Your credit score matters less than you think. Your banking conduct — how you've managed existing facilities, your ATO account, and your day-to-day cash flow patterns — often matters more. Here's what lenders actually look at.
When a credit analyst reviews a business finance application, one of their first actions is to pull the conduct history on any existing facilities. This tells them far more about how you actually manage money than your tax return or balance sheet does.
Conduct history is reviewed across four areas:
Frequency of overdraft usage, dishonour history, and whether accounts regularly operate in credit or are chronically overdrawn. A business that bounces payments — even occasionally — is a concern.
Are existing loan repayments made on time? Have there been hardship arrangements, missed payments, or renegotiated terms? Lenders see all of this through credit bureau data and their own system records.
Current ATO payment plan status, whether BAS and PAYG obligations are lodged on time, and whether there are any Director Penalty Notices or director-level tax debt. ATO conduct is increasingly visible to lenders — and increasingly weighted in their assessments.
How you manage supplier payment terms, whether you're late on trade accounts, and whether suppliers have lodged defaults. This appears in credit bureau data and is reviewed alongside bank conduct.
Since 2020, the ATO has been significantly more active in reporting business tax debts to credit bureaus. A business with ATO debt over $100,000 that has not entered a payment plan may find its credit file has a listing — even if it has never missed a single commercial loan repayment.
Many business owners don't know this has happened until a lender comes back with a decline. By then, a credit enquiry has already been recorded on their file.
We check for ATO bureau reporting risk before any lender sees your application.
One or two dishonours in a year, with a clear explanation, is usually manageable. Frequent dishonours across multiple months suggest cash flow management problems that a lender will want addressed before approval.
An active ATO payment plan isn't automatically disqualifying — but it affects serviceability (it's an existing obligation) and some lenders won't approve while it's active. Others will. Lender selection matters here more than anywhere else.
Paid defaults are better than unpaid ones. Older defaults (3+ years, depending on amount) carry less weight. We review what's on your file and identify lenders whose credit appetite accommodates your specific history.
We review your conduct position — including what's visible to a lender on bureau — before we select a lender or build a submission. If there are issues, we address them in the credit narrative rather than hoping the lender doesn't notice. Most conduct issues have solutions. The solution is usually lender selection and narrative framing, not waiting.
Start a Free Finance Assessment →We review your conduct position before any lender sees it — and advise on the best path forward. No credit impact from an initial discussion.
General Advice Warning: Information in this guide is general in nature and does not constitute credit or legal advice.
