About

Get smart first. Then advance with the right person.

Smart Advance is not a lender. We bring publicly available commercial-finance information together, organise it through the CAS framework, and turn it into practical education and tools. If you then want to explore finance, the Advance Network helps introduce you to the broker archetype best aligned with the problem.

How we are paid, plainly

You are never invoiced by Smart Advance for using the tools or asking for an introduction. Our commercial model is the introduction: if a broker we introduce ultimately settles finance, Smart Advance may receive a referral payment from that broker from their own remuneration. We do not sell a lender a place in your result or let a lender buy a position in the Network.

Our introduction model is separate from the educational result. A lender cannot buy a better CAS reading or a higher position on the Lending Ladder. If you ask us to make an introduction, we match the type of specialist to the problem; any actual lender or product assessment happens after that conversation.

How brokers get paid, briefly. A broker earns an upfront commission when a loan settles and, on some products, an ongoing trail. Both vary by lender. That is normal, and on regulated lending it is disclosed — on commercial lending it often is not. So ask any broker how they are paid on the option they are recommending, and what the alternatives paid. It is a fair question and a good one answers it.

What we will and will not do

We will

Tell you where you stand before you apply anywhere. Do the arithmetic on an offer you have been given. Say when the cheapest option does not involve us at all. Introduce you to a broker who works your kind of deal, and tell you how they are paid.

We will not

Predict a lender’s decision, promise an approval, or tell you a rate you will get. Run a credit check. Send your details anywhere without you asking. Take a fee from you. Recommend a lender because they pay more.

We cannot

Give you credit assistance or advice under the National Consumer Credit Protection Act — we are not licensed and we deal only with business-purpose finance. If your purpose is wholly or predominantly personal or household, we cannot help, and we will tell you so.

Where the information comes from

Smart Advance brings together publicly available commercial-finance information from sources such as regulators, government guidance, product documentation, published lender material and relevant industry sources. Calculations are shown as calculations; changing market information is treated as changing information; and our own interpretation is labelled as the Smart Advance lens.

The platform has been shaped by decades around commercial finance. That experience helps us organise the information and ask better questions. It does not make a tool result a lender policy, credit assessment or personalised recommendation.

If you find something on here that looks wrong, tell us. jovan@smartadvance.com.au — we would rather fix it than defend it.