Unsecured business loans in New Zealand — what they cost and who gets one

An unsecured business loan doesn't ask for a charge over your property or equipment — but it almost always still asks a director for a personal guarantee, so "unsecured" describes the asset, not your personal exposure. Trading history and turnover thresholds differ by lender and even differ between two pages on the same lender's own site. Published loan sizes for New Zealand's main non-bank lenders run from roughly $100,000 up to $500,000 depending on which product and which page you read, terms typically run out to several years, and neither major lender publishes an actual interest rate anywhere public. Speed of decision, not price, is the genuine thing being sold.

Key Takeaways

What "unsecured" actually means

Prospa doesn't use the word "unsecured" on its own product page — it calls the product "no asset security" instead, and the distinction is the whole point. Its own wording is direct: "no collateral or tangible assets are needed upfront to back the small business loan. Instead...we get a personal guarantee from directors, shareholders or individuals actively involved in the business's management." ScotPac describes the same structure from its own side: "there is no collateral requirement. This often means the applicant must provide a personal guarantee for the debt, along with the requisite financial reports, credit score, and cash flow projections."

Read plainly, both lenders are describing the same trade: the business's own assets aren't pledged upfront, but a director is personally on the hook if the business can't repay. "Unsecured" describes what the business isn't putting up, not what you are.

There's a real threshold worth knowing about, at least at Prospa. It registers an actual charge over assets — via the Personal Property Securities Register (PPSR) — only "if the small business client's total exposure to Prospa funding reaches or exceeds $150K," or if the client defaults on contractual obligations. For its Small Business Loan and Business Line of Credit, no asset security is required upfront to access up to $150K; above that figure, Prospa takes security in the form of a charge over assets. That's a hard dollar cliff-edge inside a single lender's own product range, not a general risk-based judgement call that shifts around.

ScotPac's Boost Business Loan takes a softer line: "Security requirements vary based on loan size and risk profile. A strong asset base may help increase approval rates and loan amounts." In other words, even on a product marketed around not needing security, having assets to point to can still work in your favour.

Trading history and turnover — and the numbers don't fully agree even within one lender

Every lender publishes its own minimum, and the figures move around more than you'd expect once you compare a product page against that same lender's own blog.

Lender / product	Trading history	Turnover
Prospa Small Business Loan	6 months (most industries)	$6K minimum, monthly
Prospa Business Loan Plus	3 years	$1M, annual
Prospa blog (general guidance)	6–12 months, longer for larger loans	Around $5,000–$6,000/month described as "common for many unsecured loans"; $1M annual sought for amounts over $150,000
ScotPac Boost Business Loan	At least 12 months, same location, consistent sales	$10,000 minimum, monthly

Prospa's own product page is precise: 6 months trading history for most industries, and a minimum monthly turnover of $6K for the Small Business Loan. Its own blog, on a different page, describes a vaguer band — 6–12 months of operation generally, and "around $5,000–$6,000" a month as common for unsecured loans generally, not stated as Prospa's own specific figure. The two don't contradict each other outright, but they don't match precisely either, which matters if you're trying to work out exactly where your own business sits before you apply. Treat the product page as the number that actually governs your application, and the blog figures as general market framing around it.

ScotPac is more consistent across its own pages: 12 months trading in the same location, with a minimum monthly turnover of $10,000 — repeated the same way on both its unsecured loan explainer and its Boost product page.

How big a loan can you actually get?

This is the section where the published figures genuinely disagree, sometimes on the same page.

Prospa's Small Business Loan runs $5K up to $150K, no upfront security required. Its Business Loan Plus runs $150K to $500K, and property or asset ownership is required for anything over $150K. A separate Prospa page states the overall range as "Borrow from $5K to $500K" in its headline, then elsewhere on that same page describes funding as available "between $2K and $500K." Both figures are Prospa's own words, on the same page, and they don't match — worth knowing before you anchor on either number.

ScotPac's two pages read differently again. Its unsecured loans explainer states a clean split: "Our unsecured loans have a limit of $100,000. (Secured business loans can be up to $200,000.) As a general guideline, we can provide funding of up to 100% of your average monthly sales." Its Boost Business Loan product page, however, doesn't repeat that $100,000/$200,000 unsecured/secured split at all — instead it frames the whole product as borrowing up to $200,000, sized against monthly sales on a sliding scale: up to 125% of average monthly sales for loans up to $100,000, rising to up to 150% of average monthly sales for loans between $100,000 and $200,000. Read the unsecured explainer and you'd conclude $100,000 is the unsecured ceiling; read the Boost product page on its own and there's no such explicit ceiling stated at all. Confirm directly with ScotPac which framing applies to your specific application rather than assuming either page is the final word.

