Questions owners actually ask.

A loan puts the asset on your books from day one and you own it outright at payoff; a lease is closer to a long-term rental, with lower monthly payments but no equity unless you exercise a buyout. Loans tend to win on total cost if you'll run the equipment for years; leases can win on cash flow if you replace it often. We cover the full comparison, with the tax differences, in our lease-vs-loan guide.

Machinery, commercial vehicles, restaurant and kitchen buildouts, medical and dental equipment, construction gear, and technology or IT infrastructure all qualify — new, used, dealer-purchased, or bought at auction. Age and condition matter more for older or fast-depreciating assets than for heavy iron with a long useful life. If your business runs on it, it's very likely financeable; the honest answer for anything unusual is to ask.

Four things move the number: the asset's age and type, your credit profile, the term length, and how established your business is. Newer, easily resold equipment with a strong secondary market prices better than specialized or aging gear. We don't publish a single rate because there isn't one — every offer is underwritten against your specific business and the specific asset, and we'd rather show you a real number from your file than a range that sounds good on a landing page.

Straightforward deals with an established business often fund the same week from a completed application. More involved transactions — larger amounts, newer businesses, specialized equipment — can take longer while underwriting works through the details. We set expectations up front rather than promising a timeline we can't guarantee for every deal.

Yes. The lender holds a security interest in the asset itself, which is exactly why equipment financing is more forgiving than an unsecured loan — the collateral does real work in the underwriting. That's also why newer businesses, or owners without a long credit history, frequently qualify here when they wouldn't for a general-purpose loan: the machine backs its own financing, not just your track record.

No. Seeing your options starts with a soft credit pull, which doesn't affect your score and isn't visible to other lenders. A hard pull only comes later, if you move forward with a specific offer and formal underwriting begins. You can see real numbers before anything touches your credit report.

It varies. Many equipment loans, especially on new equipment, are structured with little or no down payment because the asset itself is strong collateral. Used equipment, very new businesses, or higher-risk asset categories sometimes call for a down payment to offset the lender's exposure. There's no fixed percentage we can promise across every deal — it depends on the asset and your file.

Section 179 of the tax code lets many businesses deduct the full purchase price of qualifying equipment in the year it's placed in service, rather than depreciating it over several years — and that deduction generally still applies even when the equipment is financed rather than paid for in cash. The details (limits, phase-outs, what qualifies) change year to year and depend on your specific tax situation, so we've laid out the full mechanics, with the current numbers, in our Section 179 guide. Talk to your tax advisor before you plan around it.

Often, yes. Because the equipment secures its own financing, lenders can extend credit to newer businesses that a bank would decline on time-in-business alone. Expect more scrutiny on personal credit and possibly a down payment or personal guarantee to offset the shorter track record, but a lack of years in business isn't automatically disqualifying the way it is with unsecured lending.

Typically: a couple of years of business (or personal, for newer businesses) tax returns, three to six months of bank statements, and a quote or invoice for the equipment with make, model, and year. For used equipment, include any maintenance records or condition details you have. That's the core file for most applications — no business plan, no exhaustive binder required to get started.

Because the equipment secures the loan, the lender has the right to repossess and resell it if payments stop — that's the trade-off for the more accessible approval standards collateral financing offers. We'd rather say that plainly than let it surface for the first time in a contract. If you're worried about affordability before you sign, that's exactly the conversation to have with us first.

We're an independent business-equipment financing desk, not a direct lender — we don't fund deals with our own capital. Your application is reviewed by our team and matched across the lenders we work with, rather than shopped around to outside brokers, and one person owns your file from first call to funding. We won't call that a "direct lender," because it isn't — but it is one desk, one point of contact, and one team accountable for getting you a real answer.