You’ve run out of people to borrow from.

Another short-term loan is no longer available

A landscaping owner has borrowed from a brother, a former colleague and a partner to finish successive jobs. Each loan was described as temporary. Another supplier bill arrives, but nobody can lend more. The owner is now considering asking an employee for help, without knowing when any of the earlier lenders can be repaid.

List every informal commitment

Record who provided money, who legally borrowed it, the amount, dates, repayments and any written terms. Include loans that were discussed only by message. Do not label money as a gift merely because repayment has become uncomfortable.

Separate company liabilities from personal borrowing used to support the company. An adviser needs both pictures to understand the pressure and any related-party transactions.

Identify what the borrowing has funded

Trace recent advances to wages, materials, tax, old repayments or losses on completed work. Check whether each injection finished a profitable job or merely postponed a recurring shortage.

Prepare the next operating period without another family advance. This removes a convenient balancing figure and shows the decisions the business has been avoiding.

Do not widen the exposure blindly

Avoid asking someone else to borrow on your behalf or offer security before independent advice. The absence of conventional funding is information about the situation, not proof that another personal guarantee is the solution.

Give existing lenders accurate updates without promising preferential repayment. If the company may be insolvent, ASIC recommends early qualified advice; ask how earlier and proposed related-party payments should be handled.

Source: ASIC — Insolvency for directors

Compare realistic next steps

Work with an adviser to assess whether changes in pricing, costs, scope or funding could support viable trading. Identify what has to happen, by when, and who can actually commit the resources.

If no credible funded course exists, obtain advice on formal options. A difficult decision now can be more responsible than inviting another person into a repayment chain nobody has calculated.

Review the business without assumed rescue money

Map informal debts and the identity of each borrower.

Prepare a forecast with no uncommitted personal advances.

Get advice before seeking more family money or making selective repayments.

Call CRP today to coordinate a review when informal borrowing has reached its limit.