Supplier Cut Your Credit or Moved You to COD: Your Options

Supplier Cut Credit to COD: Options | Switchboard Finance
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Supplier Cut Your Credit or Moved You to COD: Your Options

A supplier cutting your credit account or moving your business to cash on delivery is repricing your credit risk, and most trade credit applications let them do it. This guide explains what stop-credit and COD-only mean, why suppliers do it and why it may not be about you, your rights under the contract, the knock-on risks for your commercial credit file, and the finance options that keep stock flowing while you earn terms back. It is written for the buyer's chair, and it points to professional and free help early.

Published 31 July 2026 / Reviewed 1 August 2026 / Nick Lim, FBAA Accredited Finance Broker / General information only

Quick Answer

A supplier moving you to cash on delivery is repricing your credit risk, and most trade accounts allow it. Find the reason, then match finance to where the cash is trapped: invoice finance frees unpaid invoices, a line of credit covers the order cycle. If the debts are unpayable, get advice before borrowing.

Supplier cut your credit or moved you to COD: what are the quick answers? (general information, not legal or financial advice; as at July 2026)
Your questionShort answer
What does being put on COD mean?The supplier now requires payment on or before each delivery. Your trade account has been paused or repriced, not necessarily ended.
Can they do that without notice?Usually the credit application allows credit to be reduced or withdrawn at any time. The contract governs, and some standard form terms can be challenged.
Is it always about my business?No. The supplier's own cash flow, a cut in their trade credit insurance, or a tightening across all customers can drive it. The reason shapes the response.
Is COD a sign of insolvency?ASIC lists suppliers moving a company to cash-on-delivery terms as a warning sign. A warning, not a verdict; get advice early.
Can finance replace supplier credit?In function, yes. Invoice finance frees the debtor book; a line of credit sized to the order cycle covers COD purchases. Costs and risks apply.
Will it hurt my credit file?COD itself is not a listing. Payment defaults, court actions and disclosed tax debts on your commercial file are what other suppliers see.
Where do I start?Call the supplier's credit controller and ask what restores terms. Free, confidential help: Small Business Debt Helpline, 1800 413 828.

What it means when a supplier cuts your credit or moves you to COD

When a supplier cuts your credit account, puts the account on stop-credit or moves you to cash on delivery, they are repricing your credit risk. Trade credit, the arrangement where you take stock now and pay later, is a discretionary commercial arrangement, not an entitlement: the supplier extended it after a credit check, and most credit applications and terms of trade let them reduce, review or withdraw it at any time.

Stop-credit means no new stock until the account is addressed. COD-only means stock still flows, but every order must be paid on or before delivery. The distinction matters, because a supplier who keeps supplying on COD is usually keeping the relationship open, not ending it. Suppliers use different words for the same move: stop-credit, being put on stop, credit hold, account on hold, stop supply, proforma-only invoicing and cash on delivery all describe a trade account that has been paused or repriced, and some suppliers go a step further to cash in advance, payment before the goods are even dispatched.

The commercial backdrop is worth naming plainly. Payment terms are, in the words of business.gov.au, the rules a business sets for how and when customers must pay, and business accounts commonly run on 7, 14, 21 or 31 day terms offered after a credit check (business.gov.au, Payment terms, as at December 2025). Losing those terms converts every future order into an immediate cash cost while your own customers may still be paying you weeks later. That timing gap, not the stock itself, is the problem this page works through.

What this page covers

  • What stop-credit and COD-only actually change, and why suppliers do it
  • Your rights under the credit application, unfair contract terms law and retention of title
  • The knock-on risks: your commercial credit file and the insolvency question
  • Negotiating terms back, and the finance that keeps stock flowing meanwhile
  • Where to get free help if the debts are more than a timing problem

A different question, a different adviser

  • Whether a specific contract term is enforceable: a solicitor
  • Whether the business is trading while insolvent: a registered insolvency or restructuring practitioner
  • Your tax position, and any ATO debt behind the tightening: your accountant
  • Running your own credit control on customers: a different guide entirely, this page is the buyer's chair

Why do suppliers cut credit, and is it about you?

