Wednesday, May 14, 2014

Factors To Consider When Choosing Equipment Finance Program

By Ashis Jain


All businesses need to grow to their capacity, efficiency, effectiveness and productivity in order to attain many other objectives including maximizing profit and increasing their market share. Whether a business has been operating profitably or not prior to its need to acquire certain assets, it may need to source for external funding due to various reasons thus making it important to have a plan on what would make a good funding plan. When a business requires funding for equipment, it ought to analyze different asset financing programs before choosing one. You can identify a good equipment finance program through considering a set of points.

You need to understand the nature of the equipment you want to buy relative to the exposure of risk that you are exposing the financier to. The interest that different financiers are willing to charge for various types of equipment is likely to differ. For instance, buying custom built equipment might cost you more in terms of the interest charged by the financier compared to buying standard equipment.

The cost of the financing should also be a major point of consideration that you should not overlook. Different financiers have varying rates of interest when financing different equipment. Some of the major determinants of how much you will end up paying include the lease term, the interest and the amount of money you pay as installments.

Businesses should also determine the amount of money they should be looking for based on how much the equipment actually costs. Different equipment have different prices based on different factors like the brand, the capacity and the features that the equipment has. You have to find a financier who can offer you a favorable financing plan based on your needs and financial position.

It is important for you to know how desperately you need the equipment delivered to your premises. In situations that require immediate financing like when you want a replacement for a machine that broke down, you will have to look for equipment leasing program that is known to process customer requests exceptionally fast. This will in turn help you resume operations within a very short time.

You will have to be aware of needs you need to fulfill if you get certain kind of equipment. Clearly, you do cannot just borrow for the sake of it even if you have the best credit score. Perform a reality check and compare the expected repayments and your anticipated cash flows to be sure that you can repay the funding.

It is necessary for borrowers to analyze their level of leverage through calculating their debt to equity ratio. Having the right level of this ratio will propel the business towards growth while having an imbalance may stall growth or expose the business to huge risks. Always have a specific debt to equity ratio that you have to maintain for your business.

You need to have a plan on how you expect to use the equipment if it is to bring the expected cashflows. The financier will also check this plan to determine its viability. It is important to seek help from a professional to ensure that you come up with a sound plan on how the equipment will add value to your business.




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