The broker's guide to invoice finance: when to refer, when not to, and what your client actually needs

The client profile that fits invoice finance

Invoice finance fits a business with a timing problem, not a capital problem. The client invoices other businesses on terms, has costs that arrive before payment does, and is growing rather than distressed. If the client is paid at the till, there is nothing to fund. If the client is already in trouble, this is the wrong tool.

FundTap's own funded book gives a sharper profile than the category generally does. Across 262 funded organisations, the clients who convert and keep using it tend to share most of these:

• Turnover between roughly $500,000 and $3 million, and trading for two years or more.
• One to ten staff — owner-operator businesses that decide quickly.
• Invoices issued on terms, to customers who are slow but reliable: government, councils, corporates, head contractors.
• Accounting software connected — Xero, MYOB, QuickBooks or Reckon.
• Construction, professional services, recruitment, manufacturing, transport and distribution. These five perform best on book.

One number worth knowing before you spend any time on this: partner-referred clients convert at roughly three times the rate of clients who arrive direct. The introduction does most of the work, because you have already made the judgement the business would otherwise have to make about itself.

Client signals that say refer now

FundTap analysed 62 substantive notes from its funded book to rank what actually triggers a business to apply. The order below is that ranking, and it is a better prompt list than the generic "struggling with cashflow" prompt, because each trigger is a sentence a client says out loud in a meeting.

Two of these are worth flagging for how you handle them. The new-contract client is succeeding, not struggling, and the introduction should be framed that way — the timing of the money is the only thing standing between them and the work. The payroll client arrives with a deadline attached, and for an owner-operator that one is personal. Speed is the whole product in that conversation.

There is also a useful pre-emptive version of this. Because an approved FundTap funding limit costs nothing to hold and nothing is owing until it is used, a client can be set up before they need it. That turns a future emergency into a non-event, and it is the easiest version of this conversation to have.

When not to refer

Worth as much as the signals above, and less often written down. FundTap's book also shows which clients stall or drop out, and referring them costs you credibility:

• Already in distress. Bouncing payments, cascading non-payers, a locked account. These clients are past the point where bringing an invoice forward helps, and they are usually hoping for a rescue rather than a tool.
• Cash at the till. No invoices on terms, nothing to fund.
• Pre-revenue or very new. No trading history to assess against.
• No accounting software. Manual-only clients can be onboarded, but assessment is slower and more applications stall before they start.
• Consumer lending in disguise. FundTap funds businesses only. It does not lend to individuals, and that line is tested on what the arrangement actually does, not how it is structured.

Two hard boundaries to know: FundTap funds businesses in New Zealand and Australia only, and invoices below $300 are not funded. Most of what it funds is due within 60 days; longer terms are looked at individually rather than ruled out.

When invoice finance is the right call vs overdraft, term loan, or asset finance

Match the product to the shape of the problem. Invoice finance answers a timing question: the money exists, it is just not here yet. An overdraft answers an irregularity question. A term loan answers a capital question. Asset finance answers an equipment question. Only invoice finance moves with the client's invoicing rather than with a limit someone set last year.

On price, be straight with the client. Australian small-business lending rates averaged 7.46% on outstanding loans in July 2026 (RBA Table F7), and New Zealand banks publish business overdraft base rates from 7.50% to 13.95% before margin (interest.co.nz, read 23 September 2026). Per dollar per day, bank facilities are inexpensive. Invoice finance is not competing on that basis. It competes on being available at all, on moving with the client's invoicing, and on costing nothing in the months it is not used.

Because FundTap is priced per invoice funded, a client who would fund every invoice every month all year is usually better served by a structural bank arrangement. Saying so is the right call and the client will remember it.

The security model, stated exactly

This is the question brokers get asked and the one most category content fudges, so here it is without the hedging. FundTap takes a general security agreement over the business in every case — no threshold, no exception. Above a $30,000 funding limit it also requires a personal guarantee, which can be waived case by case up to $50,000. FundTap does not take property security at any limit. The personal guarantee is what gives FundTap recourse to personal property, and it is only acted on — by registering a caveat or a mortgage — if the client defaults.

Two things that follow, and both matter to a broker's own book. There is no whole-ledger assignment, so the client is not committing future invoices to anyone. And there is no clash with asset finance, term lending or a mortgage, so an introduction does not cost you a deal elsewhere.

How commission and referral pathways work

FundTap pays commission to registered partner brokers on clients they introduce who are approved and fund. Brokers register through the partner programme and are issued a unique referral link, so attribution is automatic rather than something you have to chase.

There are a few structures, and which one suits depends on how you prefer to be paid:

• Upfront — a percentage of the client's approved funding limit, paid after the first funding.
• Trail — a share of the fees the client generates, for the first 24 months.
• Hybrid — a smaller upfront amount plus a trail.

Two features are worth knowing regardless of which you pick. There is no clawback. And the amount can be taken as commission or passed on to the client as a discount, which is a genuinely useful option when you are more interested in the relationship than the margin. Current rates are confirmed when you register.

On visibility, one honest limitation: there is no self-service partner portal yet, and it is the friction point brokers raise most. It is being built. In the meantime your relationship owner updates you at each milestone, and automated emails fire on sign-up, deal won or lost, each time your client funds, and as a monthly commission summary.

What to send the client before they apply

You do not need to prepare a submission. FundTap's system collects the accounting data, identification and financials itself, so there is no credit package to write — this is the single biggest difference from an asset finance or term lending introduction, and it is why the referral takes minutes rather than an afternoon.

Three pieces of information in the introduction email speed up the assessment:

1. The client's average monthly invoicing.
2. The industry they operate in — this sets the rate, so it is worth being accurate.
3. The payment terms their own clients are on.

Note whether the client is on Xero, MYOB, QuickBooks or Reckon. FundTap contacts the client directly from there. Registration takes the client about ten minutes.

Common broker questions answered

How long does approval take? Getting a funding limit approved is a one-off step that averages about a day. After that, funding an individual invoice averages under two hours.

Does the client have to put every invoice through? No. They choose invoice by invoice, and they can fund part of an invoice — useful where a construction client wants to exclude a retention.

Is there a minimum? No minimum number of invoices and no lock-in. Individual invoices below $300 are not funded.

What does it cost the client? From 4% per invoice, quoted as an exact dollar figure before the client commits. The rate depends on the industry and on whether their accounting software is connected. No setup fees, no monthly fees, no exit fees.

Who owns the client relationship? FundTap manages the funding relationship; you keep your own. FundTap does not sell term lending, asset finance or mortgages, so there is nothing for it to cross-sell into.

Will the client's customers be contacted? No. FundTap never contacts the client's customers, and the client keeps being paid by them as normal.

Frequently asked questions