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Has anyone had luck using Leaf Equipment Financing.

WDW

Aluminum
Joined
Feb 10, 2012
Location
NH USA
We are in the process of buying a new Machine. I have sent RFPs to the 3 companies we have used in the past for new equipment financing. I received a call from Leaf today. I was wondering if anyone had anything good or bad to say. I am very leary about doing business with anyone who cold calls for financial products. I did a quick Google search and there is some good and some bad.
 
Are you buying or leasing? Based on my own personal experience I would never lease again. Having said that, you might try just going to your bank and sitting down and discuss what you want to accomplish. But, the bottom line is terms and rates.

Also, if you get behind on a payment with your bank you can always go down and talk to them and work things out. These out of town finance companies? Nope. And if you do get behind it won't be the guy who sold you the loan calling you, it will people who are not very nice at all. Ask me how I know.
 
If you reasonably expect to get behind on a machine payment and need to "work things out," never mind whether your bank's loan department is nicer than a leasing company, you shouldn't be buying the machine.
 
If you reasonably expect to get behind on a machine payment and need to "work things out," never mind whether your bank's loan department is nicer than a leasing company, you shouldn't be buying the machine.

I doubt anyone expects to, but who's crystal ball sees out for the lease term? Its sensible to have backup plan B......but I caution on thinking the banks are going to be nice and friendly if you're offside. Typically the bank will tie you up, general security agreement on the business, personal guarantees and very nasty special loans people will not shed a tear about ripping your life apart to get their money. Leasing on the other hand, their security is (usually) limited to the machine. Like always in finance, less security means a high cost.

Also not obvious to all, leases skew the cost of the financing with things like security deposits and fees....factor everything into a present value analysis to compare the real cost of financing
 
How do you know???

I hope this is a good story that involves at least a base ball bat.

When the dotcom boom went bust in 2000 so did my business. At the time I was highly leveraged and the debt service was too much. I decided to close the business and auction everything off which went well. But, before that I had to stop making lease payments. I can tell you that the people who called four or five times a day and two or three times a day on Saturday were not nice people and threatened me with everything they could. I took the lease contracts to an attorney and after he read them he said, "you signed this?". He highlighted everything that was off concern, it made the contract look almost all yellow. One of the things in the lease contract said that if they sue me I have to go to court in their state, New York. I'm on the west coast. There were also many penalty clauses for late payments as well as they could go after my home as well.

In short, is was a clusterfuck. The auctioneer to tell them it is going to auction and give them the auction company's name and they'll leave you alone they did. The auction company also got all the penalties removed because they had to pay off all the machines before they could legally auction them.

I'll never lease again and I'll work with my local banker.
 
We have used equipment leasing companies in the past. We don't plan on defaulting I was just leary about sending financials to a company who cold called us.
 
US Bank, Machine Tools Division.

I've had a cpl major leases with them, and they would be my first call if/when I go that route again.

I have not heard anyone else having any bad stories to date....



edit:

I guess we had 3 total leases with them, on a total of 4 machines.
Been pd off since 2011? No recent experience.


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