How commercial financing actually works, in plain English. What lenders look at, what the requirements really are, and how to tell before you apply whether a deal is likely to fund. Equipment finance, working capital, SBA, and the underwriting behind all of it.
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Search the machine, not the category: “excavator”, “CBCT”, “reefer trailer”.
One $75,000 machine run through an EFA, a $1 buyout, a 10% option and an FMV lease: about $1,866 a month to own it versus $1,606 to lease it, what each costs over four years, who gets the Section 179 deduction, and the five questions that decide it.
Read the guideWho owns the equipment, what each payment looks like on $100,000, which ones qualify for Section 179, and the clauses to read before you sign.
Read the guideEvery step from the seller's quote to funding, what you need to apply, what it costs, and how long it takes. On a clean application-only deal, days, not weeks.
Read the guideDeduct the full cost of qualifying equipment the year you put it to work. The 2026 limits, what qualifies, the placed-in-service trap, vehicle caps, how it differs from bonus depreciation, and why financing doesn't reduce the write-off.
Read the guideThe deadline is about the equipment, not the paperwork. A week-by-week plan to finance, install, and document equipment before December 31, and what a three-week slip costs.
Read the guidePDFs, not photos. Complete documents, all pages in order. Download bank statements from your bank instead of screenshotting them, and use the free scanner already built into your phone. The checklist to run before you hit send.
Read the guidePaying cash is not free. It costs whatever that money would have earned elsewhere. The opportunity cost math against a savings account, the S&P 500, and returns inside your own business, plus the one rule it all reduces to.
Read the guideNo personal guarantee means the company has to stand on its own. What lenders require: time in business, an established business credit file, comparable borrowing history, and financials that carry the payment.
Read the guideAround 600 FICO is the practical entry point for established businesses, 700+ for startups. What each tier costs in 2026, the payment on $30K, $50K and $100K, honest answers for 500 and 400 scores, and how to strengthen a borderline file. Updated September 2026.
Read the guideYes, but selectively. 700+ personal credit, verifiable industry experience, capital left after the purchase, and equipment that holds value. Why the bar sits there, and how to close the gap.
Read the guidePaying cash to dodge startup terms, then running out of money before the business can qualify for anything. What perfect terms really save, and what to do instead.
Read the guideThe discounts are real and so are the liens. A UCC lien follows the machine to you, not the seller. What to verify, how the scams run, and how lenders structure a private-party purchase.
Read the guideTwo years is when a company first produces two tax returns, a real DSCR, and a seasoned credit file. Plus the spread math: one charge-off eats the profit on thirty good loans. Where to go if you are under it.
Read the guideShort revolving money against a long fixed asset. A floating rate, an annual renewal you can lose, a blanket lien on everything you own, and the cash cushion you just spent. Plus how to unwind it if you already did.
Read the guideBusiness credit gets no rate-shopping window, and lenders can see each other. A file shopped everywhere reads as a file already declined. Plus stacking risk, and how to compare terms without broadcasting.
Read the guideSix steps from the first call to the first funded deal: choose a partner, pick a tier, put a payment on every quote, train your reps, and track the first 90 days. What it costs and how long it takes.
Read the guideAll three tiers cost $0. Which one fits your monthly application volume, what each includes, and when to move up from referral to co-branded to private label.
Read the guidePut an estimated payment and a term on every quote. The rate-factor math, a factor table by term, and scripts for the moments that usually stall a deal.
Read the guideWhere dental practice deals stall, the structures that save them, monthly payments on operatories, CBCT and CAD/CAM, and the program that fits a $10M to $500M dealer.
Read the guideRaise the deduction without giving tax advice, quote it next to a payment, and protect the December 31 in-service date. Scripts, a Q4 calendar, and the math.
Read the guideU.S. funders pay a U.S. seller for equipment already in the U.S. The six steps for manufacturers abroad: a U.S. subsidiary or dealer, U.S. inventory, a vendor program, and a rate subsidy.
Read the guide82% of businesses financed the equipment they bought. Without a program at the counter, that decision happens at a bank three weeks later. What changes: close rate, average ticket, cash flow, repeat business.
Read the guideCorporate's internal lender declined the deal, but the customer still wants to buy and looks solid? A decline from one credit box isn't a decline everywhere. If the customer brings real strengths, we can often approve what internal financing won't, and you keep the sale.
Read the guideYou don't need a captive, a finance manager, or software. Two zero-cost entry programs, referral and co-branded, let a small shop offer point-of-sale financing that looks as polished as the big dealer's, while a partner underwrites and funds you at delivery.
