A gym can be paying four debts at once: one for the treadmills, bikes and rowers, one for the fit-out, a merchant cash advance that takes a debit every business day, and the ATO on a payment plan. The advance is a lump sum, repaid as a share of card takings or a fixed daily debit. This guide shows how to list those debts, what refinancing each one can change, and what combining them does to the monthly outgoing and to the total cost.
Is a cash advance debit leaving the account every business day, even in the weeks when few membership payments come in? Will the treadmills and bikes need replacing before their loan is paid off? Have you put off dealing with four debts because it feels overwhelming to sort out while you are also running the floor?
IBISWorld's August 2026 report counts 9,011 gym and fitness centre businesses in Australia, with industry revenue forecast at $3.8B in 2026-27. For an operator, that revenue arrives in weekly and fortnightly membership debits, while the floor it pays for was bought in lump sums. Refinancing and consolidating a gym's debts is a specialist area we can assist with, for owners who lease their premises, and our gym and fitness business loans cover the equipment, fit-out and working capital side.
We would be pleased to start with your list: Ardent Capital Group can work through refinancing the equipment and fit-out loans with you, with the cash advance and the ATO plan looked at alongside them.
Four debts and a debit every business day
A gym owner's first step is seeing how many separate payments leave the account, and where each one goes.
It helps to start with the trading account statement, not the loan contracts, and put every debit to a lender, the ATO or a card provider on one list. Beside each one sits what it paid for, what secures it (the asset the lender holds as backing), the balance, the repayment and how often it comes out.
It also helps to count the debits as well as the dollars. A loan with daily repayments takes money out on about 21 or 22 business days a month. That is why the account can feel stretched while no single loan's rate looks out of line. Lenders count every one of those repayments when working out what the gym can afford.
Your mortgage, any vehicle finance and cards that have been carrying gym costs go on the list too, because they count in what a lender assesses.
Example: a leased gym's four debts, side by side
Seeing a gym's debts side by side shows where the month's money goes before anything changes. These figures are illustrative, built to show a debt mix we can assist with and how the numbers move when it is refinanced. The gym leases an industrial unit and carries four debts.
Each debt is listed with what it takes from the account each month.
| Debt | Owing | Cost | Time left | Each month |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cardio equipment loan | $90k | 11% (assumed) | 36 months | $2,946 |
| Fit-out loan | $120k | 13% (assumed) | 48 months | $3,219 |
| Merchant cash advance | $40k to repay | A fixed amount, taken at $350 each business day | About 5¼ months | About $7,595 |
| ATO payment plan | $30k | ATO interest on late tax, left out here | 12 months | $2,500 |
| Total | $280k | $16,260 |
The merchant cash advance has $40k still to be repaid, taken at $350 each business day. That comes to about $7,595 a month, for about another 5¼ months.
Until the advance clears, about $16,260 leaves the account each month across roughly 25 separate debits. To show the mechanics we have assumed 11% on the equipment loan, 13% on the fit-out loan, 10% on a new combined loan and 6.5% on a loan secured by the home. These are assumptions for the arithmetic only, not current rates.
The general interest charge, the interest the ATO adds to tax paid late, is left out of the ATO payment plan figures to keep them simple.
What a refinance can change on the gym's loans
For a gym's four debts, a refinance works on three settings: the pricing, the length of the loan and the asset it is secured against.
- Rate. Cheaper pricing over an unchanged term reduces both the monthly debit and the interest paid overall. The rate is the lender's decision, subject to assessment and approval.
- Term. A loan's term is how long it is set to run. Spreading the balance over more years shrinks each debit but adds to the interest bill, since the money stays borrowed for longer. It can still suit a gym carrying a cash-flow gap with a clear end. One example is the months between a winter lull and a New Year intake, if that is when your members join.
- Security. Secured loans, backed by an asset such as the machines or a home, generally carry lower rates than unsecured ones.
An amortising loan runs down to nil by the end of the term, unless it ends in a balloon, which is a lump sum left to pay at the end. Each repayment on it covers some interest, the charge on the balance owed, and some principal, which reduces the balance.
