Rates, Rates, Rates…

That’s always the first question asked when dealing with financing anything whether it’s your home, a new car, furniture or business equipment and machinery. How much is it going to cost me, of my hard earned dollars, to get what I want or need? Now let’s re-focus it on business equipment financing. Brokers and lenders often publicize payment or rate sheets, which are extremely low, lower than what primary wholesale lenders even lend money at. Why do they do that? Because by the time you provide your credit information, financials, bank statements, etc., you have done a considerable amount of work, taken up time and your credit has been “pulled” at least once. Now the lender notifies you that you don’t qualify for the “preferred” quoted payments but they can still help you out, at a higher rate of course. By this time, most business people just agree rather than going through the entire process again and don’t really get to make a choice.

How to avoid this predicament? Have your financials in order, scanned and in PDF format so you are not overwhelmed when asked to provide them. Most importantly, have your personal or company credit score and D&B rating printed and offer that score as a basis on which to get a payment estimate. Once you’re comfortable with your finance payment and it fits into your budget, then you can have the lender run a current credit check for final approval. This will avoid multiple “inquiries” on your score and allow you to search and find a program which best fits your needs.