Suppliers cut credit for a short list of reasons, and only some of them are about you: overdue invoices, an outgrown credit limit, an event on your commercial credit file, the supplier's own cash flow, a trade credit insurer cutting cover, or a blanket tightening across every customer. The reason shapes the response, so establish it before you negotiate or borrow. On your side of the ledger, the triggers are invoices in arrears, a credit limit you have outgrown, or an event on your commercial credit file, a payment default, a court action, or a business tax debt the ATO has disclosed to credit reporting bureaus, which it can do where at least $100,000 is overdue by more than 90 days and the business is not effectively engaging (ATO, Disclosure of business tax debts, as at October 2025). The same guidance carries the part that matters if you are already on a plan: a complying payment plan counts as effectively engaging, so the debt is generally not disclosed while you keep to it, and defaulting on the plan puts disclosure back on the table. Suppliers subscribe to bureau alerts, so a new listing or a spike in credit enquiries can tighten terms within days.

Just as often, the cause is not about you at all. The supplier's own cash flow may be under pressure, and moving customers to cash on delivery is how they fix their timing gap. Their trade credit insurer may have cut or cancelled the cover it held on your account, which caps how much credit they can safely extend to you regardless of your history. You cannot appeal that decision directly, because you are the insured risk, not the insurer's customer, so there is generally no complaint path for you against your supplier's insurer; the practical lever is offering up-to-date financial statements through the supplier to support a review of the cover. Or the supplier may be tightening every account at once as policy. Ask the credit controller directly which of these it is: a supplier fixing their own liquidity will often take a middle-ground offer, an insurer-driven cut needs different evidence, and a listing-driven cut means your file, not your relationship, is the thing to fix. How lenders read the same signals is covered in what lenders look for with defaults and late payments.

Can they legally do that? Your contract and the rules

Usually, yes. The starting point is the credit application and terms of trade you signed when the account opened: most contain a term allowing the supplier to reduce, review or withdraw credit at any time, and live supplier terms in the Australian market state exactly that, credit may be withdrawn at any time. The general law backdrop is that absent a term permitting it, one party cannot simply vary a contract; the reason suppliers usually can is that the credit application contains exactly such a term. Those documents typically also carry retention of title over goods and, for company buyers, a personal guarantee from the directors (see the directors guarantee entry), so read what you signed before assuming anything. The guarantee is the sharpest edge in those documents: it lets the supplier pursue the guaranteeing director personally for the company's debt, so any question about how far its enforcement can go belongs with a solicitor. Whether orders the supplier had already accepted before the change must still be honoured is likewise a question of the specific terms, not a general rule.

Competition law rarely changes this. The ACCC's position is that businesses are generally entitled to choose whether they will supply or deal with another business; refusing to supply or setting the terms of supply raises concerns only in limited circumstances, such as a business with substantial market power refusing to deal in a way that limits others' ability to compete (ACCC, as at July 2026). The stronger lever for a small buyer is unfair contract terms law: under section 23 of the Australian Consumer Law, Schedule 2 to the Competition and Consumer Act 2010, an unfair term of a standard form small business contract is void, and the ACCC specifically flags terms that allow one party but not the other to change the terms of the contract. The protection covers businesses with fewer than 100 employees or under $10 million turnover (ACCC, Unfair contract terms, as at July 2026), but a term is only unenforceable if a court finds it unfair, so this is a lever to raise with a solicitor, not a self-executing right.

One more set of rights runs the other way. Suppliers commonly hold retention of title, described by the Personal Property Securities Register guidance as supplying goods on written credit terms with the promise the supplier gets the goods back if not paid, and they can register that interest on the PPSR, where it takes priority as a purchase money security interest. In practice this means goods already delivered on credit may still be the supplier's to reclaim if the account is not paid. Whether any of these rights bites in your situation depends on the specific documents; none of this is legal advice.

Is being put on COD a sign of insolvency, and what will other suppliers see?