Interest is charged on what is still owed, so the interest portion is heaviest in the opening months and eases as the balance falls. To find the split on your own loan, multiply the balance by the annual rate and divide by 12.
Worked example: the first month on the fit-out loan
The fit-out loan carries the highest assumed rate on the gym's list, so it shows the interest share most plainly.
On the $120k fit-out loan at an assumed 13%, the first month's interest is about $1,300. With a repayment of $3,219, about $1,919 comes off the balance that month. The interest share then falls a little with every repayment after it.
Refinancing each of the gym's loans
A gym's assets wear out at different speeds, and each loan is best read against the life of what it paid for.
The fit-out and the lease
A bare leased unit becomes a gym through its fit-out. Its loan pays for rubber flooring, change rooms and showers, mirrors, air conditioning and the sound system.
These loans are commonly unsecured, or secured by a general security agreement. That lets the lender claim the business's assets, machines included, if the loan is not repaid. The fit-out cannot be sold or moved, and the lease decides whether it stays or is removed when the lease ends. So lenders check how long the lease has left before setting its term.
A refinance can set a fit-out term that ends inside the lease. Picture a five-year fit-out loan under a lease with three years left and no renewal option. That loan asks a lender to fund flooring and showers the gym may have to leave behind. Where a renewal is due, a signed renewal adds years a lender can lend against.
The make-good clause bears on the fit-out loan too. It requires the tenant to return the unit to its original condition at the end of the lease. For a gym, that can mean lifting rubber flooring, removing showers and plumbing, and taking down mirrors. That cost lands in the same year the lease ends.
Cardio and strength equipment
On a gym floor, some machines wear out years before others.
Treadmills, bikes, rowers and stair climbers take the heaviest daily use and are replaced first. Plate-loaded and selector machines, racks, platforms and dumbbells keep working for years after the cardio machines are replaced. Rubber flooring sits between the two. Both kinds of equipment loan are secured by the machines.
A refinance can change the rate, the lender, the term and any balloon. It cannot change how long a treadmill lasts on a busy floor. Keeping the equipment loans apart lets each one carry a term near its asset's life. That means a shorter term on the treadmills and bikes, and a longer one on strength equipment.
The risk is stretching machines that wear out in a few years over a long loan. Say the equipment loan on the cardio machines has three years left and is rolled into a single seven-year loan. The machines may then be replaced while the old ones are still being paid for, with the new machines' loan beside it.
Paying out the current loan on the treadmills and bikes and funding the replacement machines as one deal keeps one loan on those machines. The supplier's quote is in hand, and the new term can match how long the new machines will stay on the floor.
A merchant cash advance or a loan with daily repayments
This is the debt a gym owner sees most, because it leaves the account every business day.
An advance like this is priced as a fixed amount repayable rather than as an interest rate. So there is no rate on the statement to split: the cost was fixed as one amount when the advance was drawn.
To compare it with a term loan, it helps to set the total still to be repaid against what a term loan would cost over the same months.
The overdraft and the ATO payment plan
These two debts cover a gym's quiet months and any tax that fell behind.
An overdraft or line of credit is a limit the gym can dip into in a quiet month and repay as memberships come in. It is a buffer for the quiet months, not a term loan. Folding it into a term loan clears the balance and also removes the buffer.
An ATO payment plan is an agreement to pay tax owed in instalments. It can cover GST, the goods and services tax, along with PAYG withholding (tax withheld from staff wages) or super, with the general interest charge accruing on the balance.
Business-loan interest may be deductible, while the ATO's interest charges have not been deductible since 1 July 2025. How that applies to the gym is the accountant's call.
Putting the gym's debts together
Each way of combining the four debts changes both the gym's month and its total cost.
Example: five ways to handle the same $280k
The five options run from changing nothing to securing every debt on the home. Each is measured against changing nothing, by the change in cash flow while the advance is running and by what that relief costs over the life of the debt.
| Option | Monthly outgoing | Change on today's $16,260 | Total to repay | Change in total cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Keep all four as they are Today | $16,260 | Starting point | $331k | Starting point |
| Combine the advance and the ATO plan into a 2-year loan, keep the other two | $9,395 | $6,865 less | $338k | $7k more |
| Combine all four into one 5-year loan | $5,949 | $10,311 less | $357k | $26k more |
| Combine all four into one 7-year loan | $4,648 | $11,612 less | $390k | $59k more |
| Combine all four against the home over 25 years | $1,891 | $14,369 less | $567k | $236k more |
Illustrative figures, rounded. The rates are assumptions for the arithmetic, not current rates or quotes. Refinance costs and the general interest charge are left out. So are payout figures, the amount needed to close each debt on the day it is repaid.
A single loan over 25 years, secured by the home, brings the monthly outgoing from $16,260 down to $1,891, which is $14,369 less. Over those 25 years, the total to repay rises to about $567k, or about $236k more than keeping the debts as they are. The cardio machines inside that loan would be replaced long before it ended.
Of the five options, the smallest monthly outgoing costs the most in total, because its balance runs for the most years.
Each option trades cash flow now against cost later. Which option suits depends on the gym's trading, the lease and the plan for replacing the treadmills and bikes.
Our approach: we would set each debt beside its payout figure, in writing from each lender. We would compare the options on monthly outgoing and total cost, and take the one the owner chooses to lenders whose policy suits a leased gym. None of these numbers is a quote or an approved outcome.
What secures the new loan when you lease the unit
A gym that leases its unit has no premises to offer as security, so the security comes from the equipment, the business or property the owner holds.
- The equipment. Paying out the old equipment loan ends the old lender's claim on the machines, and the new lender takes fresh security over them.
- A general security agreement. Many business loans are secured by a general security agreement over the business. It is listed on the PPSR, the national register of security interests in personal property. It does not cover land, buildings or fixtures to land. When the loan moves, the old registration is released and the new lender registers its own. It helps to ask for the release to be confirmed with each payout.
- The home. Securing gym debts against the home lowers the rate and lengthens the term available. It also makes the home security for the gym's debts. That choice is the owner's, made with the trade-off between a lower repayment and a larger total in view. Where the home already secures a loan for the gym, a refinance can look at removing it once trading carries the loan alone. Our home loans for business owners cover the home loan itself.
- Premises you own. Owners who hold the freehold own the building rather than lease it. They can refinance the property loan and weigh its equity, the value of the building above the loan, against the business debts. Our gym and fitness premises refinance page covers that loan.
Two sites or two directors
When a gym owner opens a second site, it can sit in a company of its own. Where the directors guarantee both companies, a lender assesses each entity and each guarantor. A guarantor is a person who promises to repay if the company cannot. Expect to provide financials and tax returns for every entity, statements for each trading account, and each director's personal debts.
Before you apply to refinance the gym
Timing matters for a gym, because the New Year sign-ups and the winter lull both land in the bank statements that go with the application.
What to line up first, and when to revisit
Three things in the gym's paperwork can change when to refinance.
- A payout cost larger than the saving. It helps to get every payout figure in writing first. If the early payout charge on a fixed equipment contract outweighs the saving, the options can be compared again closer to the end of the term.
- A dip still in the statements. A winter lull or a run of cancellations may sit in the last three months. In that case, a few more months of recovered membership debits give a lender different numbers to assess.
- Unlodged BAS or tax returns. BAS, the business activity statement, is how the gym reports GST to the ATO. It helps to lodge outstanding BAS and returns first. Lenders assess lodged figures and the ATO account, and an up-to-date lodgement record goes into the application with them.
Membership direct debits
A gym's membership income arrives as debits, a set amount from each member every week or fortnight.
Those debits show in the bank statements and BAS, with personal training, class packs and casual visits. The statements show the run rate, meaning what comes in each month at the current pace. They also show how steady it holds through the year, and what the gym's costs take out of it.
- Sign-up season and quiet months. A full year of statements shows the whole cycle of a New Year rush and a thinner winter. A three-month window taken in winter shows only the low point.
- Churn. Churn is the rate at which members cancel, and it shows as members dropping off the debit run. Laws passed in July 2026 ban subscription traps from 1 July 2027, including by requiring an easy way to cancel.
