Major Banks and top tier lender rates are starting from around 7% at the moment.

Rates depend on the 'risk' the banks determine in your loan application. For example, financing newer equipment that the bank would consider easy to resell if they had to, may attract lower rates. Older equipment, items bought privately, or specialised equipment that has low demand in a second hand market might attract higher rates. Other influences include whether you own property, how long you've been in business, and your credit history.

Either way, we start by working out if we can set you up where the cheapest rates are, and work back from there.

Low doc finance, offered by most banks, is a quick approval option. If you've been in business for over 2 years, have good credit history, and own property, you could get a $250-$500k approval for your next equipment within 24hrs. But use it wisely – once you max out your low doc limit between lenders, you can't borrow more until it's paid back. We look at low doc like it's a free kick. It's best to use it sparingly and keep it available for when you really need it for something urgent. We like to check if your financials might be looking good enough for a normal approval before using low doc, so we're setting you up to grow, rather than rushing you through without any long term strategy applied.

To start, we just need your ID, your ABN and a statement of your assets and liabilities.

Generally speaking, your last two years of financials, individual tax returns, a schedule or register of your current loans (if any), your personal assets and liabilities, recent BAS statements and potentially also tax portals. If you are borrowing in excess of $500,000, we may also need additional items such as aged receivables and payables and some recent bank statements. We can help take the workload off you by contacting your accountants for what we need with your permission. Allowing us to do this for you will also open the door for us to go to your accountant with any queries relating to your financials, so you can sit back and watch it all come together.

It's fine if you don't have all your financials and tax returns ready - that's common for many business owners and what we're used to seeing. We'll work with what you've got and explain which lenders we can approach with the info you have. If we identify if there's a couple of quick updates your accountant could easily complete for you, we'll make those recommendations as well. A few minor updates can often lead to placing you much cheaper loan options. We're experts at reviewing financial statements and can guide you on the best steps to take, or what we would do if we were in your shoes.

Choosing the right broker depends on how complex and pricey your loan needs are. Most brokers can handle a simple car loan or low doc finance. But if you're after a big loan, in the hundreds of thousands or even millions, you need an experienced broker with a solid track record. The best ones understand finance and accounting deeply, can analyse your business like a bank, and know how to make your application stand out. They're strategic, good communicators, and skilled negotiators.

At Machine Finance, we excel in complex cases. Our applications are detailed, often over 10 pages, with in-depth financial analysis and charts that hit the mark with banks.

A heads-up: when you contact firms, you might end up talking to less experienced brokers learning on the job. It's crucial to choose an experienced broker for the best shot at a successful application.

A broker can tap into 50+ lenders, each with their own preferences for certain types of businesses and equipment. Whatever you need, we've likely got a lender who can finance it, often with several options to choose from. We'll show you these options, explain what you need for approval, and point out who's got the best rates and deals. If you go straight to your bank, they might ask for loads of info or offer higher rates. Plus, they might not get the equipment you're after or fully understand your business needs. It's better to avoid the risk of a credit issue or a knocked-back application by going through a broker.

You can pay off your loan any time at your request!

Usually, there are no early exit fees. With equipment loans, you just have to pay out your remaining loan balance to get out early. Here's some good news - when you request an 'early payout', most lenders discount some of the remaining interest in your loan balance, so you're saving money. If you ask to pay your loan out within it's first year, some lenders (not all) might charge an 'early termination fee' of a couple of hundred dollars, but it's nominal compared to the interest waived in a payout with some interest waived.

Note that all equipment loans with every lender are fixed interest loans. This means the total principle and interest you'll repay in your loan is fixed, no matter whether you make extra payments each month. Extra payments only speeds up the time it takes you to repay your fixed principle and interest in full. Equipment loans don't function the way home loans do, so you're better off making additional payments towards home loans or any debt that has interest charges calculated monthly on the principle balance owing to save interest there.

To save interest on an equipment loan, request an early payout to access a discount on the fixed interest remaining in the loan. You'll notice a 'payout' figure will be less than your loan balance at that point in time.

Answer: No.

Since the banks already pay us for bringing them your business, unlike some of our competitors, we are firmly against double dipping and charging you origination fees for more income. Please note that every lender does ask for an application fee of a few hundred dollars which you'll pay to them via direct debit at the time of settlement.