One supplier tightening rarely stays one supplier's decision, because the signals that drove it are visible to everyone who checks. Commercial credit bureaus, Equifax, CreditorWatch and illion, compile business credit files that show registered payment defaults, court actions, ASIC notices and adverse data, cross-directorship information and any business tax debts the ATO has disclosed, alongside trade payment behaviour (CreditorWatch, as at July 2026). The threshold is low: Equifax defines a commercial credit default as an overdue debt of $100 or more that has exceeded the agreed payment date (Equifax, as at July 2026). Consumer credit reporting runs on separate rules, where a default generally requires $150 or more owed and 60 or more days overdue and stays on the report for 5 years (OAIC and Moneysmart, as at 2025). If a listing on your file is wrong, dispute it with the bureau and the credit provider promptly rather than working around it; checking your own business credit report is the fastest way to see what your suppliers are seeing.

Then there is the harder question, and this page would be dishonest to skip it. ASIC's insolvency guidance for directors lists suppliers placing your company on cash-on-delivery terms among the warning signs of financial difficulty, and the legal test is cash-flow based: a company is insolvent if it is unable to pay its debts when they fall due. Directors have a duty under section 588G of the Corporations Act to prevent insolvent trading, which means that if the business genuinely cannot pay its debts as they fall due, incurring new debts, including new borrowing, can make the position worse and expose directors personally; ASIC's stated advice is to get professional advice as early as possible, and a safe harbour can protect directors who act on a credible restructuring course (ASIC, Insolvency for directors, as at July 2026). If several creditors are reacting the same way at once, treat the COD letter as the smoke alarm it is: the answer starts with an accountant or restructuring adviser, not a loan, and section 9 of this page routes to free help.

What should you do in the first 48 hours?

Before any finance conversation, the first two days belong to the supplier relationship, because reinstated terms are cheaper than any facility. Work the sequence in order:

  1. Pay or formally dispute the arrears. Nothing else moves while the account is behind and unexplained. If an invoice is genuinely disputed, put the dispute in writing and pay the undisputed balance; you are not obliged to pay an amount you genuinely dispute, but a supplier can still commercially withhold terms while the dispute runs, so resolving it quickly serves both sides.
  2. Call the supplier's credit controller, not your sales contact. The decision was made in the credit team, so that is where it gets unmade.
  3. Ask one precise question: what conditions would restore the account.
  4. Offer a middle ground they can say yes to: a shorter payment window than before, a part deposit up front on each order, or direct debit on the due date. Suppliers read those offers as risk reduction, which is the language the decision was made in.
  5. Forecast the cash impact honestly. Many accountants build a rolling 13 week cash flow forecast, the practitioner convention, so you know whether COD is survivable from reserves, needs finance, or is not survivable at all, which changes the conversation entirely.
What to say: a 30 second opener for the credit controller "Thanks for letting us know directly. Before anything else, I want to understand what drove the change: is it something on our account, or a change on your side? Here is what I can do from today, such as clearing the arrears, a part deposit on each order, or direct debit on the due date. What would you need to see from us, and for how long, to restore terms?" Asking for the cause first matters, because an insurer-driven cut or a supplier-side cash squeeze needs a different offer than an arrears problem, and the closing question turns a refusal into a roadmap. Illustrative wording only; adapt it to your situation.

One tempting shortcut deserves a word: opening an account with a different supplier instead. It can work as a stopgap, but your commercial credit file follows you, new trade accounts usually start on small limits or COD anyway, and a burst of new credit enquiries can unsettle the suppliers you already have. Treat second-sourcing as a supplement to fixing the original account, not a replacement for it.

Two external levers help if the pressure is coming from your own receivables. If a large customer paying you late is the real cause, the Payment Times Reports Register publishes large businesses' standard payment terms and actual payment times to small suppliers, useful context for that negotiation. And for a payment dispute with another business, the Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman provides low-cost dispute assistance, including arranging alternative dispute resolution, on 1300 650 460, and most states and territories also have a Small Business Commissioner offering similar low-cost mediation closer to home. More of the negotiation-side playbook lives in the business owners finance hub.

How do you keep stock flowing when every order is COD?

