Payday super started on 1 July. Superannuation now leaves the account with every pay run instead of sitting there until the quarter closes. On 1 October the card surcharging ban follows, so businesses currently passing merchant fees to customers will be absorbing them instead.
Both changes land in the same place: the operating account. SME cashflow confidence has fallen from 70% to 60% since February, one business in five has already deferred planned investment because of it, and around 62% of those taking card payments expect October to force either a price rise or a thinner margin.
Funding the gap is the easy decision. Picking the wrong facility is the expensive one.
Four products cover most SME cashflow needs: a business overdraft, invoice finance, trade finance, and revenue-based lending. They solve different problems and they price very differently.
| Tool | What it fixes | Security |
|---|---|---|
| Business overdraft | Timing mismatches and lumpy expenses | Property, or a clean credit history |
| Invoice finance | Slow-paying B2B debtors | The invoices — no property needed |
| Trade finance | Stock bought before the revenue lands | Purchase orders and supplier terms |
| Revenue-based lending | Lump capital with no property to offer | Future card and POS revenue |
Business overdraft
An overdraft is a revolving limit attached to your business transaction account. You draw and repay as you like, and interest runs on the balance you are actually using rather than on the limit.
The RBA series for small business variable overdrafts sat at 10.51% p.a. in April 2026. Real pricing is wider than that average suggests: the majors run from roughly 9.95% to 20% p.a. depending on security, and unsecured non-bank facilities sit above that again.
It suits a business with predictable revenue and unpredictable expense timing. Payroll landing before the invoices clear, quarterly BAS, an annual insurance renewal, and now super going out with every pay cycle instead of every quarter. Most businesses treat the overdraft as the base layer and put something else on top of it.
The catch is how the limit gets sized. Lenders set it against average monthly turnover, so a fast-growing business, or one absorbing the super timing change without a reserve behind it, often finds the limit is tightest exactly when the pressure peaks.
Invoice finance
Invoice finance turns the debtor book into working capital. The financier advances 80 to 85% of an approved invoice the day you issue it and releases the balance, less its fee, once your customer pays.
There are two charges. A facility fee of roughly 1.5 to 3% p.a. on the limit, and a discount charge on the funds you draw, usually equivalent to 6 to 12% p.a. depending on debtor quality and how concentrated the ledger is. All in, it generally lands well under unsecured working capital pricing.
The security is the invoices, not property. For an asset-light service business with a solid ledger and nothing to mortgage, that is the whole argument. Trade contractors, professional services firms, logistics operators and manufacturers selling on 30 to 90 day terms are the usual users.
You need a B2B ledger for any of it to work. Consumer sales and retainer billing leave nothing to advance against. Most financiers also tighten up when a single debtor accounts for more than about a quarter of the book.
Our invoice and debtor finance page covers how these facilities get structured across the panel.
Trade finance
Trade finance pays your supplier so you do not have to wait for the sale. The lender settles the order directly against a verified purchase order or letter of credit, and you repay once the goods sell.
Pricing is per transaction rather than annualised. Expect 1.5 to 4% of the order value on a 90 to 120 day facility. Some lenders charge a flat fee per drawdown; others run a discount rate against a revolving limit.
Importers, wholesalers and manufacturers carrying physical stock are the natural fit. Stock has to arrive before it can sell, and the order often goes in months before the money comes back. Trade finance covers that stretch without eating into the overdraft or the cash reserve.
The constraint is the purchase order. Lenders want the verified order, the supplier terms and evidence of an established buyer relationship, so businesses ordering irregularly meet more friction than those running a contracted supplier programme.
The cashflow finance page sets out the lender categories we write trade and working capital structures through.
Revenue-based lending
Revenue-based lending advances a lump sum and takes it back as a fixed slice of daily or weekly card takings, usually 5 to 20%. Repayments move with revenue, so a quiet fortnight costs less than a busy one.
The pricing is a factor rate, not an interest rate. A factor of 1.25 means repaying $125,000 on $100,000 drawn. Because the term is however long the revenue takes to clear the balance, the effective annual cost runs broadly 25 to 60% p.a., and it rises rather than falls the faster you repay.
Hospitality, retail and health clinics with steady card volume are the market. No property security, lighter approval criteria than a bank facility, and settlement often inside 24 to 48 hours.
It is also the most expensive option on this page by a wide margin. It earns its place in a narrow set of circumstances: strong card revenue, no property available, and a short-term need with a clear end date. A bridge, not a base facility.
How to choose
The 2026 headwinds do not land evenly. A hospitality operator with a high payroll ratio and an October surcharging deadline needs something fast and security-light: an overdraft if there is property behind the business, revenue-based lending if there is not. A subcontractor with a few hundred thousand sitting in 60-day debtors needs invoice finance, not a loan. An importer building Christmas stock in August needs trade finance.
Above roughly $2M turnover, most businesses end up running two facilities: the overdraft as a base, and either a debtor or trade line doing the actual work. Sizing both correctly matters, and so does making sure they are not competing over the same security.
Five things are worth having ready for a first conversation. Annual turnover. Whether you sell B2B or B2C. Average debtor days. Whether you carry stock. What security is already committed. Those five answers decide which lenders will look at the deal and at what price.
For the wider view of who writes what, our guide to the six categories of business lender in Australia is worth reading first.
If you have a cashflow problem and want a broker's read on structure and lender appetite before you approach anyone, the application form is below. Most enquiries get a response within four business hours.
Sources
- Australia lending rate, small business variable overdraft — CEIC / RBA data
- SME confidence hits 2026 low as payday super and surcharging bite — Australian Broker
- Payday super looms as unprepared SMEs grapple with cash flow strain — ScotPac
- Invoice finance — ScotPac
- Payday super set to tighten SME cashflow and working capital cycles — Australian FinTech