5 Tips For Selecting The Right Leasing Company For Your Equipment Finance Needs

Partnering is more often than not the right thing. Bad partnerships don't work and can adversely of course affect your business. That’s why it is so important to select the right firm to originate your equipment finance needs.

The right leasing company on a long term basis will ensure that you are investing properly in the assets you need to run your business for your customer base.

Let’s look at 5 key tips we can provide you to ensure you are putting the right financial strategy in place around asset acquisition. Successfully working and negotiating through these tips with the right leasing partner guarantees you business equipment lease financing success.

Its all about getting approved of course , and getting an approval quite frankly is the biggest decision your lessor has to make around the transaction - that approval can be significantly influenced by yourself - it is important to present both the positives around your firms financials, as well as the challenge you may have, or may be facing,

Chance of getting approved is significantly reduced if negative information about your firm or its financials arises after your submission. Factors that affect your approval are your time in business, your ability to have sourced financing in the past - i.e. other lessors, banks, etc. Other key areas of focus are trade references and the ability of the owners to demonstrate they run their personal lives in a fiscally responsible manner also. This is usually accomplished by the lessor drawing a credit bureau report. On transactions over 50,000.00$, as a general rule financial statements are required, and areas of focus will be your overall balance sheet health and the ability to generate positive cash flow to repay the lease .

Lets move on to rate, we are never under surprised with how much our clients focus solely on rate and their ability to drive down the lessors yield . In Canada leasing equipment is very competitive, and all we can say is that if you have presented your financials properly the market will ensure you have a competitive rate. Naturally you can spend all the time in the world securing a ' better deal ', but consider management time and total savings. A quick example: If you leased a 75k piece of production equipment and were quoted a rate of 10.25% and you spent a lot of time in sourcing another quote, re submitting your financials to a new firm, etc , and got a rate of 10.00% you would be saving twenty dollars a month. We'll let you decide the value of your time.

We have covered off credit approval and rates, Documentation are important also. You should be prepared to provide a proper invoice or quote to the lessor, as well as a certificate of insurance. The equipment lease and your acceptance of delivery are key to the lease commencement. Smaller transaction in Canada has been greatly simplified, so you should typically be provided with a one or two page lease agreement. Larger transactions are of course more complex.

The type of lease you choose and your analysis of the lease versus buy decision is also a key area of focus. Look at your cash flow Vis Vis payments you will make on a lease versus a loan basis. As a general rule leasing tends to be more expensive, but is easier to obtain and is less of a drain on your cash flow.

Two is the magic number. There are two types of leases you should inquire about, a full payout capital lease, as well as an operating lease where use of the asset is more important than owning the asset.

Your overall lease financing decision should be focused on a very simple question - namely:
- is the asset acquisition important to your business profitability and productivity. If new assets and proper financing position your business for competitiveness you have made the right financing decision.

We have covered off 5 key areas in the selection of a leasing company in the equipment finance area. If you find the information and the challenge overwhelming speak to a trusted, credible and experienced business financing advisor who will help you achieve lease financing that meets your goals.