About the Equipment Financing Industry

Equipment finance facilitates the growth and expansion of the U.S. and global economies by providing multiple financing products for companies to acquire and employ plant, equipment and software, thereby enhancing business investment and capital formation. The equipment finance sector is comprised of financial services companies and manufacturers, regional and community banks, and independent medium and small finance companies. An important contribution of the industry lies in providing access to capital because equipment acquisition and utilization impacts goods-producing and service-providing industries—virtually all sectors of the economy.

The U.S. equipment-leasing sector includes firms that provide a wide array of tangible goods—including automobiles, computers, consumer goods, and industrial machinery and equipment—to customers in return for a periodic rental or lease payment.

Firms work directly with clients to help them acquire equipment on a lease basis, or else they work with equipment vendors or dealers to support the marketing of equipment to their customers under lease arrangements. Equipment lessors generally structure lease contracts to meet the specialized needs of their clients and at the end of the lease use their remarketing expertise to find new users for the previously leased equipment.