Finance cannot make a supplier trust you again, but it can do the one thing the supplier no longer does: hold the timing gap between paying for stock and being paid for it. The principle that makes the choice simple is to match the facility to where the cash is trapped. If the cash is sitting in unpaid customer invoices, invoice finance, which the government glossary describes as finance based on the strength of a business's accounts receivable, frees the debtor book so you can pay suppliers on delivery. If the trap is the recurring order cycle itself, a working capital loan or a business line of credit sized to the cycle covers each COD order and is repaid as sales land. And for a one-off, time-critical stock buy where there is real property equity, a caveat loan or private lending can fund at order speed, a path covered in the time-critical stock payment guide. Business-purpose credit generally sits outside the National Credit Act, loans to companies are not caught at all, which is one reason non-bank lenders can move at the speed a stock order needs (ASIC INFO 101, as at 2020).

Where is the cash trapped, and which facility answers it? (general information, not advice; as at July 2026)
Where the cash is trappedWhat is happeningWhat commonly answers it
Unpaid customer invoicesCustomers pay on invoice terms while the supplier now wants cash on deliveryInvoice finance frees the debtor book; strength sits in your customers' credit, not yours
The recurring order cycleEvery regular stock order now needs cash on the dayA line of credit or working capital facility sized to the order cycle, drawn and repaid as stock turns
A one-off, time-critical stock buyA single large order with a deadline, and real property equity availableA caveat loan or private lending against the property, with a clear exit when the stock sells
Arrears owed to the supplier itselfThe account is behind, and terms will not return until it is addressedNegotiation first; finance only where the arrears are bounded and the business is otherwise solvent

The last row carries the guard this whole section sits under: the same solvency question from section 4. Borrowing to clear supplier arrears is only sound where the business is viable and the arrears are a timing problem, not a trading-loss problem. Where the honest forecast says the debts cannot be paid as they fall due, more credit deepens the hole, and the right conversation is the one in section 9.

Scenario: a wholesaler moved to COD after its own biggest customer stretched terms A wholesaler is moved to COD by its main supplier after falling behind, because its largest customer began paying invoices well past the due date. The response runs in order: chase the receivable, bring the debtor book to an invoice finance facility so the cash trapped in invoices funds each delivery, pay the supplier on delivery without missing an order, and negotiate a staged return to terms once the account has a clean run. The sequence matters as much as the facility. Illustrative only, outcomes depend on circumstances.

What makes a COD-pressured file fundable

  • A real debtor book: creditworthy customers and clean, evidenced invoices
  • Bank statements showing the order cycle and margins still work once timing is fixed
  • Arrears to the supplier that are explainable and bounded, not drifting
  • A specific ask, sized to the order cycle, not as much as possible
  • Where property is offered: clean title and a credible exit

What stalls or kills it

  • Waiting until stock has already stopped and revenue is falling
  • A debtor book concentrated in one slow-paying customer
  • COD pressure that is really trading insolvency, a restructuring conversation, not a lending one
  • Directors who cannot say why the supplier tightened

From our broking files, general and without figures

What we see on supplier stop-credit files, kept deliberately to direction rather than numbers, because a distress-adjacent loan is exactly where a made-up figure does damage.

  • The invoice finance path lives or dies on the debtors' strength, not the borrower's: a spread of creditworthy customers with clean invoices funds; a book concentrated in one slow payer stalls.
  • The files that move are the ones where the owner can explain, in one sentence each, why the supplier tightened and how the facility gets repaid.
  • The files that stall waited: stock already stopped, revenue already falling, and the ask arrives as a rescue rather than a structure.

General information only, from broking experience, and not financial advice. This is not an offer, an approval, or a likelihood of approval; every application is assessed on its own facts, its security, its exit and lender policy at the time. Speak to a qualified broker, your accountant and, where needed, a solicitor.

What does each facility cost, and how fast can it move?

What a facility costs, and how quickly it can move, both come down to structure. Each facility type prices off different things, and speed is set mostly by how ready your file is, not by the lender's appetite; the useful comparison is the drivers, not a single number. No figures are given here deliberately: costs and timing depend on your circumstances, the security and lender policy at the time, and any number printed today would mislead someone reading this next quarter. The advance rate, the percentage of an asset's value a lender will fund against, is the term that matters most on the receivables path.

