The Problem

Every equipment finance company has a version of the same conversation. A vendor sends over an application for a $35,000 piece of equipment—a commercial oven, a diagnostic scanner, a used box truck. The applicant is a three-year-old business with thin bureau data: a handful of trade lines, no prior equipment financing, maybe a business credit card with a modest limit. The personal guarantee side shows a 680 FICO with limited depth.

Your credit team can’t confidently approve or decline. The bureau data doesn’t tell them enough. They can request tax returns, but for a $35,000 deal the cost of underwriting eats the margin. They can decline and preserve the credit box, but that vendor relationship represents real volume, and sending deals to competitors is a slow leak that eventually becomes a flood.