 million against your trading history, with no property and no collateral behind it. Placed with the lender most likely to say yes rather than the first one you find.
Funded on what the bank account shows
Lenders in this group underwrite off your statements: steady deposits, few bounced debit orders, turnover holding up. Get those right and the rest follows.
This is the busiest corner of South African business finance and the one moving fastest: short-term unsecured funding, decided off your bank statements, in your account inside a day or two. Stock to fill an order, wages across a quiet month, a vehicle, a deposit, or simply the stretch between doing the work and being paid for it.
What is on the table
- How much
- From about R20,000 to R5 million. Where you land depends on turnover far more than on what you ask for — most lenders cap an offer at a multiple of your monthly deposits.
- How fast
- A complete file can be decided within 24 hours and paid out the same day. An incomplete one takes a fortnight, which is the real reason applications feel slow.
- Security
- None over your home or your equipment. Most lenders will ask a director to sign surety, which is personal but is not a bond over your house.
- Term
- Usually 1 to 24 months. Most of the panel allows early settlement without a penalty, and several discount the remaining cost if you do.
- What it costs
- Priced as a fixed monthly fee on the amount advanced rather than as interest. It is not cheap money — it is priced for speed and for the absence of security.
What lenders are actually looking at
Almost every short-term lender in South Africa underwrites off your bank statements. They are looking for consistent deposits, how often you run into unarranged overdraft, whether debit orders bounce, and whether turnover is growing or shrinking. Your accountant's view of the business matters far less than what the bank account shows.
The usual minimum bar
12 months trading
Some lenders go to six. Below six months, tender and purchase-order finance is normally the better route.
About R50,000 a month
The real threshold ranges from R40,000 to R100,000 a month depending on who you go to. That spread is exactly why placing matters.
Six months of bank statements
Business account, not personal. Most lenders want the last six months; a few want twelve.
A registered business
Pty Ltd or close corporation opens the most doors. Sole proprietors have fewer options, but they do exist — several lenders exclude them outright, which is worth knowing before you apply.
Why go through a broker instead of applying direct
You can apply direct, and for some businesses that is the right answer. The trouble starts when you are declined: you get no reason you can act on, a credit enquiry on your record, and the job of starting again somewhere else. Do that four times and the enquiries alone begin to count against you.
Every lender runs a different cut-off. One wants six months of trading, another twelve. One excludes sole proprietors outright, another excludes trusts and partnerships. One wants R40,000 a month, another R100,000. Knowing which door to knock on before you knock is the whole job.
What you should check on any offer
- Whether settling early actually saves you anything, or whether the full fee stands
- Whether initiation or admin fees are added on top of the quoted cost
- Whether the cost is fixed for the term or moves with prime
- What happens if a debit order fails, and what that costs
- Who is signing surety, and for exactly what
We go through all of that with you on each offer we bring back, including the ones we think you should turn down.
What it might cost
Move the sliders. These are market figures, not an offer from us.
What moves the price
Who is paying you
The strongest driver by far. A national department and a small private buyer are priced completely differently, because the funder is really lending against them.
How long the money is out
Cost accrues over the funding period. An order delivered in three weeks and paid in thirty days costs a fraction of one that runs six months.
Your gross margin
Under about 20% there is little room for the cost of funding. Above 30% the deal carries it comfortably and more funders will compete for it.
Whether you have done it before
A repeat order for a buyer you have delivered to prices better than a first contract in a new sector.
An illustration, not a quote
How the numbers tend to work
Invented figures, to show the shape of a deal. Your actual cost comes from the funder in writing, and you see it before you commit to anything.
- Order you have been awarded
- R500,000
- What it costs you to deliver
- R375,000
- Your gross margin
- R125,000 · 25%
- Funded by the facility
- R375,000
- Cost of the finance
- a share of the margin
- What you keep
- the rest of it
Most tender and purchase-order funding in South Africa is priced either as a fee on the amount advanced or as a share of the profit on the deal, settled when your client pays. There is no published rate card anywhere in this market — including ours — because the price genuinely depends on the four things on the left. What we will not do is let you find out the number only after you have committed.
What we charge
Every fee we take, on one page, before you give us anything. Lender interest and lender fees are set by the lender on your deal and come to you in writing, in rands, before you accept any offer.
FEES at the top of gen.py and rebuild.| What | How much | On what basis | When |
|---|---|---|---|
| Eligibility check and first conversation | No charge | Free in every case, including when we tell you we cannot place the deal. | Never payable. |
| Funder commission | 1% – 5% of the amount advanced | Paid to us by the funder once your facility is drawn. Not deducted from your advance. We tell you the figure on your deal before you sign. | On drawdown, by the funder. |
| Broker / origination fee | 1% – 5% of the facility | Charged to you only where no funder commission is available on the route that suits you, or where the work is heavy relative to the deal size. | On drawdown. Never up front. |
| Company registration and compliance work | not yet set | Quoted as a fixed price in writing before any work starts. | On instruction. |
How we are paid, in full — including what we do about the conflict of interest that commission creates.
When an unsecured loan is the wrong answer
It is the product we place most, and it is still wrong for plenty of the people who ask for it by name. Worth knowing before you apply, not after.
- It costs more than secured lending. That is the trade for not putting up property. If you have an asset you are genuinely willing to pledge, a secured facility will almost always be cheaper — ask us and we will say so.
- You have already delivered and invoiced. Then invoice discounting is usually cheaper, because the work is done and the risk is smaller. Do not borrow against your business when someone already owes you the money.
- You have an awarded order you cannot fund. Purchase order funding sits against the order and the buyer, which often prices better and lends more than your turnover alone would support.
- The repayment is daily or weekly. Several lenders on the panel debit far more often than monthly. On a seasonal business that can hurt even when the headline cost looks fine. We will tell you the debit frequency before you sign, not after.
- You are solving a structural problem with a short-term facility. If the business loses money every month, funding postpones the reckoning and adds to it. We would rather tell you that than place the deal.
- A director will almost always sign surety. Unsecured means no bond over your house. It does not usually mean no personal liability at all.
Not sure which route fits?
Run the eligibility check first. It takes under a minute.