What drives the cost and speed of each facility type? (qualitative only, no rates or timeframes; general information; as at July 2026)
FacilityWhat drives the costWhat drives the speed
Invoice financeThe advance rate against eligible invoices, service and discounting charges, and whether the facility is disclosed to debtorsClean, evidenced invoices to creditworthy customers, and a tidy receivables ledger
Line of credit or overdraftLimit sizing, any line fee on the limit, and interest on the drawn balanceBank statements that show the order cycle and margins clearly
Working capital loanTerm, security offered, and the lender's read of trading strengthCurrent lodgements and a specific, sized ask
Caveat loan or private lendingEstablishment, valuation and exit costs; priced for speed against property equityEvidenced equity, clean title, and a credible, dated exit

The product mechanics live where they belong: the business overdraft guide covers the overdraft path in detail, and the line of credit and working capital loans pages cover how the revolving and term structures are built. What this page adds is the fit: when the trigger is a supplier on COD, the facility is doing the supplier's old job, so size it to the order cycle the supplier used to carry, and no longer than the problem it solves.

How do you get credit terms reinstated?

Reinstatement is earned on the supplier's terms, and it is worth planning from day one, because the goal is not to run on COD or a facility forever, it is to get cheap trade credit back. What the supplier's credit team looks at is close to what a lender would: a record of clean payments while on COD, up-to-date financial statements when they ask, and often a fresh or reaffirmed personal guarantee from the directors. Treat that guarantee ask with the weight it deserves, it puts personal assets behind the account, and the glossary explains what signing a personal guarantee means. Propose a staged return rather than asking for the old limit back in one step: part-credit on a lower limit first, then a review after a clean run. There is no fixed period after which terms return; it depends on the supplier, the cause, and the run of payments they see.

Then keep the win. The fastest way back to COD is stretching the reinstated terms in the first quarter, because the credit team that just took a chance on you is watching the account more closely than anyone else's. If the facility that carried you through is still in place, run the two side by side only as long as the overlap is needed, then let the facility step down as terms normalise.

What to send: a reinstatement email after a clean COD run Subject: request to review our trade account terms. "Thanks for keeping supply open while our account has run on cash on delivery. Every order since the change has been paid on delivery, and we would like the account reviewed. We can provide current financial statements if that helps, and we are proposing a staged return: a reduced credit limit on shorter terms than before, direct debit on the due date, and a further review after another clean quarter. What else would you need to see from us, and when could a review happen?" The closing question does the same job as it does on the phone: it turns a no into a roadmap. Illustrative wording only; adapt it to your account and the cause of the original cut.
Scenario: a food-service operator whose supplier's insurer cut cover A food-service operator is moved to COD not for anything on its own file, but because the supplier's trade credit insurer cut the cover it held on the account. The operator asks the credit controller directly, learns the cause, and puts a short-term line of credit sized to the weekly order cycle in place so orders keep arriving. With the account paid on delivery every week, the supplier revisits terms as its insurance position resets, and the facility steps down as credit returns. It works because the cause was identified first and the facility matched the cycle, not a round number. Illustrative only, outcomes depend on circumstances.

Risks, protections, and who to call if the business cannot pay

A facility taken under pressure deserves more scrutiny, not less. Before you sign anything, know where you stand. Commercial and business loans carry the lowest level of legal protection for borrowers: lenders that provide only commercial credit are not required to hold a credit licence or belong to the Australian Financial Complaints Authority, although the ASIC Act still prohibits unconscionable and misleading conduct and unfair terms in standard form small business contracts (ASIC INFO 207, as at April 2024). Before dealing with any lender, search the ASIC registers and ABN Lookup, read the full cost and default terms, and confirm AFCA membership rather than assuming it: AFCA can consider complaints from small businesses, defined as fewer than 100 employees, but only against member firms, and it covers the lender relationship, not the supplier dispute itself. A lender worth using expects to be checked.

