What Asset Finance Help is - and isn't
Asset Finance Help is an independent Australian information publisher and lead introduction service. We publish reference content about Australian business asset finance, and we offer to introduce readers to accredited Australian asset finance brokers from our partner panel when readers choose to be introduced.
We are not:
- A credit provider, credit licensee or credit representative under the National Consumer Credit Protection Act 2009 (Cth).
- An Australian Financial Services Licence (AFSL) holder.
- A tax agent or registered tax (financial) adviser.
- A legal practitioner or legal advice provider.
- An affiliate of, or owned by, any lender, bank or broker.
Nothing on this site is personal credit assistance, personal financial advice, tax advice or legal advice. It is general information about products that exist in the Australian market.
How we make money
Asset Finance Help is funded by commercial referral arrangements with accredited Australian asset finance brokers. When a reader chooses to be introduced to a broker on our partner panel and that introduction ultimately leads to a settled finance transaction, the broker may pay us a referral fee or commission. The fee is paid by the broker out of their own earnings; it does not change what the reader pays for their finance.
We do not charge readers for any content, comparison, introduction or follow-up. We do not run paid placements, sponsored rankings, "featured" listings or advertorial dressed as editorial. We do not sell advertising on the site.
Referral fee amounts vary between broker partners. The level of the fee does not influence which broker we introduce a reader to - introductions are matched to the reader's stated needs (asset type, deal size, location, deal complexity, documentation level) and the partner best placed to handle that profile.
Our broker partner panel
Brokers on our partner panel are required to:
- Hold an Australian Credit Licence (ACL), or operate as an authorised credit representative of an ACL holder, where the law requires it.
- Hold membership of the Mortgage & Finance Association of Australia (MFAA) or the Finance Brokers Association of Australia (FBAA).
- Hold appropriate professional indemnity insurance.
- Be members of, or have access to, the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA) external dispute resolution scheme where applicable.
- Disclose their own commissions, fees and lender panel to the reader when engaged.
Our panel is reviewed periodically and partners can be removed for unresolved complaints, conduct issues or material non-compliance.
How we keep editorial independent
The same rules sit in our Editorial Policy and we restate them here because they are part of the disclosure:
- No broker partner pays for placement, ranking, favourable coverage or visibility.
- No broker partner sees, approves or pre-reviews content before publication.
- Pages, comparisons and recommendations are not ordered by referral fee.
- We publish information about products and structures our panel cannot or does not arrange, where doing so helps readers understand the market.
- Where an example uses a specific product or lender, it is for illustration only and not a recommendation.
Conflict of interest management
The structural conflict is that we earn revenue when readers choose to be introduced to a broker partner. We manage that conflict by:
- Disclosing the commercial model openly on every page and on this dedicated disclosure page.
- Keeping the introduction optional. The reader chooses whether to be introduced; nothing on this site requires it.
- Encouraging readers to compare multiple sources - including going direct to lenders - and writing content that explains how to do that.
- Refusing offers from broker partners to "rank higher" in editorial content or to pay for preferred placement.
- Limiting the editorial team's access to deal-level commercial data so individual articles are not influenced by which partner closed which deal.
Regulatory positioning
Asset Finance Help operates as a publisher of general information about commercial asset finance products and as a referrer of business borrowers to accredited brokers. Most of the lending we cover sits outside the regulated consumer credit regime because it relates to business or commercial use of the asset.
We do not provide credit assistance as defined in section 8 of the National Consumer Credit Protection Act 2009 (Cth). We do not suggest, recommend or assist with specific credit contracts, and we do not negotiate, apply for or arrange finance on behalf of a reader. Where an introduction is requested, the broker partner takes over the credit assistance role directly with the reader under their own credit licence and disclosures.
If, in the course of our editorial coverage, content drifts toward what could be characterised as credit assistance, we err on the side of removing or rewriting it. We invite readers and regulators to flag anything that looks otherwise.
Complaints
About Asset Finance Help (this site, its content or our handling of your enquiry): email support@assetfinancehelp.com.au with the heading "Complaint". We aim to acknowledge complaints within one business day and respond substantively within ten business days. If you're not satisfied with our response, you may escalate to:
- Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) - for privacy concerns: oaic.gov.au, 1300 363 992.
- Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) - for consumer law concerns: accc.gov.au.
- The Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA) on 1800 931 678 if your complaint involves a broker or credit provider in our referral chain.
About a broker partner we introduced you to: raise the complaint with the broker directly first; they are required to have an internal dispute resolution process. If unresolved, you can escalate to AFCA on 1800 931 678 or at afca.org.au.
About a credit provider (lender): contact the lender directly; if unresolved, AFCA again applies.
What this disclosure does not cover
This disclosure is about Asset Finance Help. It is not a substitute for the disclosures a broker partner must make to you in their own engagement (credit licence number, lender panel, commission disclosure, credit guide, credit proposal disclosure, etc.). When you're introduced to a partner, ask for and read their own disclosures before proceeding.
Related
Ask about how we make money
If anything in our Disclosures isn't clear, or if you want to verify how a specific commercial arrangement works, the form below goes straight to the editorial lead.