Finance One: vehicle and equipment loans that look past a bruised credit file

One default, lodged during a tough season years back, can trail a business owner into every finance application. Many vehicle and equipment lenders stop reading at that point. Finance One is one of the lenders that says, in writing on its website, that it keeps reading.

That’s the main reason owners end up looking at Finance One. This profile covers what it lends for, the criteria it publishes, how it treats past credit problems, and the much larger property-secured loan sitting alongside its everyday products. Details are from Finance One’s website as at October 2026.

What does Finance One lend businesses?

Finance One is a non-bank lender that also does car, personal and home loans for individuals. On the business side it runs four lines:

Product	What it funds	Published detail
Business vehicle loans	Cars, light and medium-duty trucks, food trucks, new or used	Within the $8k to $150k range
Equipment finance	Commercial mowers, tractors, trailers, earthmoving gear such as excavators and skid steers, work utes, vans and workshop tools	Within the $8k to $150k range
Unsecured cash flow loans	Working capital, stock, technology, marketing, short gaps	No property or asset security; weekly, fortnightly or monthly repayments
Commercial Advantage	Larger business needs, property purchase, debt consolidation including tax debt	$250k to $10m, 6 to 24 months, property-secured

The equipment list leans practical: the kinds of assets owned by landscapers, small farms, earthmovers and mobile food operators. Finance One doesn’t publish separate limits for each product inside the $8k to $150k band, or term lengths.

What are Finance One’s business loan criteria?

For its vehicle, equipment and cash flow loans, Finance One publishes a short list:

• An ABN at least six months old, with income that arrives reliably.
• GST registration isn’t required to apply, though some products are reserved for GST-registered applicants. It doesn’t say which.
• Six months of business bank statements, gathered through a secure online link.
• Identification, a completed application and a signed privacy consent.

Finance One says a decision can come in as little as 48 hours, subject to satisfactory documents. It allows extra repayments, but notes some loans carry an early payout fee.

Because the assessment leans on bank statements, the account itself matters. Regular deposits help; bounced payments hurt. Read business loans with dishonours on your bank statements to see how lenders interpret them.

How does Finance One treat bad credit?

This is where Finance One differs from many asset lenders. It says it will consider business applicants with:

• Poor credit or no credit history at all
• Defaults and court judgments
• A previous Part IX debt agreement
• Bankruptcy, including applicants discharged for as little as one day

Being considered isn’t the same as being approved. Expect the price of the loan to reflect the risk, since Finance One says its pricing depends on your overall credit profile, including credit history and banking conduct. Expect questions too: what happened, what’s changed, and how the business trades now. A short, honest explanation, ready before you apply, goes a long way. Our guides to business loans after discharged bankruptcy and business loans after a Part IX debt agreement cover how to prepare.

Not sure your history will pass? Tell us about it in confidence and we’ll suggest lenders that genuinely take these cases, and your credit report won’t be touched while we do.

The bigger loan: Commercial Advantage

Finance One’s Commercial Advantage loan works very differently from its vehicle and equipment lending. It’s short-term and secured over real estate:

• Amount: $250k to $10m
• Term: 6 to 24 months
• Security: commercial property up to 70% LVR, or residential property up to 80%, in metro or non-metro areas
• Repayments: principal and interest, interest only, or capitalised interest
• Uses: property purchase, debt consolidation including business tax debt, working capital, expansion and second mortgages

Finance One asks borrowers to show relevant experience and a clear exit strategy, such as selling an asset, finishing a project or growing revenue. It also mentions alternative documentation for verifying business income.

Note that our own enquiries cover $5k to $5m. If you need more than that, talk to a specialist lender or broker directly.

Who is Finance One a good fit for?

• Owners with a blemish on their credit file who need a work vehicle or a piece of equipment.
• Smaller businesses that are six months or more in and can show steady deposits.
• Landscapers, rural operators, earthmovers and food truck owners, whose typical assets appear on its published list.
• Property owners needing a larger short-term loan, through Commercial Advantage.

It’s a weaker fit if your business is under six months old, if you need more than $150k without property to offer, or if your credit is clean and you fit a bank. With a clean file and solid financials, a bank or mainstream asset financier will often be cheaper. Take that offer seriously.

What to clarify with Finance One first

1. Across the whole term, how many dollars go out, once every fee is added?
2. Is there an early payout fee on this particular loan?
3. Is the loan secured on the vehicle or equipment, and is a personal guarantee needed?
4. For Commercial Advantage: what are the exit fee, the valuation cost and the default terms if the exit runs late?

If Finance One says no

• Business too new? See new business loans with an ABN under 12 months.
• Need equipment over $150k? A dedicated equipment finance lender may go higher.
• Have property equity? A second mortgage business loan can work alongside an existing home loan.

Similar lenders profiled here include Branded Financial Services for business vehicles and Group and General Finance. Use our equipment finance calculator to size repayments first.

A past credit problem doesn’t have to decide your next loan

Owners with a default or an old bankruptcy often assume the answer will be no and never ask. Plenty of lenders, Finance One among them, assess the business you run today. The hard part is knowing which ones to approach without collecting a string of declines.

Our one-minute enquiry is built for exactly this. Asking doesn’t trigger a credit check, so nothing new lands on your file. We won’t sell your details on to a queue of lenders, either. Someone on our team works through your circumstances personally and rings you. List any defaults, judgments or past insolvency honestly when you fill it in; full disclosure is what lets us line up a lender that will genuinely say yes.

Talk to someone about your options →