EquityTap: short-term private lending against property equity

Most business finance is sized on what your business earns. EquityTap works from a different starting point: what your property is worth, the job the money has to do, and the event that will clear it inside twelve months. It’s a private lender based in North Sydney that has lent its own money since 2022, and it describes its customers as people a bank either can’t help or can’t help quickly enough.

EquityTap is a partner lender of this directory. Everything below comes from EquityTap’s own website as at October 2026. Check current terms with the lender directly, because private lending products can change.

What does EquityTap lend, and on what terms?

Every EquityTap facility is short term and secured on Australian real estate. The headline numbers are simple:

Feature	As at October 2026
Facility size	$50,000 to $5,000,000
Term	One to twelve months
Security	Acceptable residential or commercial property, Australia wide
Fastest settlement	As little as 24 hours for eligible, straightforward loans
Repayment holiday	Up to six months of interest can be prepaid on eligible facilities
Purpose	Business only, never personal or household spending

Within that, the security can be arranged in several ways, and EquityTap says it will recommend whichever suits the title and the deadline:

• First mortgage business loans when the title is clear, or when the current mortgagee is being paid out.
• Second mortgage business loans, registered behind an existing loan so a favourable first mortgage can stay put.
• Caveat loans, where a caveat records the lender’s interest on the title. EquityTap is candid that a caveat isn’t automatically the fastest or best choice and depends on the title, existing loans and legal advice.
• Bridging finance to cover the gap until a sale settles, a refinance completes or sale proceeds arrive.
• Equity release and commercial property loans for owners who want to put idle equity in a building or home to work in the business.

The prepaid interest option, explained with numbers

EquityTap’s most distinctive feature is the option, on eligible facilities, to prepay up to six months of interest as part of the loan. In plain terms, the interest for that period is deducted from the advance at settlement, so there’s nothing to pay each month while the business recovers, completes a contract or waits for a sale.

EquityTap is upfront that the interest isn’t waived. It changes the cash you walk away with, so it’s worth modelling before you choose a facility size.

Illustrative example only. A Newcastle builder needs $300k in hand to pay subcontractors and clear a supplier account while a $900k progress claim is disputed. If six months of interest and the setup costs together came to $40k, a $300k facility would only release about $260k. To receive the full $300k, the facility would need to be closer to $340k. Ask the lender for the net advance figure in writing, then test the repayment date against the bridging loan calculator. The definition of prepaid interest in our glossary covers the mechanics in more depth.

The prepaid approach suits owners whose trading cash flow is already stretched, which is exactly when daily or weekly repayments on an unsecured product would bite hardest.

Who is EquityTap a good fit for?

EquityTap’s site lists sole traders, micro businesses and larger companies, so business size isn’t the filter. Property equity and a believable exit are. It tends to suit:

• Owners racing a fixed date: a settlement, an acquisition timetable, a creditor deadline or a bank approval that’s dragging. See our page on a settlement about to fall over.
• Businesses declined for an unsecured loan because revenue looked thin or patchy. A property-led assessment asks different questions.
• Owners with credit blemishes or a court judgment, provided the equity and exit stand up. Our guide to business loans with court judgments explains how lenders weigh these.
• Companies with ATO debt that want a defined lump sum to deal with it while a longer-term plan is put together.

It is a weaker fit if you need less than $50k, need money for longer than a year with no clear refinance in sight, have no real estate to offer, or want the funds for anything personal. If your bank will approve you on standard terms and the timing works, take that seriously: bank money is usually cheaper over a longer horizon.

Want to know if your property and timeline line up? Send us the outline and someone who knows private lending will ring you to work through it.

What EquityTap asks for

EquityTap says it starts with six things: the amount, the business purpose, the deadline, the property offered, any existing mortgage, and the expected repayment event. Supporting paperwork may include:

1. Identification for each borrower and guarantor.
2. The latest council rates notice for the property offered, plus a recent statement from any lender already secured on it.
3. Contracts or invoices showing what the money is for.
4. Trust documents if the property or business sits in a trust.
5. Proof of how the loan ends: an exchanged contract of sale, a refinance letter from another lender, or a client’s agreed payment dates.

There’s no credit check at the initial assessment stage. EquityTap notes a check may still be made before funding for identity and fraud purposes.

Questions worth asking before you sign

• What’s the net advance after prepaid interest, legal costs and fees?
• What’s the total dollar cost if I repay at month three versus month twelve?
• If my sale or refinance runs late, what happens on the expiry date, and what does an extension cost?
• For a second mortgage, has my first lender consented, and is there a priority arrangement?
• For a caveat, could it delay a future sale or refinance of the property?

Comparing a private quote against another offer is easier with the loan cost comparison calculator.

Similar lenders in this directory

HomeSec is our other partner lender and also funds its own property-secured business loans, with smaller minimum loan sizes. Among independent private lenders, Aquamore and Equity One both lend against property for business purposes. If you have no property at all, start with unsecured business loans instead.

Got equity and a deadline? Let’s look at it together

A property-secured short-term facility makes sense when the numbers and the exit are clear. Working those out is what we do. Our form takes roughly sixty seconds. Asking costs your credit report nothing, and what you share isn’t forwarded to a queue of lenders hoping one bites. One of our people reads it properly and calls you back. Be exact about the address, the dollar figure and your exit date, because precise answers are how the right facility surfaces on the first conversation.

Check what your property equity could unlock →