Guides
Understand the finance before you take it.
Plain explanations of how short-term business finance actually works — what a factor rate is, what a director guarantee means, and how to tell whether a facility will service comfortably.
The numbers
How a factor rate works.
A factor rate is a single multiple applied once to the amount advanced. Borrow $50,000 at a factor rate of 1.14 and you repay $57,000 in total — the $7,000 is the whole cost of the finance.
It is not an interest rate. Nothing compounds, and the number doesn’t move once you’ve signed. Divide the total by the number of payments in the term and that’s your fixed instalment, every time.
Because the cost is fixed rather than time-based, a shorter term means a lower total cost but a larger instalment. The right term is the one your account can absorb without straining.
- Advanced
- $50,000
- Factor rate
- 1.14
- Total repayable
- $57,000
- Weekly over 4 months
- $3,265
Figures shown to explain the mechanic only. Your rate depends on the term and the assessment — GreyRok’s live pricing is confirmed in writing before anything proceeds.
Terms explained
The words that appear on every facility.
Director guarantee
A director personally agrees to repay the facility if the business doesn’t. It is standard across business lending and part of every GreyRok facility. It is not a mortgage over your home, but it is a real obligation — read it before you sign it.
Business purpose
The finance must be wholly or predominantly for business use. That declaration is why these loans sit outside the National Consumer Credit Protection Act — and why they can’t be used for personal, domestic or household spending.
Serviceability
Whether the business can meet the repayments out of normal trading without running the account down. A rough sanity check: if the instalment is more than a comfortable slice of a normal week’s revenue, the facility is too large.
Direct debit
Repayments are drawn automatically from the business account, daily or weekly, on a schedule agreed before signing. Dishonours cost money and damage conduct, so the schedule should be set around when money actually lands.
Account conduct
What your bank statements say about how the business runs: regular deposits, few dishonours, commitments met on time. It carries more weight in a short-term assessment than a credit score alone.
Pre-qualification
An early read on whether a business fits our criteria, based on what you’ve told us. It is not an approval and not an offer — a full assessment follows once we’ve seen statements.
More definitions in the finance terms glossary.
Before you apply
Five minutes of preparation saves a week.
Most delays in a short-term application come from missing documents, not credit decisions. Have these ready and the process runs start to finish without stopping.
Start an application- 01
Your ABN, and the entity name that matches it
Check it’s active on the ABR. A trading name that differs from the registered entity is fine — just have both.
- 02
Recent business bank statements as PDFs
Downloaded from your bank, not screenshots. If you’re on a phone and the files are on a laptop, use the “finish on another device” link.
- 03
Director details for the guarantee
Full legal name, date of birth, residential address and ownership percentage, for each director giving a guarantee.
- 04
A number for existing commitments
Lender and approximate balance for any facility already in place. Understating it slows the assessment down rather than helping it.
- 05
A clear purpose, and the amount that matches it
Ask for what the job needs rather than the maximum available. A right-sized facility is approved more often and repaid more comfortably.
FAQ
Questions worth asking.
Know what you need? Two minutes is all it takes.
Check your eligibility without affecting your credit file. A real person reviews every application.
Facilities from $5,000 – $500,000 over 3 to 6 months.