Where to get help

Asking for help early is a strength move, not a last resort. None of the services below sells you a loan, and where the business genuinely cannot pay its debts as they fall due, this conversation should come before any borrowing decision.

The Small Business Debt Helpline on 1800 413 828 gives free, independent and confidential financial counselling to small business owners under pressure, and the National Debt Helpline on 1800 007 007 does the same for personal debt (see Moneysmart on financial counselling). Talk to your accountant, and to your bank or lender's financial difficulty team where existing facilities are involved. Where the position is deeper, a registered restructuring practitioner can advise: small business restructuring lets eligible companies, with total liabilities that must not exceed $1 million, restructure debts including trade creditor debts while the directors remain in control (ASIC, as at July 2026). If a creditor escalates, the statutory demand guide explains the strict timeframes that follow.

A supplier cutting your credit or moving you to COD is repricing your credit risk, and the credit application you signed almost certainly allows it. Find the reason first, because it shapes everything: arrears and credit-file events are yours to fix, while the supplier's own cash flow or an insurer cutting cover are not about you at all. Negotiate before you borrow, with a part deposit, a shorter window or direct debit as middle ground. Where finance is the right tool, match it to where the cash is trapped: invoice finance for a debtor book, a line of credit sized to the order cycle, property-backed lending for a one-off time-critical buy. And hold the honest guard: ASIC lists COD terms among the warning signs of insolvency, so if the debts cannot be paid as they fall due, advice comes before borrowing. Fix the cause, fund the gap only where the business is sound, and use a clean COD run to earn the terms back.

Key takeaway: COD is the supplier repricing your risk, so find the cause, negotiate a middle ground, match any facility to where the cash is trapped, and get advice early if the problem is deeper than timing.

Frequently Asked Questions

Usually, yes. Most trade credit applications and terms of trade state that credit may be reduced, reviewed or withdrawn at any time, so the contract you signed, often alongside a directors guarantee, governs what notice, if any, is required. If the agreement is a standard form small business contract, unfair contract terms law can apply to one-sided variation terms, but a term is only unenforceable if a court finds it unfair. Read your credit application before assuming either way; this is general information, not legal advice.

Credit terms are the rules a supplier sets for how and when your business must pay, described on business.gov.au as the rules a business sets for payment. A trade account typically lets you take stock now and pay in 7, 14, 21 or 31 days (business.gov.au, as at December 2025), and suppliers usually run a check on your business credit report before offering it. The account is a discretionary commercial arrangement, not an entitlement, which is why it can tighten quickly.

The common causes are overdue invoices or an exceeded credit limit, or an event on your commercial credit file such as a payment default or court action, sometimes flagged by a new credit enquiry. It may also have nothing to do with you: the supplier's own cash flow may be tight, their trade credit insurer may have cut cover on your account, or they may be tightening terms across every customer. Ask directly, because the reason shapes the response.

It is a warning sign, not a verdict. ASIC's insolvency guidance for directors lists suppliers placing your company on cash-on-delivery terms among the warning signs of financial difficulty, and the legal test is cash-flow based: whether the business can pay its debts as and when they fall due. If the honest answer is no, get professional advice before borrowing, because new debt can deepen the hole, and if a creditor escalates to a statutory demand the timeframes are strict.

Start with the supplier's credit controller, not the sales rep. Pay or dispute any arrears, ask specifically what conditions would restore terms, and offer a middle ground: a shorter payment window, a part deposit up front, or direct debit on the due date. A run of clean payments while on COD is the strongest card you hold, and more negotiation ideas sit in the business owners finance hub.

In function, yes. Supplier credit is short-term working capital, so a facility can stand in for it: invoice finance frees cash from unpaid customer invoices, and a line of credit or working capital loan sized to the order cycle covers purchases while every order is cash on delivery. Business-purpose credit generally sits outside the National Credit Act, which is one reason non-bank lenders can move at order speed, but it also carries a lower level of borrower protection, so weigh the cost and risks first.

