Bank taking too long to approve? How to unstick it, or bridge the gap

Three weeks ago the banker was positive. Since then you’ve had “it’s with credit”, “just waiting on one thing”, and a voicemail. Meanwhile the vendor’s solicitor is asking about settlement, the supplier wants a deposit, or the equipment you ordered is sitting on a dock.

Slow is not the same as no. Banks are careful because they lend cheaply, and care takes time. Most stalled approvals can be moved along once you know precisely where they’re stuck. And if the calendar truly can’t wait, there are ways to protect the deal without throwing away the bank’s offer.

Where is the loan actually stuck?

“In assessment” is a catch-all. A business loan at a bank usually passes through these stages, and each one stalls for different reasons.

Stage	What’s happening	Common hold-ups	What you can do
Application review	Banker checks the file is complete before sending it on	Missing financials, BAS, ID, trust deed or company documents	Ask for a written list of outstanding items
Credit assessment	A credit analyst tests serviceability and risk	Questions about add-backs, a dip in profit, related entities	Answer questions fast and in writing; offer your accountant’s help
Valuation	Panel valuer inspects the property	Valuation not ordered, access delays, valuer backlog	Ask if it’s ordered; offer immediate access and leases or plans
Credit approval	Approval sign-off, sometimes by committee	Committee meeting schedule, larger or unusual loans	Ask when it will be presented
Loan documents	Letter of offer and security documents prepared	Legal review, guarantor meetings, third-party consents	Have your solicitor ready; brief any guarantor early
Settlement	Funds released	Conditions precedent not yet met, discharge of other loans	Check every condition on the offer is satisfied

Write to your banker and ask one direct question: “Which stage is my application at, and what’s outstanding to move it to the next?” A specific question usually gets a specific answer. Our guide on what makes a business loan approval slow goes deeper on each step.

Five ways to speed things up

1. Send everything in one go. Drip-feeding documents restarts the queue each time. Our list of the documents that speed up a business loan is a good checklist.
2. Explain the numbers before you’re asked. A one-page note covering any drop in profit, a large one-off expense or an add-back saves a round of questions.
3. Make the valuer’s job easy. Offer access within a day, and send leases, plans and recent improvements. For commercial property, rental income evidence matters.
4. Give the bank your real deadline. Bankers prioritise files with a clear date. Tell them the settlement date, the penalty for missing it and the date you need loan documents.
5. Brief any guarantor early. Under the Banking Code of Practice, banks generally can’t accept a guarantee until the guarantor has had the key documents for a few days, unless an exception applies. Tell them now so that wait isn’t added at the end.

What if the deadline can’t move?

First, ask the other side. A vendor, supplier or landlord who receives evidence of a bank approval in progress will often grant a week or two. An extension is cheaper than any loan.

If they won’t, a stopgap can carry you to the bank’s settlement:

• Bridging finance or a caveat loan secured on property you own. These are built for short terms and can often fund in days. The bank loan then repays them.
• A short unsecured loan for smaller gaps, sized on bank statements, if you can service both it and the bank loan for a short period.
• Supplier or vendor terms, such as a small deposit now and the balance on settlement.

The essential rule is tell your bank. A caveat is lodged on the property title, so the bank’s title search will reveal it, and new debt changes its serviceability numbers. Most banks can live with a disclosed short-term loan that their own settlement will pay out. Few react well to discovering one.

Check how long a stopgap might take with the funding speed calculator, or tell us your deadline and we’ll say honestly whether a bridge makes sense.

A worked example

Illustrative only. A café owner in Newcastle has signed a contract to buy the freehold of the building the café trades from, with settlement in 30 days. The bank has approved the loan in principle, but the valuation took two weeks to book and credit approval is now expected the week after settlement.

• The owner asks the vendor for a 10-day extension. The vendor agrees to seven days, with a penalty for further delay.
• With the bank’s knowledge, the owner arranges a caveat loan over the family home for the settlement amount the bank would have provided, for a maximum of three months.
• Settlement happens on time. Nineteen days later the bank’s loan settles and repays the caveat lender in full.

The stopgap cost a few thousand dollars in fees and interest. Losing the building, and the deposit, would have cost far more. Use the caveat loan calculator to estimate the cost of a bridge for your own numbers.

Mistakes that turn a delay into a decline

• Going silent, then going angry. Regular, calm follow-up works better than one heated call.
• Applying to three other banks out of frustration. Each one adds an enquiry and may order its own valuation.
• Taking a hidden stopgap. Undisclosed debt is one of the fastest ways to lose an approval.
• Changing the deal mid-assessment. A different purchase price, entity or amount can send the file back to the start.
• Assuming conditional approval means money. Read the conditions on your letter of offer and work through them early.

Deadline closing in? Talk it through with us

We hear from owners every week who are waiting on a bank that’s moving slower than their deadline. Often the answer is a well-worded email to the banker. Sometimes it’s a short bridge that the bank’s money will clear. Either way, it helps to have someone look at the dates with you.

Asking takes roughly a minute, and it won’t add a credit enquiry to a file that’s already in front of your bank. We don’t pass your enquiry around to a stack of lenders; a person on our team reads it and gives you a call. Include your real deadline and the stage the bank says it’s at, accurately, because the timing is what decides whether a bridge is the right tool.

Check whether a bridge can beat your deadline →