Part 9 loans for tradies
8 min read
For most people a car is transport. For a tradie the ute is the business. It carries the tools, it gets you to site, and without it there is no income to service any loan at all. Lenders understand that, which is why trade vehicle finance inside a debt agreement is more achievable than most other categories. What decides your options is not your trade. It's whether you are PAYG or on an ABN.
What your stress is saying
“I've got work booked and no way to get to it.”
What's actually true
That argument works on lenders, when it's put properly.
What your stress is saying
“I'm on an ABN and I haven't done last year's return.”
What's actually true
There are documented alternatives, and they're normal.
PAYG or ABN. This single fact reshapes everything
A carpenter employed by a builder and a carpenter running their own ABN doing exactly the same work on the same site are two completely different lending applications. Many tradies have been both within the last two years, which is where it gets complicated.
As a PAYG employee you are assessed like any other wage earner: payslips, employment length, income shading on overtime and site allowances. Straightforward, and the fastest path to an answer.
On an ABN you are self-employed, and the default expectation is two years of tax returns and notices of assessment. If you have those, you are in a strong position. If you switched to your own ABN eighteen months ago, you sit in the gap that low-doc lending was built for.
Being both, a PAYG job plus weekend cash-work on an ABN, is common and needs to be declared. Undeclared side income cannot be used to support an application anyway, so there is nothing to gain by leaving it out.
What low-doc actually requires
'Low-doc' does not mean no documents. It means a different set of documents. Requirements vary by lender, but the pattern is consistent enough to prepare for:
- ABN registered and active. Most lenders want it held for at least 12 months, many prefer 24.
- GST registration, often required to have been in place for 12 months, which for many trades is a proxy for turnover above the registration threshold.
- Six to twelve months of business bank statements, or recent BAS lodgements.
- An accountant's declaration confirming your income, on their letterhead.
- No outstanding ATO debt, or a formal payment arrangement that is being met.
Add-backs: the reason your tax return understates what you actually earn
Your accountant's job is to minimise your taxable income. A lender's job is to work out what you can afford. Those two aims pull in opposite directions, and the bridge between them is called an add-back.
Certain deductions reduce your taxable profit without actually reducing the cash available to you. Lenders will commonly add some of them back when assessing income, depreciation is the clearest example, along with one-off expenses, interest on debts being refinanced, and superannuation contributions above the compulsory rate.
This matters enormously for tradies, because vehicle and tool depreciation is often a large deduction. A return showing modest taxable income can support a meaningfully larger loan once add-backs are applied. Most people never ask, and no lender volunteers it.
The sole trader problem nobody explains before they enter an agreement
If you are a sole trader, there is no legal separation between you and the business. Your business debts are your personal debts. That is why a Part IX debt agreement, which deals with unsecured personal debts, can end up covering trade credit accounts, unpaid supplier invoices and business credit cards alongside anything personal.
The practical consequence is one that catches people out: suppliers you owed money to are creditors in your agreement, and those relationships are often the ones you need for the next job. Some tradies find their trade accounts closed or moved to cash terms. If that has happened to you, it is worth knowing it is a normal consequence of the structure rather than something personal.
It also means the divisible property limits in a debt agreement apply to your work assets, not just household ones. If tools and vehicles are a significant part of what you own, that is a conversation for your administrator, not for a broker.
Consumer loan or business finance?
If the vehicle is predominantly for business use and you have an ABN, a chattel mortgage may be available rather than a consumer car loan. The structures differ in how GST and depreciation are treated, and the credit assessment differs too.
This is genuinely a question for your accountant, not for a broker or a website. What is worth knowing is that the two paths have different lender panels, so 'no' on one does not mean 'no' on the other, and it is a question worth asking explicitly rather than assuming the first quote you are given is the only structure available.
The rule most people find out too late
Above $7,457, you must tell the lender you're in a debt agreement
Under section 269 of the Bankruptcy Act 1966, while you are in a debt agreement you must disclose that fact before obtaining credit above $7,457. This is not a lender policy or a preference. Failing to do it is a criminal offence and serious penalties apply.
