Equipment Financing Questions, Answered
Straight answers to the questions business owners ask before they call: approval times, terms, deal sizes, credit, and what to have ready. If yours isn’t here, get in touch and a member of our team will answer it directly.
Approval and timing
How fast decisions happen and what the process looks like.
How long does approval take?
Straightforward deals with complete information typically get a credit decision within one business day. More complex structures take longer, and the biggest factor is how quickly we receive the required documents.
Having your paperwork ready before you call is the fastest route to a decision.
What should I have ready?
For most deals:
- A short description of your business and how the equipment will be used
- A quote or invoice for the equipment
- Recent financial statements or tax returns
- Recent business bank statements
Your Account Manager will confirm anything else specific to your deal.
What happens after I apply?
Your Essex contact reviews the file, comes back with any questions, and presents a structure for your approval. Once you accept, documents are prepared and Essex funds the deal directly. How quickly funding follows depends mostly on how fast signed documents come back.
Who will I deal with?
Your Account Manager will be your main point of contact and can connect you with the right Essex team members whenever needed. Meet the team.
Terms, deal size and structures
What we finance, for how long, and the ways we can structure it.
What terms do you offer?
Typically 24 to 72 months, matched to the useful life of the equipment and your cash flow.
What size of deal do you finance?
We typically finance deals from $100,000 to $20 million and up, and consider smaller amounts for certain equipment. If you're not sure whether your deal fits, call us; the conversation takes five minutes.
What determines my rate?
Every deal is priced on its own merits, so we don't publish a rate table. The factors we weigh are:
- The credit strength of the business and its owners
- The cost of the equipment and the amount financed relative to its value
- The type and age of the equipment
- The term
- The deal structure (lease, loan, sale-leaseback, seasonal payments)
- Your industry
- Market interest rates at the time of funding
Once we understand the deal, we give you a clear number.
What is the difference between an equipment lease and an equipment loan?
With an equipment loan you own the equipment from the start and repay it over the term. With an equipment lease you use the equipment for the term: a rental purchase agreement ends in ownership, and a residual-value lease leaves a balance at the end of the term, which keeps regular payments lower. See the side-by-side comparison on our equipment financing page.
Can I borrow against equipment I already own?
Yes. A sale-leaseback or equipment refinance lets you unlock the equity in equipment you already own. In a sale-leaseback, Essex buys equipment you own and leases it back to you, so you receive working capital and keep using it. A refinance restructures existing equipment loans or leases, for example to lower payments or combine several lenders into one. See debt consolidation and refinancing.
Do you offer a line of credit?
Yes. Our Asset-Based Line of Credit (ABLoC) gives you a pre-approved limit, secured by your equipment and other business assets, that you draw on when you need it. It helps when you are buying at auction or from dealer inventory, or need working capital without selling equipment. See our ABLoC page.
Do you offer seasonal or skip payments?
Yes. For agricultural, forestry, construction and other seasonal businesses we can match payments to your revenue cycle, with larger payments in the months you are working and reduced or skipped payments in the off-season.
Qualifying
What we look at, and what we finance.
Do I need perfect credit?
No. We look at the whole picture: your business, your equipment and your plan, not just a score. Character and a credible plan count for a lot with us.
Are you a bank or a broker?
Neither. Essex Lease Financial Corporation is a direct lender. We make the credit decision and fund the deal ourselves, which is why we can move quickly and structure around your situation.
Do you finance used or private-sale equipment?
Yes, including dealer, auction and private-seller purchases, subject to valuation and condition.
What types of equipment do you finance?
New and used heavy equipment, including:
- Construction and earthmoving equipment
- Trucks, trailers and hydrovac units
- Agricultural equipment
- Oil and gas equipment
- Forestry equipment
- Aggregates and mining support equipment
- Manufacturing and industrial equipment
- Infrastructure and utility equipment: directional drills, trenchers, vacuum excavation units and underground utility installation equipment
If yours isn't listed, ask us. See how we work with each sector on our industries page.
Where we work
Our offices and the provinces we finance in.
Do you work outside Alberta?
Yes. We finance businesses in Alberta, British Columbia, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Ontario from our offices in Calgary and Edmonton. Most of the process is handled remotely, so you don't need to be near an office.
Still have a question?
Call 1-403-693-4060 or toll-free 1-888-74-ESSEX, or send us a message. We answer during business hours, 8:30 AM to 4:30 PM MST, Monday to Friday.