The simple definition
Private credit is a loan where the money comes from private investors rather than a bank. The borrower still signs a loan agreement, still gives security, and still pays interest — but the lender on the other side of the table is a fund, a syndicate of wholesale investors, or a family office, not a retail deposit-taking institution.
Because the capital is private, the credit decision is made by people who can look at the whole transaction: the asset, the sponsor, the exit and the timing. That is why private credit is often described as relationship or judgement-based lending, in contrast to bank policy-based lending.
What Australian private credit typically looks like
The bulk of Australian private credit is real-property secured. A typical facility runs between three and twenty-four months, is secured by a first or second-ranking mortgage, and is repaid from a defined event — a sale, a refinance, the receipt of contracted proceeds, or the completion and settlement of a development.
Loan sizes range from a few hundred thousand dollars to well over fifty million. Interest is paid monthly or capitalised into the facility so the borrower services nothing during the term. Loan-to-value ratios are conservative relative to the risk being taken, because the security property is the primary protection for investor capital.
Who uses private credit and why
Borrowers are commercial: developers, builders, business owners, investors and trustees. They use private credit when a bank cannot move fast enough, when the situation does not fit standard bank policy, or when the loan is genuinely short-term and a bank product would be the wrong tool.
Common uses are bridging a settlement, funding a site acquisition before a construction facility is in place, unlocking equity in an asset for working capital, refinancing expired bank debt, and completing a partially finished project.
Where Envision Private sits
Envision Private arranges private credit. We assess and structure transactions secured by Australian real property and match them with wholesale, sophisticated and professional investor capital. We are not an NCCP-regulated consumer lender and we only arrange loans for business and investment purposes.
Key points
- Private credit is funded by investors, not bank deposits.
- Most Australian private credit is secured by a registered mortgage over real property.
- Terms are typically 3–24 months with a defined exit.
- It serves commercial and investment borrowers, not consumers.
Frequently asked questions
Is private credit the same as private lending?
In practice the terms are used interchangeably in Australia. 'Private lending' usually describes the loan from the borrower's side; 'private credit' describes the same market from the investor's side.
Is private credit regulated?
Private credit for business and investment purposes sits outside the National Consumer Credit Protection Act. Arranging and offering wholesale investments is governed by the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth), including the wholesale and sophisticated investor tests.
Is private credit only for large deals?
No. Facilities commonly start in the hundreds of thousands and run to tens of millions. What matters more than size is the quality of the security and the credibility of the exit.