Equipment dealers and lenders are closing deals faster than ever amid the digital revolution, but collaboration is key as they balance speed and accuracy.
Close to 90% of financial institutions now offer online loan applications, according to digital lending solutions provider MeridianLink, and the financial automation market is projected to more than triple in the next eight years to $20.7 billion, according to research firm Global Market Insights.
Equipment lenders are adjusting their operations to meet consumers’ growing expectations of fast and frictionless financing, Matt Manero, president of Carrollton, Texas-based Commercial Fleet Financing, said during the Feb. 11 Equipment Finance News webinar, “Dealers and Lenders: Solving Shared Challenges.”
“Speed definitely matters both from a competitive standpoint and from a customer standpoint,” Manero said. “They want to know where they stand. So, we try to process an application and get an answer to the customer same day. If it’s really clean, we can do it in a couple hours.”
Minimizing data analysis for certain borrowers is one way equipment financiers are speeding up credit approvals, Kit West, business development director at Wheatland, Wyo.-based C.H. Brown, said during the webinar.
“Sometimes, when we’re looking at 20 data points, that could be too much for this customer,” he said. “So, we look at the customer going, ‘Okay, we need 10 data points’ and cut that down a little bit to speed that up to make it work for us and make it work for the customer.”
C.H. Brown also uses AI to help verify documents and prevent fraud, he said.
Building trust with dealers
While tech-driven lending has led to “staggering” turn-around times for dealers, making an accurate financing decision can be more difficult, John Boy, finance and sales administration manager at Bridgeville, Pa.-based Anderson Equipment Co., said during the webinar.
“I know that whenever you’re on the lending side, you’ve got to factor a million things in,” he said. “So, it’s important that the lenders can actually trust the dealer as well, knowing that we’re giving them verified customers.”
To this end, dealers can establish trust with lenders and give them peace of mind by building relationships with customers and thoroughly evaluating their business credentials, and establishing Know Your Customer compliance, Boy said.
It’s also crucial for dealers to have a credible website and present their strengths to “give the lender confidence that they want to do business with you,” Commercial Fleet’s Manero said. And, despite the urge to close deals fast, patience is key to arranging financing for first-time customers, he said.
It’s all about “financing used equipment for a customer today to open up the door to finance new equipment in the future,” he said. “Because doing the second deal is a lot easier than doing the first deal. The underwriting has already been done. The payment history is already in place.”
AI and other technologies can expedite the lending process and improve the customer experience, but “equipment financing is still a little old school in a lot of ways.” Manero said.
“Lenders can go out of business if they have too many bad deals. So, somebody’s got to be watching the store.”
The third annual Equipment Finance Connect at the JW Marriott Nashville on May 14-15, 2025, is the only event for both equipment dealers and finance providers. Learn more and register here.
