Captive finance vs banks vs independents in equipment lending

Three kinds of lenders finance most business equipment, and each wins deals a different way. Knowing which one is on a filing tells you who you're competing with and what the borrower was offered.

Captive finance companies

Owned by the manufacturer: Caterpillar Financial, John Deere Financial, Kubota Credit, CNH Industrial Capital, Komatsu Financial, PACCAR Financial. They sit inside the dealer, finance at the point of sale, and use subsidized rates (sometimes 0%) to move equipment. Their weakness: they finance their own brand, mostly new, and their credit box follows the manufacturer's goals. Dealers such as Wagner (Cat) or RDO (Deere) often file in their own name for the same programs.

Banks and credit unions

The largest group of filings in Colorado. Community banks lend to customers they already know, often with a blanket lien behind a line of credit, and bank-owned equipment finance arms (Wells Fargo, U.S. Bank, PNC, Huntington) run vendor programs at scale. They price well for strong credit and move slowly for everyone else.

Independent lessors and lenders

Navitas, LEAF, DLL, GreatAmerica, Commercial Credit Group and hundreds of smaller shops. They win on speed, used and multi-brand equipment, startups and credits the others decline, and they're the backbone of broker business.

Where each can compete

• Against a captive: at the end of term, when the subsidized rate is gone, and on the second, used or other-brand machine.
• Against a bank: on speed and documentation, and when the bank's blanket lien leaves no room.
• Against an independent: on rate, once the borrower's credit has matured.

See who leads each category and city with the market share explorer or the Colorado lender rankings.