What you give up by not offering security: rate and term

Both lenders are explicit about the general principle, in almost identical language. ScotPac: "unsecured business loans do tend to incur shorter term periods and higher interest rates" because there's no collateral to reduce the lender's risk. Prospa: "as there is no collateral to mitigate the lender's risk, interest rates can typically be higher than with secured loans." ScotPac adds that businesses with stronger asset bases, solid credit histories and secured loans "typically benefit from lower interest rates."

What's genuinely useful is checking whether the published terms actually show that pattern. ScotPac's Boost loan terms run 6 to 24 months. Prospa's Small Business Loan — the no-upfront-security product, capped at $150K — offers terms up to 5 years, and its Business Loan Plus — which requires security over $150K — offers the same maximum, up to 5 years. Within Prospa's own published range, the unsecured product doesn't actually carry a shorter maximum term than the secured one; the general industry principle both lenders state doesn't show up as a hard rule inside Prospa's own numbers.

On rate itself: neither lender publishes an actual interest rate or APR range anywhere public. Every quote is individually assessed once you apply. Ask for the full annualised cost in writing before you compare an unsecured offer against a secured one — a headline weekly repayment figure on its own won't tell you that.

Credit score — assessed, but not gatekept the way most people assume

Prospa's own guidance sets useful context: "Many traditional lenders in New Zealand look for a credit score of at least 620–650, but non-bank lenders can often consider scores from 400." It goes further: "there's no universal 'pass mark' or minimum score that all lenders use" in New Zealand — score is assessed holistically alongside cash flow, trading history and overall financial health, and "non-bank lenders may approve applications with scores from as low as 400."

To put 400 in context, Prospa's own published bureau bands show where that sits:

Bureau	Poor	Fair	Average	Very Good	Excellent
Centrix	1–495	496–705	706–824	825–892	893+
illion	0–299	300–499	500–699	700–799	800–1000
Equifax	—	—	600–700+ generally "good" on a 0–1200 scale	—	—

A score of 400 sits inside Centrix's Poor band and illion's Poor band — and Prospa is stating plainly that a score in that range can still be approved, depending on the rest of the file. That's a genuinely different message from how most consumer-facing coverage of business credit frames a "poor" score.

Prospa backs this with a specific claim about how it actually assesses a file: its "advanced credit assessment technology...analyses over 450 data points from your bank statements, GST returns, and other verified sources" rather than relying solely on credit score. Worth flagging directly: a separate Prospa page — its homepage — states plainly, "No credit check to see if you are eligible." That sits oddly next to the 450-data-points and bureau-band material on Prospa's blog. It may describe an initial eligibility check versus the fuller assessment that follows once you actually apply, but Prospa's own public pages don't spell out that distinction — worth asking directly which stage a credit check actually happens at, rather than assuming either page tells the whole story on its own.

ScotPac takes a similar broad-assessment line: "it is possible to get a business loan with less than excellent credit...We consider a range of factors beyond just your credit score." For context on demand generally, a Centrix New Zealand report found demand for business credit saw a 5% lift in the first quarter of 2025.

Speed — the real selling point, but measured differently page to page

This is where the two lenders are actually trying hardest to differentiate — and where it matters most to keep separate figures separate rather than folding them into one number.

Stage	Prospa	ScotPac
Time to apply	Around 10 minutes (product page); less than 10 minutes (blog)	As little as 5 minutes
Decision timing	Same day if applied during business hours (product page); often within hours, "as fast as one hour" (blog)	Usually reviewed within one business day
Funds after approval	Within 24 hours of approval (one page)	Within 24 hours of approval; same-day funding possible in some cases
Funds after signing	Within less than an hour of signing loan documents (a different page again)	Not separately stated

Those last two rows matter because they're measuring different moments — "within 24 hours of approval" and "within less than an hour of signing" aren't the same clock, and both are genuine claims from two different Prospa pages rather than one settled figure. Real customer outcomes cited by each lender sit within that range: Prospa says it helped one label-printing customer, Phil Walding, secure a loan within 24 hours; ScotPac quotes a customer, Stephen Boyd, reporting funds delivered within 12 hours. Treat published speed claims as a genuine strength of this market, but confirm which clock — application, decision, or funds — a specific promised timeframe is actually measuring before you plan cash flow around it.