Read the guideIf you already offer financing, a partner is standing in every deal you write. Seven signs yours could do better: communication, same-day turnaround, credit-box breadth, decline transparency, getting paid at delivery, and who owns your customer.
Read the guideYour reps' time is the one thing you can't buy more of. A soft-pull prequalification, run early, tells you who can actually buy and for how much, before you spend the demo and the quote, so selling hours go to buyers who close.
Read the guideHard no. Submit to one lender at a time, matched to the file. Blasting a customer's app to five funders stacks credit inquiries, collides in competing liens, brands the file as shopped, and burns the funder relationships that fund your deals fast.
Read the guideA dealer starts collecting lenders and shopping deals to capture the spread. It feels like control. It's a second business you're not staffed or equipped for, bolted onto the one you're good at. Why one point of contact beats building your own finance desk.
Read the guideA rate buydown and a price discount cost the same money. The buydown is better anyway. Price integrity, targeted promotion, dealer floor plan, residual control, and why most OEMs should not build a captive.
Read the guideYou quote, you don't post prices, so financing online is two things: a monthly payment on the quote you already send, and an Apply Online button customers reach in one click. Copy-paste button included, plus a payment tool for self-serve shoppers.
Read the guideThese are the sectors we underwrite most and know best: the equipment, the useful life, and how the deals actually get structured.
We fund equipment well beyond the six above. Search what you are buying, the machine rather than the category, and we will show you where it lands.
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Equipment is rarely the constraint in paving. The 60-to-90-day collection cycle is. Why financing the iron and holding the cash is what lets you carry more work.
Read the guideBidding without the real cost of the iron, spending operating cash on equipment, and outgrowing your working capital. All three show up in the same season.
Read the guideCrane iron holds value like almost nothing else in construction. How the advance is calculated, and the tax consequence most owners find out about too late.
Read the guideLiens, title, inspection, and the age-at-maturity rule that decides whether an older machine finances on a five-year term or a three-year one.
Read the guideCarriers and attachments age on different clocks. The most common structuring error is putting both on one note at one term.
Read the guideBidding scrap as if it were contracted, financing attachments on the carrier term, and treating insurance as a fixed cost.
Read the guideFinance the trailers you add and borrow against the ones you own. Why a leaseback beats a merchant cash advance's daily debits, with the math on a $50,000 need.
Read the guideA paid-off dozer earns nothing sitting on your balance sheet. How advance rates, undercarriage condition, and depreciation recapture decide what you actually net.
Read the guideEveryone budgets for the machine. Almost nobody budgets for the undercarriage rebuild, the grade control package, or the months of payroll before the first draw.
Read the guideBonding capacity is roughly ten times working capital, so every dollar that leaves working capital costs about ten dollars of what you are allowed to bid.
Read the guideBuying equipment in the way that costs the most bonding capacity, letting receivables cross the ninety-day cliff, and confusing volume with profit.
Read the guideOnly about ten thousand of several hundred thousand US suppliers report to the bureaus. Paying on time builds nothing unless somebody reports it.
Read the guideA service truck has a knowable annual revenue figure. That makes the financing question easy and points at where your cash should really go.
Read the guideSpecialty collateral with thin comparables, which makes the appraisal the whole transaction rather than a formality.
Read the guidePublic owners pay slowly and bonds gate the good jobs. Both are decided by financial strength rather than field capability.
Read the guideTables $3,000–$25,000, decompression $10,000–$60,000, Class IV laser $15,000–$40,000, digital X-ray $25,000–$120,000. A complete package lands between $100,000 and $350,000.
Read the guideA credit prices at 7% to 9% over 24 to 72 months; other profiles are priced to the full file, and the Quote Builder shows your range in a few taps. Why student debt should not push a DC out of the top tier.
Read the guideThe $2,560,000 cap will never constrain a chiropractic practice. The taxable income limitation will, and that is the rule to understand before December.
Read the guideTables age well and hold value. Decompression, laser, and imaging age on software and manufacturer support, and that is what decides financeability.
Read the guideFive things, no financial package for most purchases, and the honest line on where application-only stops for a chiropractic practice.
Read the guideA $45,000 table costs about $934 a month; one case at $2,800 covers it three times over. The honest payback math, including the bad month.
Read the guideAdjusting tables are the safe private-party buy. Decompression, Class IV laser and X-ray are not, because the license, the manufacturer support and the state registration do not come with the equipment.
Read the guideConverting existing space runs $59,000 to $110,000; a full buildout $95,000 to $168,000. A line-by-line breakdown of chairs, delivery systems, lights, cabinetry, and imaging, with financed monthly payments.
Read the guideRoughly 7% to 9% APR for A credit, with prime sitting at 7.00%; other profiles are priced to the full file, and the Quote Builder shows your range in a few taps. What a single rate point costs in dollars.
Read the guideThe 2026 deduction is $2,560,000, and it follows the purchase price rather than your down payment. Why financing and expensing in the same year can leave a practice cash-positive.
Read the guideBanks take two to four weeks; specialty dental programs answer in 24 to 72 hours. A credit prices at roughly 7% to 9% in either channel; other profiles are priced to the full file, and the Quote Builder shows your range in a few taps. When each one is the right call.
Read the guideUsually yes, and it means less than you think. It is not a lien on your home. Plus the narrow case for corporate-only: 3+ years and a borrowing history.
Read the guideYes, with 10% to 25% down, rates 1 to 3 points above new, and financing capped at 80% to 90% of appraised value. How appraisal standards and UCC lien searches actually work.
Read the guideMost dental equipment financing is application-only: no tax returns, no financial statements. The five things that decide whether your approval comes back today or next week.
Read the guidePros: speed, interest only on what you draw, funds the soft costs equipment lenders exclude. Cons: variable rate, annual renewal risk, and a blanket lien on every practice asset.
Read the guideChairs, delivery units and compressors travel fine between owners. Scanners, CBCT and mills usually do not: licenses tie to a serial number, warranties to the original purchaser, and the install is not in the listing price.
Read the guideMRI, CT, X-ray, ultrasound, and mammography priced new and refurbished, plus MRI suite construction at $500,000 to $2 million before the magnet.
Read the guideRoughly 7% to 9% APR for A credit over 36 to 84 months; other profiles are priced to the full file, and the Quote Builder shows your range in a few taps. How lease payment factors compare, and the dollar cost of a single rate point.
Read the guideA $2,560,000 cap and a $4,090,000 phase-out, against scanners that can hit the cap on their own.
Read the guideFour routes to a financed scanner, and why the bundled service contract rather than the rate often decides which is cheapest.
Read the guideRefurbished runs 30% to 70% below new. What certification, warranty, and OEM platform support to insist on first.
Read the guideUnder $500,000 it is an application and a quote. Above it, a full package. Where the line falls by modality.
Read the guideMagnets last 15 to 20 years; CT technology turns over faster. And only ownership structures get Section 179.
Read the guideOEMs underwrite you before awarding a program, and EMS margins disqualify most shops from the obvious financing fix. What actually builds capacity.
Read the guideLetting one customer become the business, quoting turnkey without pricing the inventory carry, and agreeing to cost-downs you cannot fund.
Read the guideShops are buying fewer machines at far higher prices. Why utilization, not the purchase price, decides whether the note works.
Read the guideMachines from the 1990s still trade. What lenders verify, and why the control generation matters more than the year on the tag.
Read the guidePress pricing is opaque and the mold in your plant usually belongs to your customer. Both change how the advance gets calculated.
Read the guideAbsorbing resin increases instead of requoting, treating customer-owned tooling as an asset, and machine rates nobody has recalculated.
Read the guideA laser payment is knowable. A twenty percent steel move against a quoted backlog is not, and that is what cash is for.
Read the guideYour service center line is working capital. When steel jumps twenty percent, that line has to grow just to buy the same tonnage.
Read the guideIntegration, tooling, safety, and programming are the rest, and plenty of lenders will not fund any of it.
Read the guideA deep market where almost nobody publishes prices, and where software licences do not always travel with the arm.
Read the guideEDM value drops hard early then holds a long durable floor. That curve is what makes a paid-off tool room good collateral.
Read the guideThe final third of every tooling contract is the trade’s chronic receivable. A credit file is what lets you carry it.
Read the guideControls obsolescence kills value long before wear does, and a cheap router with no working post processor is not cheap.
Read the guideA shop rate that was never loaded, quoting through material moves, and a deposit structure that does not fund the work.
Read the guideRent while volume is uncertain; finance once your trucks and trailers are out most weeks. The break-even test, Section 179 on a financed truck, and building equity instead of rental receipts.
Read the guideEvery deal a vendor sends us, from application to funding, behind one sign-in: where each one stands, what happens next, payment estimates for the next sale, and a one-screen way to send a customer. Built for salespeople, on their phones.
Read the announcementEight questions to an estimated payment and rate range, with every rate discount itemized and the levers handed to you. No credit pull, no contact information, no salesperson.
Read the announcementAugust was the highest application month in company history, nearly doubling the previous record set in 2025. Applications up 60% year over year, funded applications up 40%.
Read the releasePut your transaction into the Quote Builder and compare structures, terms, and payments side by side before you apply.