All lenders are happy to finance the full cost of equipment without any deposits.
But, if you're a start-up, applying for your first business loan, or buying a unique 'non standard' asset, they might ask for a deposit. In these cases, lender deposits usually start from around 5% and go up to 20% depending on the lender we're engaging and your application scenario. As your brokers, if you have a loan scenario that is going to require a deposit, we can talk to multiple lenders to see who is the most likely to offer up the lowest deposit option, or any alternatives that can help your cashflow.

Lenders look at your credit score, which ranges from 0 to 1200, with 700-1000 being ideal. Each loan application is recorded on your credit history. Too many applications in a short time can hurt your score, making it harder to get loans or leading to higher rates. Inexperienced brokers might apply to the wrong bank or to too many lenders, damaging your score. At Machine Finance, we only apply to lenders with your okay and after careful assessment, to ensure the best chance of approval without harming your credit score.

You can apply, but we ask that you be completely open about any past defaults so we're not wasting each others time. Banks can see your credit history, and hiding defaults could lead us to choose the wrong lender, risking a decline and damaging your credit score. By being transparent, we can offer better service and increase your chances of approval, or connect you with specialists for complex cases.

No. Even the top 4 banks offer low doc, and it doesn’t matter if your approval is given under a low doc pathway or with your financials as a full assessment – the rate you get is determined on the equipment you’re buying, the loan structure and the amount financed. Same rates apply no matter how we get you approved. It’s worth noting that some equipment can be financed under low doc at some, but not all lenders.

At machine finance, to deliver you with our best possible level of service, we ultimately need you to be requiring financing for at least $100,000 and up – however if you have one item that is a lower loan value right now but you have ongoing finance needs that are higher value or ongoing, we can certainly help you. If what you need is outside our scope of what we do best, we know many trustworthy finance brokers and providers we would happy to put you in touch with you give you the service you might be needing.

You can request your loan to run anywhere from 2 to 7 years, but 5 years is the most common. Note that asking for 6 or 7 years is a special request from most lenders and it may only be offered at their discretion depending on the equipment they’re financing for you. Ultimately if we can’t get a 6 or 7 year loan term, we can arrange a balloon at the end of 5 years and this will offer you similar monthly repayments you might expect on 6 or 7 year terms.

A balloon payment is a set percentage of your loan, say 30%, due at the loans very end. Applying a balloon lowers your monthly payments since you're deferring a chunk of the loan to the end. When it's due, you can clear it with cash, or by selling or trading your equipment to cover the amount due. While it makes monthly payments lower, it could mean more interest over time, as you're still financing the full equipment cost and paying off your loan balance slower (and being charged interested on a higher principle amount) than you would structuring with no balloon. Essentially, you're delaying part of the total loan payable, not reducing the loan amount like the way an upfront deposit reduces the amount borrowed.

This is a clever sales method called ‘loan subvention’. The dealer is using income made in the equipment they’re selling you and placing it to the interest you would normally pay in their finance offer. So in reality, you’re still paying for the interest you would traditionally be paying, it’s just built in to the total purchase price of your equipment, and they're earning your interest fees up front. The easiest way to unpack this is to start by negotiating the price of your equipment and say you intend on paying cash for it (no finance). See what price you are offered. Then later, ask for 0% finance and check to see if the price of the equipment has to increase to cover what would be the normal interest charges.

Once you’re approved, we simply need the tax invoice from whoever you’re buying from and we will issue loan contracts to you from the lender we have you approved with. Once you’ve singed them, we will ask the bank to settle your loan, and they will pay your equipment sellers invoice directly.

Depending on the lender we get you approved with, from 30 days to 180 days. Once you have your approval, it’s up to you when you want to draw on it, and this comes back to when your equipment might be ready to be paid for. Just tell us when you want to get your finance settled and we’ll make it happen.

Absolutely, and in fact, we usually recommend doing this up front so you can work out how much money you can finance. This will help you shop for equipment in a price range similar to that of your finance approval amount. Having your finance pre-approved also means you can negotiate pricing on your new equipment with confidence knowing you have finance already arranged. Once you find the equipment you want to buy, we simply need to request a formal tax invoice from the seller, and then we can start the process of having your seller paid.

If you are buying multiple machines in the near future, you should ask us about Master Limits. For our larger clients who may have a spend requirement of more than $1million each year, we can arrange to set up a Master Limit. It’s like an annual ‘pre approval’ or ‘ceiling’ you are allowed to use for each new piece of equipment you need. Once it’s arranged and set up for you, we simply use what is available for us in the Master Limit to finance your new equipment purchases. This prevents us from urgently having to source you finance each time you find equipment you need to buy.