When a secured facility is worth the extra paperwork

ScotPac is direct about where unsecured lending struggles: "For new businesses and those with poor credit histories, unsecured business loans can be difficult to access...we recommend speaking with a ScotPac lending specialist" to weigh the trade-offs between secured and unsecured options on rate, eligibility, repayments and process.

Prospa frames the bank alternative similarly from its own side: "Banks usually ask for detailed statements, security, and have a longer assessment process. This can work well for long-term investments, but the timing may not work if you need funding quickly." A secured facility generally suits a business with an established track record, financing a longer-term purchase where the extra paperwork and slower process aren't the deciding factor.

For a specific-asset purchase, secured asset finance is a genuinely different shape of product. Heartland Bank's asset and equipment finance, as one example, offers 12 to 60 month terms, tailored to purchasing a specific business asset — trucks, construction, materials handling, manufacturing or agriculture equipment, even helicopters. It's not a direct unsecured-versus-secured comparison from a single lender, but it illustrates how differently a secured, asset-specific facility can be structured once the loan is tied to a particular purchase rather than general working capital.

Business.govt.nz's general guidance is worth following regardless of which path you're leaning toward: compare loan types and lenders, and come prepared with financial records, a cash flow forecast and a business plan. It's blunt about the limits for a brand-new business specifically: "If you're new to business and don't have financial data to back up your application, lending options are more limited. You might have to take out a personal loan or borrow more on your mortgage."

The fine print worth reading before you sign

A few details sit outside the headline numbers but genuinely affect the total cost and flexibility of the facility:

• Prospa's 14-day Change of Mind Policy lets you cancel and return the funds free of charge within 14 days of the loan agreement date.
• Prospa's early repayment discount is "at least 25% of the remaining interest payable on your loan" — the exact discount depends on how far into the term you are.
• ScotPac's Boost Business Loan charges no application fees and no account-keeping fees, and carries no early payout penalty — its facility fee and drawdown fee are flat and built into weekly repayments, though the actual fee amount isn't published, so get it confirmed in writing before signing.
• ScotPac's Boost Business Loan can't fund a business start-up — it requires at least 12 months of trading with consistent sales, though it can fund an additional franchise or new location for a business that's already operating.
• Eligibility for Prospa requires the applicant to be 18 or older and a New Zealand citizen or permanent resident, with a valid NZBN.
• Documents typically requested scale with loan size: 3 to 12 months of business bank statements, ID, NZBN and business structure details for smaller amounts; financial statements (profit and loss, balance sheet, cash flow) and two years of IRD tax returns for larger ones.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does "unsecured" mean I'm not personally liable if the business can't repay? No — both Prospa and ScotPac describe taking a personal guarantee from directors or shareholders even on their "unsecured" or "no asset security" products. What you're not pledging is a specific business asset; your personal exposure through the guarantee is a separate matter entirely.

What credit score do I actually need? There's no universal minimum applied across New Zealand lenders. Prospa states non-bank lenders can approve scores as low as 400 — which sits inside the "Poor" band on both Centrix and illion's scales — where cash flow, trading history and overall financial health support the rest of the application.

How fast can I actually get funded? Published figures run from minutes to apply through to funds landing within roughly 24 hours of approval, but check exactly what's being timed — application speed, decision speed, and funds-after-approval versus funds-after-signing are genuinely different clocks, and even a single lender's own pages don't always frame them the same way.

Is an unsecured loan always more expensive than a secured one? Both lenders say the general principle holds — no collateral generally means a higher rate — but neither publishes an actual number, so you can't confirm that for your own situation until you get a real quote. Ask for the full annualised cost in writing before comparing a secured offer against an unsecured one.

Can a brand-new business get an unsecured loan? Not easily. Published trading history minimums across both major non-bank lenders start at six months at the earliest, and business.govt.nz is direct that a business without financial data to back up its application faces more limited options — potentially a personal loan or borrowing more against a mortgage instead.

Deplexifi arranges business finance across New Zealand, Australia and the UK, and can tell you plainly whether an unsecured facility actually fits your trading history and turnover before you apply anywhere.

Assuming "unsecured" means no personal risk. It almost always still means a personal guarantee from the directors — the business just isn't pledging a specific asset.

Nothing here is regulated financial advice. Deplexifi arranges commercial finance for businesses — this article describes general lending practice and the published position of the sources listed below, not a recommendation for any individual business.