An Entrepreneur’s Guide to Equipment Finance vs Equipment Lease Pt 2

Equipment Finance

It is to be noted that the loan amount will be lower or equivalent to the total cost of the equipment in the market. Hence, you can be relieved that you will not have to pay an amount that is much higher than the current market value of the equipment. Plus, the equipment piece will be fresh or brand new, unlike a leased product. Therefore, maintenance and repairs will be much lower.

Moreover, you will have to repay the loan amount with interest within the lifespan of the product. Once you are done with the repayment following every term and condition, you will get its ownership.

The Pros

• Easy to qualify.
• Relatively low cost.
• Does not require collateral.

Cons

• Require down payment in some cases.
• You will have to purchase the equipment.

Equipment Lease

When it comes to equipment lease, you cannot own an equipment piece by leasing it. Here, the owner of the equipment rents it out to others on a contract basis. Hence, you will not get complete ownership of the product outright in this case. However, at the end of your lease period, you can decide whether to terminate the lease, renew it, or purchase the equipment. There are mainly two types of leases; operating lease and capital lease.

Operating lease: This is one of the best leasing options available, since the monthly payments will be comparatively low in this case. Besides, the business owner will get a chance to own the rented piece of equipment at the end of the lease period. For this, all you have to do is to pay the current market value of the equipment. Unsurprisingly, this type of lease is also known as fair market value lease.

Capital lease: Unlike operating leases, capital leases impose higher monthly payments and are crafted more like business loans. Nevertheless, the business owner will get an option to buy the equipment piece at the end of the lease period either by paying 10% of its purchase value or a nominal value like $1. As a result of the structure of capital lease, it is sometimes indistinguishable from equipment finance.

The Pros

• No need of collateral or down payment.
• The application process is quite easy.
• Flexible terms and condition.
• Repairs will be on the lender.

Cons

• Lease amount can go higher than the product price.
• Lease amount will depend on your income, age, annual revenue, etc.
• The lease amount will be decided by the lending company.

In simple words, equipment finadncing will be like buying a house on EMI basis and equipment leasing will be like renting an apartment.