Most of what ABL says no to comes down to one of two things missing. The good news is they’re easy to spot before you pick up the phone.
The two things every ABL client has
Every deal that ABL funds has the same two ingredients. Listen for them in your client conversation. If both are there, you’ve got a referral worth calling us on.
- An asset they own outright. Not financed, not leased, not jointly held with a bank’s mortgage sitting against it. Could be a business asset (trucks, plant, equipment, machinery, farm gear) or a personal asset (recreational boats, collectible vehicles, artwork, yachts). Anything moveable with real equity.
- A short-term need. Working capital for a defined gap, weeks or months, not years. A bridge between two known points, not a hole that needs permanent filling.
The asset secures the deal. The short-term need scopes it. Repayment usually comes from normal trading because that’s how most businesses run, but the asset is what underwrites the deal either way.
Signals to listen for
The client doesn’t have to use these exact words. You’re listening for the shape of the situation:
- “We just won a contract but need to fund the first invoice cycle.”
- “We’re between project draws and the payroll is due.”
- “The bank’s taking six weeks and we need it in two.”
- “We’ve got the asset, we just need to bridge the gap.”
- “The deal’s done, we just need the deposit to land.”
All of those are ABL conversations.
The kinds of clients we say yes to
Operating businesses with moveable assets. Civil contractors with plant, transport operators with rigs, manufacturers with production equipment, agribusiness with farm equipment, mining services with drilling gear, property developers with yard plant, marine operators with vessels.
Plus individuals with significant personal assets. Yachts between seasons, collectible vehicles, art collections, recreational watercraft, owner-operator vehicles held outside the business.
Across both, the pattern is the same. Moveable assets owned outright. A defined short-term need that doesn’t fit a long-term loan.
The kinds we say no to
Three categories we don’t fund:
- Real estate. We don’t lend against property. Land, buildings, residential, commercial, none of it.
- Long-term funding. If the client needs the money for two years, we’re not the right tool. We’re built for a few months.
- Unsecured deals. No asset, no facility. We lend against the asset, not against the business or the director.
How to send a referral
Three things in the email and we can give you indicative terms inside 2 hours:
- What’s the asset (make, model, year, ownership status)
- What’s the amount and timeline (how much, how long)
- What the funds are for (working capital, deposit, mobilisation, etc.)
That’s it. We don’t need financials, credit reports, or business plans to get to indicative.
We don’t do long-term lending. We don’t do unsecured. We don’t do property. The clients who fit work better with us than anywhere else. The clients who don’t fit, we tell you within 10 minutes.
If you’ve got a referral that ticks both boxes, send it through this week. ABL is built for short-term gaps — every week the client waits is a week the gap gets harder to close. Same-day settlement only matters if the referral lands the same week.
Got a referral that ticks both boxes?
If your client owns an asset outright and has a short-term need, that’s an ABL conversation. Send the three lines (asset, amount and timeline, what the funds are for) and we’ll come back with indicative terms inside 2 hours. Same-day settlement when the asset is secured.