In practice it is paperwork rather than an obstacle. A lender who writes in this space expects it and it does not, by itself, cause a decline. The risk is not the disclosure. It is going to a lender who never asks, never records it, and leaves you exposed. We raise it as a matter of course.
Figures current at 17 August 2026. AFSA reindexes 20 March and 20 September. Source: AFSA indexed amounts.
During, just after, or well after: three different answers
Where you sit relative to your agreement changes the lender panel more than anything else about you. Whatever your occupation, this is the shape of it:
- Still in the agreementThe smallest panel. A handful of specialist lenders write here, and they want agreement payments up to date, no new defaults since it started, and stable income. The s269 disclosure applies above $7,457.
- Recently completedA noticeably wider panel, and the moment most worth checking. It is common for someone declined a year earlier to be approved shortly after completion with nothing else in their life having changed. Make sure the completion is formally recorded before applying.
- Completed more than 12 months agoWider again, with better pricing available. The agreement may still appear on your credit file. AFSA's guidance is up to five years, and longer in some cases. A year of clean conduct behind you changes how it is read.
What this site does, and what nobody here can do
This site can
- Explain how lenders read a debt agreement
- Pass your enquiry to Simple Loans, who arrange the finance
- Tell you plainly when the answer is “not yet”
Nobody here can
- Provide credit, or credit assistance, from this website
- Advise you to enter, change or end an agreement
- Negotiate with your creditors or administrator
- Remove or dispute anything on your credit file
This website provides information only. Advising on an agreement, negotiating with creditors and fixing credit files are debt management services, which require a credit licence authorisation Simple Loans does not hold. For help with the agreement itself, speak to your registered administrator, or the National Debt Helpline on 1800 007 007 which is free, independent, and not selling anything. There is also a plain-English explainer here.
Worth thinking about before you call anyone
Right now, are you PAYG, on your own ABN, or a bit of both?
If you've switched in the last two years, say when. It's the fork in the road for everything else.
How far behind are your tax returns and BAS, honestly?
Not to judge it. It changes which lenders can even look at the file.
What work have you had to turn down, or sub out, because of the vehicle situation?
If the ute were sorted next month, what would that be worth to you in jobs you could take on?
Worth having a number. It's the argument for the loan, and it's usually bigger than the repayment.
No one is going to ask you these on a call to catch you out. They're here because the answers are yours, and they're the same ones a broker needs before they can tell you anything useful.
Tradies: common questions
Can I get ute finance while in a Part 9 debt agreement?
It is one of the more achievable categories, because the vehicle is both the security and the means of producing the income that repays it. A small number of specialist lenders write during an active agreement, and they will want your agreement payments up to date, no new defaults since it started, and evidence of ongoing work. Options improve substantially once the agreement is completed.
I'm on an ABN with no tax returns. Is that the end of it?
No. Low-doc assessment is designed for exactly this situation. Depending on the lender, six to twelve months of business bank statements, recent BAS lodgements, or an accountant's declaration can stand in for returns. Most lenders will want the ABN held for at least twelve months and often GST registration for a similar period. Lodging outstanding returns widens your options considerably, so it is worth doing regardless.
My tax return says I barely earn anything. Does that kill the application?
Not necessarily. Lenders apply add-backs, adding certain deductions back to your taxable income because they reduced tax without reducing available cash. Depreciation is the most significant for trades, along with one-off expenses and super contributions above the compulsory rate. Ask explicitly for add-backs to be considered, because they are rarely offered unprompted.
Are my business debts part of my debt agreement?
If you are a sole trader, generally yes. There is no legal separation between you and the business, so unsecured business debts, supplier accounts, trade credit, business credit cards, are personal debts and can be covered by a Part IX agreement. If you trade through a company the position is different. Your debt agreement administrator is the right person to confirm what your agreement covers.
Find out where you actually stand
Nine questions, about two minutes, no credit check. You'll get a straight answer, including “not yet, come back in six months” if that's the honest one.