- The gym's own cost lines. The main lines are rent on a large floor, and power for air conditioning, lighting and treadmill screens. Then comes the cost of 24/7 access: access-control software, app or fob entry, CCTV monitoring and a security callout contract for unstaffed hours. Servicing contracts and replacement parts for the bikes, rowers and treadmills sit beside them.
- Wages. Coaches and front-desk staff on the roster are covered by the Fitness Industry Award.
Documents to gather
Most of these papers come from the gym's billing system, its bank accounts, the accountant's files and the current lenders.
- A payout letter for every debt, including the merchant cash advance, and an ATO statement of account, the ATO's running record of the gym's tax account, for the payment plan
- Recent business bank statements for every trading account
- BAS for the current year, and the last two lodged years of financials and tax returns
- The lease, with the end date, renewal options and make-good clause
- Equipment invoices with purchase dates
- Monthly member numbers and direct-debit reports from the billing system
- Home loan, car loan and credit card statements for each owner and guarantor
The order runs: payout figures, the full debt list, the options compared on monthly outgoing and total cost, then the application. Payout figures are dated, so it helps to request fresh ones close to settlement.
Questions gym owners ask about refinancing
I'm paying three lenders plus the ATO every month. Can that become one repayment?
Yes, consolidation can roll several debts into one loan with one repayment date. Whether a merchant cash advance or an ATO balance can be included depends on the lender, so it helps to raise both at the start.
The loan on my treadmills and bikes only has six months left. Should it go in the refinance?
A loan that close to its end has little interest left in it. Letting it finish and refinancing the rest can cost less.
Will a lender hold my winter membership drop against me?
That depends on the lender, and a whole year of trading puts the winter in context. A dip that recovers each New Year reads differently from a member base that keeps falling. A full year of statements and monthly member numbers shows which one it is.
Why is the payout figure higher than the balance on my statement?
A payout figure can differ from the statement balance. For the gym, it may include a fee to discharge the old loan, interest up to the payout date, and an early payout charge where a gym equipment contract has a fixed rate.
I took a loan with daily repayments to get through a quiet winter and now there's a second one. Can they be cleared?
They can be reviewed as part of the whole debt list. Loans like these take a repayment every business day, so two running together can take money out of the account about 40 times a month or more. Whether a lender will pay them out within a new loan depends on the payout figures and the gym's trading.
I'm on an ATO payment plan for GST. Does that stop me refinancing?
Not by itself. Lenders look at whether the plan is being met, at the ATO statement of account and at the stage the debt has reached. A business loan may be used to pay out an ATO debt, and the tax side of that is for your accountant.
Super now goes out with every pay run. Will a lender see that?
Yes, it shows on the statements. From 1 July 2026, Payday Super requires employer super to reach the fund within seven business days after each pay day. So super leaves the account with every pay run instead of each quarter, beside the wages it relates to.
If I stretch the loan out, am I just paying more in the end?
At the same rate, yes. For the gym in this guide's example, one seven-year loan costs about $33k more in total than one five-year loan, for a monthly repayment about $1,300 lower.
Will applying to refinance damage my credit score?
A formal application is recorded on the credit file of the company and each director. Taking the application only to lenders whose policy suits a gym keeps the number of recorded enquiries low.
Our PTs are contractors who rent floor space. Does that income count?
Rent from trainers who hire floor space is business income paid into the gym's account, and it appears on the statements. Rostered trainers show as wages. Written contractor agreements show the fees continue, and the lender decides how much weight they carry in its assessment.
Talk to us about your gym's loans
A gym's debts were taken out for different things at different times: the cardio machines, the fit-out, the cash to get through a quiet month. Refinancing them means matching each loan to the life of what it paid for, the lease it sits under and the membership debits that repay it. At Ardent Capital Group we assist gym owners with equipment and fit-out refinancing, debt consolidation and working capital. Drawing on a background in financial planning, the Ardent Capital Group team can set out a strategy for how the loans sit across your debts, with your accountant settling the tax questions before you sign. If you are weighing up a refinance for your gym, we are glad to go through your debt list with you.
