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Mar 2026
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THE WORD

Q. What products or policies do you wish lenders had?

There’s been a lot of product innovation from lenders recently, but are there still gaps in the market? This month, we ask…
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More flexible lines of credit
Matt Erwin
Cashman Consulting

More flexible lines of credit

I’d like to see is a more flexible line of credit. Often, they are secured by a guarantee and a line of credit agreement, but they’re a little bit in the expensive range for some clients. That means they tend to not borrow at that range, which is disappointing. I’d like to be able to see lenders put a general security agreement, or a company security on it, which might lower the rate by de-risking (or mitigating some of the risk) in that product.

Also, sometimes clients need a slightly bigger line of credit. So, I’d like to see the lenders stretch themselves a little bit on that.

Interest-only loans for asset finance
Nicole Taylor
Medifund

Interest-only loans for asset finance

Interest-only loans for asset finance, especially on bigger equipment. Similar to an investment property, you want to keep those repayments down in the beginning. So, if you’ve got an income-generating asset, and you’re only just starting to use that asset within your business, or you’re a new business, you might want to build that cash flow up first. So, interest-only asset would be an amazing product in the industry.

I’d also like to see a car loan settlement without an invoice. A big bugbear in our industry is dealerships playing funny games with invoices at the last minute, which creates a poor experience for the client. I worked closely with Angle Finance on a pilot of this last year, where there were no invoices on delivery, and instead, they collect them three days after. So effectively we’re signing up the client, we’re paying down, we’re paying the dealer, and then we’re getting the invoice.

More flexible arrangements for casual workers
Adam Donald
Capita Finance

More flexible arrangements for casual workers

I would like to see policy changes. FIFO is a huge thing over here in Western Australia and in Queensland. Casual and FIFO workers are trying to make ends meet by going from job to job/casual-to-casual shutdowns. But a lot of banks don’t have a solution for that. Or, if they do, it’s limited. CBA used to have three-month casual period, now it’s six; I’d love that to go back down to three. I just think there’s a lot of opportunity for these customers – who are just doing the job that they can do and making great money – to be able to get in homes.

Each bank has their niche, but if banks in particular were able to change certain policies, there’d be a lot more flexibility for people being able to get in.

More sympathetic clawback policies
Ali Mehboob
Noor Finance

More sympathetic clawback policies

I’d like to see a more sympathetic clawback policy, particularly if the reason for coming out of the loan is out of the clients’ hands. For example, I recently got my first clawback. It was a scenario where the client’s wife lost her job, so they could not afford an investment property, so they sold the property. I would like to have these changes, so if there is a marriage breakdown or property sold in a scenario like this, that industry can be a bit more sympathetic.

I think it’s probably the only industry where it can be clawed back for the work that you’ve done. And these clawbacks make it difficult for brokers to manage cash flow.

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