Invoice finance, also called debtor finance or factoring, raises funds against your unpaid invoices; the government's business.gov.au glossary describes it as finance based on the strength of a business's accounts receivable. When customers pay you later but suppliers now want cash on delivery, it frees the cash trapped in your debtor book so stock keeps arriving. The invoice finance page covers how facilities are structured.

It can, and other suppliers watch for it. Commercial credit bureaus such as Equifax, CreditorWatch and illion record payment defaults, and Equifax defines a commercial credit default as an overdue debt of $100 or more that has exceeded the agreed payment date (Equifax, as at July 2026). A commercial report can also show court actions, ASIC notices, cross-directorships and business tax debts the ATO has disclosed. Consumer credit reporting runs on different rules, and if a listing is wrong you can dispute it with the bureau and the credit provider, so check your business credit file rather than guessing.

Then fix the receivable, not just the supplier account. Chase the invoice and consider the Payment Times Reports Register, where large businesses publish their standard payment terms and actual payment times to small suppliers. The Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman offers low-cost dispute assistance on 1300 650 460, and invoice finance can advance against the debtor book while you wait to be paid.

Start with the Small Business Debt Helpline on 1800 413 828, whose financial counsellors are free, independent and confidential, then your accountant, and any lender's financial difficulty team if existing facilities are involved. Where the company genuinely cannot pay its debts as they fall due, a registered restructuring practitioner can advise; small business restructuring lets eligible companies with total liabilities not exceeding $1 million (ASIC, as at July 2026) restructure debts, including trade creditor debts, while directors remain in control. That is not a lending conversation, and it should come before one, especially if a creditor has escalated to a statutory demand.

What sources support this guide?

This guide is built on primary sources: government guidance on payment terms and finance definitions, the ACCC's positions on supply decisions and unfair contract terms, the Personal Property Securities Register guidance on retention of title, ASIC's insolvency and commercial-lending guidance, the ATO's disclosure rules, the credit reporting frameworks on both the consumer and commercial sides, and the free help services named. Each was read again for this build, and every figure in the copy sits beside its source and date. The table shows what supports which claim, and how current it is.

What sources support this guide, and how current are they? (as at July 2026)
SourceWhat it supportsAs at
business.gov.au, Payment terms and Key financial termsPayment terms as the rules a business sets, credit checks before credit, common day terms, and the plain definitions of invoice finance, line of credit, overdraft and working capitalDec 2025 / Jul 2026
ACCC, refusal to supply and unfair contract termsThat businesses are generally entitled to choose whom they supply, the limited competition-law exceptions, and unfair contract terms coverage of standard form small business contractsJul 2026
Competition and Consumer Act 2010, Schedule 2 section 23The statutory basis on which an unfair term of a standard form small business contract is voidCompilation May 2026
ppsr.gov.au, retention of title arrangementsWhat retention of title is, supplier registration on the PPSR, and purchase money security interest priorityJul 2026
ASIC, Insolvency for directors, INFO 101 and INFO 207COD terms as a listed warning sign, the cash-flow test and section 588G, safe harbour, small business restructuring eligibility, business-purpose credit and the National Credit Act, and the lower protection on commercial loans2020 to Jul 2026
ATO, Disclosure of business tax debtsThe $100,000 and 90-day disclosure thresholds and that effectively engaging generally avoids disclosureOct 2025
OAIC, Moneysmart, Equifax and CreditorWatchConsumer credit reporting periods and thresholds, the $100 commercial default definition, what a commercial credit report shows, and the dispute path for incorrect listings2025 to Jul 2026
Payment Times Reports Register, ASBFEO, Small Business Debt HelplineLarge-business payment times on the public register, low-cost dispute assistance on 1300 650 460, and free financial counselling on 1800 413 828Jul 2026

Regulatory positions and thresholds are summarised here, not reproduced in full, and none of this is legal, tax or financial advice. Reporting thresholds, bureau practices and regulator guidance change, so confirm the detail on the current source pages, and with your accountant or solicitor, before you act.

Nick Lim

Nick Lim

Broker, Switchboard Finance

0412 843 260 / hello@switchboardfinance.com.au

FBAA FBAA Accredited
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