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.
The nature of the equipment in question is one of the major factors you need to consider. Different financiers have different policies with regards to their exposure to risk when financing different types of equipment. For instance, if you want to acquire any custom built equipment, some financiers are likely to charge more interest because of their level of uncertainty towards the effectiveness of the 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.
You should also determine how much money the equipment costs relative to what you can afford to pay to acquire it. Different types of equipment have different price tags, which mean you ought to look for a financier who can lend you the amount of money you need to acquire the machine. It would be necessary to look for a financing option that will suit your current financial position and plans.
You might also need to know how quickly the funding is needed depending on the situation within the business. For example, if you want to replace a damaged equipment immediately, you ought to search for equipment leasing program that can get you the needed equipment soonest possible. Therefore, you need to gather prior info on the probability of processing the application quickly.
You will need to know the requirements that you have to fulfill if you are to acquire certain type of equipment. Obviously, you do not have unlimited borrowing power irrespective of whether you have a good credit rating. Do a reality check and compare the expected repayments with your anticipated cash flows to ensure that you have the capacity to repay.
You need to understand your present debt to equity ratio for the business to ensure that your expected financing plan will not expose your business to too many risks. Although businesses should borrow if they want to grow, it is advisable to fix the ideal debt to equity ratio for your business. This will ensure your business is properly leveraged even when you acquire the equipment.
You need a plan on how your newly acquired equipment will be used to generate cashflows. This is basically like a business plan showing the expected costs, expected cashflows and margins. This will be needed by some financiers to analyze the viability of your plan.
