If equipment financing is a new concept for your business, a good place to start is the basic concepts and terms that define the industry.
Fundamentals
Because the real value of business infrastructure comes from use rather than ownership, purchasing your assets outright can cripple your capital. Financing, however, offers a prudent path to profitability.
Financing also provides built-in flexibility. This includes mid-term and end-of-lease options to allow for changing technology upgrades and business needs.
Because monthly payments can be fixed at the onset and aligned with future revenue, financing improves and simplifies cash-flow management and forecasting. It can also accelerate tax relief and provide a hedge against inflation and interest rates.
By financing equipment and paying for assets as they are used, businesses can better employ working capital and let infrastructure help build your bottom line.
What is a lease?
A financing contract with Key Equipment Finance allows you to acquire the business solutions you need by making fixed monthly payments to Key for the contract term. This affords you full use of the product without spending all of your capital by purchasing it outright.
| With leases, you generally make only the first and last payments at the onset of the contract |
Financing your business equipment in this manner allows you to choose the term of your contract. Key offers flexible terms to qualified customers, plus flexible end-of-contract purchase options.
Some of the benefits of financing include improved cash management and the ability to avoid owning assets that might quickly become outdated.
ELFA's interactive, online course
For those who want to gain deeper equipment finance industry knowledge, the Equipment Leasing and Finance Association recently released a new version of its flagship training course, "Fundamentals of Equipment Leasing and Finance."
The completely overhauled program engages users through an interactive, online interface that provides "virtual" hands-on experience and training in the fundamentals of equipment finance.
The course—the only one of its kind for the $1 trillion equipment finance industry—is designed for those who are new to the equipment finance industry or those looking for a refresher on the industry fundamentals.
Learning the terms
One additional way to get grounded in a new topic is to study basic terminology. Get started with equipment financing terminology here:
