“What’s your rate?” is the question equipment lenders get more than any other. It’s also the wrong one to lead with — and anyone who answers it before they ask you anything else isn’t doing the job.
Our EVP Guy Selinka sat down with the Northeast Georgia Business Podcast recently to walk through what equipment financing actually looks like from the inside — who serves what kind of customer, why a bank that’s perfect for a million-dollar deal might be wrong for a $100,000 one, and why Streamline is built as a hybrid lender instead of fitting cleanly into either category.
If you want the full conversation, listen to the episode below. If you want the short take-aways, keep reading.
Listen to Guy Selinka on the Northeast Georgia Business Podcast
What’s the Right Question to Ask Before “What’s Your Rate?”
Think of it like walking into a doctor’s office. You tell the doctor, “my shoulder hurts.” The doctor doesn’t quote you a treatment on the spot. They ask how long it’s been hurting, what kind of pain it is, what you’ve already tried. Then they help.
Equipment financing works the same way. Before a rate is meaningful, a lender needs to understand the business — industry experience, time in business, what the equipment will do for the customer’s top-line revenue, and what their payment capacity looks like. We call this being your physician in finance. The diagnosis comes first.
“It doesn’t matter if the rate’s 5% or 15%. If they don’t qualify, the rate doesn’t matter. And if they can’t make the payment, the rate doesn’t matter.” — Guy Selinka
Rates in our space generally fall somewhere between the low 6% range and the 12 to 13% range, depending on the customer’s profile. But a rate without the right structure, the right term, the right qualifying program — that number on its own doesn’t close a deal. The fit does.
The Three Types of Equipment Lenders
There are essentially three kinds of lenders a dealer or vendor will encounter. Each one serves a different customer. Knowing which is which is the difference between getting your deal funded and watching it die on the floor.
1. Institutional Banks (The Box Banks)
These are the large institutions that hold deposits, manage investments, write mortgages, and handle commercial loans. There’s nothing wrong with them — they’re how the world works. But for closely held business owners buying a $75,000 skid steer, they’re typically the wrong fit.
The reason is math, not unwillingness. An institutional bank’s underwriter takes about as long to evaluate a $100,000 deal as a million-dollar one. So they go where the dollars are. They also tend to avoid used equipment and small-ticket transactions — which describes most of what your customer is actually trying to buy.
If your customer is doing $50 million in revenue and buying new fleet vehicles in volume, an institutional bank may be a fine choice. If they’re a tree service crew financing a chip truck and a skid steer, the bank’s process is going to grind them to a halt.
2. Direct Lenders
A direct lender doesn’t hold deposits. They lend money against an asset — and in our category, that’s usually a hard asset like construction equipment, transportation equipment, or specialty trade vehicles. Direct lenders are specialists. They understand the equipment, they understand the customer, and they hold their own paper.
This is where speed and asset knowledge live. A direct lender knows what a 2018 grapple truck is actually worth, knows that an upfitted roll-off chassis is worth more than the chassis alone, and can underwrite the deal with that knowledge built in. That depth is what an institutional bank doesn’t have.
3. Brokers
A broker doesn’t lend their own money. Instead, they maintain relationships with multiple lenders and match each customer to the right program. A good broker — one who actually understands their lenders and their programs — can place credit profiles a single lender wouldn’t approve. They can shop A-credit, B-credit, and C-credit customers across different sources. They can find startup programs, app-only programs, and industry-specific programs that a direct lender alone couldn’t offer.
The risk with brokers is variance. A broker who hasn’t put in the time to understand their lenders ends up shotgunning credit out into the market, beating up the customer’s credit profile with hard inquiries and not actually helping the deal close. A great broker is a force multiplier. A bad one is a liability.
Why the Hybrid Model Closes More Deals
Streamline is built as a hybrid. We do direct lending on our own paper — making our own credit decisions internally and servicing the loans we write. We also align with a network of regional financial institutions, which lets us offer programs we couldn’t if we were a single-lender shop.
That structure is deliberate. It means more credit boxes to work with, which means more ways to say yes to a customer who would otherwise hear no. It also means we maintain the relationship from application through funding — we’re the point of contact throughout the process, even when the paper lives somewhere else on the back end.
A few specifics that come out of the hybrid model:
- Startup programs that work for newer businesses — typically 24 months old or younger — where the right structure can fund up to $250,000.
- App-only programs that run up to $500,000 for qualifying customers (typically 5+ years in business) without requiring tax returns or financials.
- Used equipment financing without hard age restrictions on most asset classes — we’ve funded 1998 John Deere tractors when the math made sense.
- Upfit financing that captures the real value of a customized truck. When a customer trades in an upfitted bucket truck or roll-off, the dealer doesn’t pay for the upfit. We do.
- Speed when it matters. For the right customer, we can turn a credit decision in less than an hour and fund in four to five hours from application.
None of this is rocket science. It’s just savviness — knowing the customer, knowing the asset, knowing the programs, and finding the fit.
What This Means for Dealers and Vendors
If you’re a dealer or vendor selling commercial equipment, the lender you partner with effectively becomes your F&I department. That partnership decides how many of your deals close and how many you watch walk off the lot.
Three things we think dealers should expect from their lender:
Two-Sided Vetting
A good lender vets the customer, but they should also be vetting the vendor — confirming the equipment is being sold with the right knowledge, that mechanical issues are disclosed, that the asset will hold up. Bad equipment can break down and break payments. That hurts everyone in the chain. We work with franchise and independent dealers we trust to put quality equipment in their customers’ hands.
Real People on the Phone
When your customer is on your lot with a deal in their hand, you don’t have time for a phone tree. About 95% of the calls into our office are answered live by a real person. That’s not an accident — that’s how we believe this business should work. Technology is a tool. It’s not a substitute for a conversation.
Speed When It Matters
25 years ago this business ran on fax machines, sticky-note arrows, and FedEx envelopes. A week was a fast deal. Today, DocuSign moves the paper in under an hour. Same-day funding isn’t a marketing claim — it’s a tool you can use when your customer needs it. Not every deal has to move that fast. But when one does, we’re built for it.
Frequently Asked Questions
What’s the difference between a direct equipment lender and an equipment broker?
A direct equipment lender uses their own capital, makes their own credit decisions, and services their own paper. A broker doesn’t lend their own money — they place deals with a network of lenders. Streamline operates as a hybrid: we do direct lending and we also align with a network of regional partners to offer more programs.
What types of equipment does Streamline finance?
Construction and transportation equipment, broadly defined. That includes yellow iron (skid steers, mini excavators, dozers, full-size excavators), waste industry vehicles (roll-off trucks, roll-off trailers, containers), specialty vehicles (bucket trucks, flat beds, grapple trucks, chip trucks), ag equipment, and other hard assets that drive a business.
Do I need tax returns and financials to apply?
Not always. Our app-only program funds qualifying customers up to $500,000 without requiring tax returns or financials. The qualifying criteria typically include 5+ years in business and demonstrated borrowing history. Larger deals or more complex profiles may require additional documentation.
How long does the application take?
About 5 minutes. We run a soft credit pull (no hard inquiry on your customer’s report) and there are no fees to apply. For qualified buyers, we can return a credit decision in less than an hour.
Can you finance used equipment?
Yes. Used equipment is a significant portion of what we fund. Most asset classes don’t have hard age restrictions — what matters is the value of the asset and the fit with the customer’s business.
Do you work with startups?
Yes. We define a startup as a business 24 months old or younger. Our most common startup program funds up to $250,000, with programs that can go higher depending on the profile. We like to see homeowner status and meaningful borrowing history — not strictly required, but the customer should be accustomed to making a regular recurring payment of the size they’re requesting.
Talk to a Real Person
If you’re a dealer or vendor looking for a finance partner who will pick up the phone and put deals together, we’d like to hear from you. If you’re a closely held business owner trying to get the right equipment under your business, the same applies.
Call us at 678-288-9672. Apply at streamlinefin.com — three-minute application, soft credit pull, no fees to apply. Boots on the ground. From application to funding.