AgBiz Drought Loan

Supporting regional Australians to take control of their farm-related small business through drought.

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Resume application

Purpose

For farm-related small businesses to manage and recover from drought.

Use this loan to:

Pay employees and contractors

Pay for salaries and wages.
Pay business expenses

Including rent and rates and current liabilities.
Pay for operating expenses

Pay for fuel and other supplies essential to the business operation.
Refinance debt

Refinance certain existing debt at our low interest rate to improve cash flow.

Loan terms

$500k

Maximum amount

4.99%

Variable rate*

10

Year term

5

Years interest only

$0

Extra repayments

$0

Application Fee

$0

Early payout fee

No

Redraw

Percentage of total debt

At least 50% of your total debt must stay with a commercial lender.

Frequency of repayments

Tailored to the cash flow of the farm business.

Repayment structure

First five years interest only, then five years’ principal and interest over a 10-year loan term.

The structure of principal repayments will be dependent upon a number of key factors, including the loan amount, the purpose of the funding and the nature of the security.

The principal of the loan may be repaid (wholly or partly) at any time during the term of the loan without incurring a fee.

Full terms and conditions are available in the loan guidelines.

*Interest rate effective from February 2024 to July 2024.

Eligibility

You

are an Australian citizen or permanent resident
have at least one member of your small business contributing at least 75% of their labour to the small business (under normal circumstances)
have at least one member of your small business deriving at least 50% of their income from the small business (under normal circumstances)

Your business

is in financial need of a loan
is not a farm business
has fewer than 20 employees other than casual employees
supplies goods or services relating to primary production to farm businesses in affected areas
has had a reduction in the turnover; or an increase in unsecured debt as a result of drought
has the capacity to repay the loan
is financially viable in the long term
has existing commercial debt is registered for tax purposes in Australia with an ABN and is registered for GST
operates as a sole trader, trust, partnership or private company
is not under external administration or bankruptcy

You must

provide security for the loan
secure the support of your commercial lender for the proposed loan
repay the loan

You cannot use this loan for

purchase of private and domestic assets
payment of private and domestic expenses
capital expenditure
purchase of and/or investment in non-small business assets and expenses
payment of tax and statutory payments
your own labour costs
reimbursement for depreciation of assets
payment of dividends or other distributions of equity to owners
activities funded under other Commonwealth and state or territory government programs.

Affected areas

To be eligible for an AgBiz Drought Loan, your small business must be, or have been, supplying goods or services relating to primary production to farm businesses located in an affected eligible area. Please see the map below.

Please contact us on 1800 875 675 or email info@ric.gov.au to discuss the affected area eligibility of the AgBiz Drought Loan.

Before you apply

You need to check

you can meet the loan eligibility criteria
you understand the terms of the loan
you have read the detail in the loan guidelines
you have informed your commercial lender you plan to apply for a RIC loan

You need to have

Australian Business Number (ABN)
financial history
identity documents
proof of your eligibility
your business cash flow budget

Ask us a question

We are here to help.

Contact us to ask any questions.

Apply

There are two ways to apply for a AgBiz Drought Loan.

We encourage you to apply online.

You may need to contact your trusted financial advisor to help you complete your application.

Follow the document checklist from the resources section to ensure you submit a complete application.
The online form has mandatory fields and documents. You must supply this information to progress to the next stage of the form.
You must submit all required information so we can start assessing your application and provide an outcome as quickly as possible.
Once you begin you will have 30 days to submit your online loan application. You will receive a reminder at 10, 20 and 30 days.

Apply now Resume application

Download the application form from the resources section.
We can’t start assessing your application until we get all the information we ask for, including attachments.
Submit your application to info@ric.gov.au or post to:

Regional Investment Corporation, PO Box 653, Orange, NSW, 2800.

Resources

Guidelines

We will assess your application against the criteria in the loan.

Read the detail on who can apply for a loan and what happens after you apply.

AgBiz Drought Loan Guidelines [679 kB]

Application form

Complete this form on your computer or print and fill it in by hand.

Right click on the link and select 'save target as' or 'save link as' to download the form.
Open the form using Acrobat Reader. Download a free version of Adobe Acrobat Reader DC software.
Save the application form regularly as you are filling it in.
The form will not work when opened in a web browser or other software, e.g. Microsoft Edge, Chrome, Safari, Preview.

AgBiz Drought Loan Application Form [604kB]

Document checklist

If applying online, follow the document checklist to ensure you submit a complete application.

AgBiz Drought Loan Document Checklist [197 kB]

Cash flow budget

You must include your business cash flow budget with your application.

We will use this to help assess your financial position, and your ability to repay the loan.

If you do not have your own budget spreadsheet, you can use our template.

Note: This template may not meet government accessibility requirements. Contact us for help.

AgBiz Cash Flow Budget Template

Statutory declaration

You may need to make a statutory declaration to support your application.

Commonwealth statutory declaration

Guarantor asset and liability statement

You may be required to provide a guarantor's asset and liability statement with your application.

Guarantor asset and liability statement [214kB]