If you turned the clock back say thirty years, the country was just emerging from a really tough economic climate, very similar to what we have now, companies who had battened down the hatches were slowly thinking about expansion, and the growth word was being used by the media.
In those days, when peer to peer lending was not even a thought, you were offered by the banks and finance houses,HP, ( no not the sauce) or leasing.
That was that, terms were quite harsh, rates were high , but options were very limited. And to top it all, all of the funders had to write to the bank and ask for a bank report from the manager. That would take at least 3 – 5 days!, and then it would say “should prove good”. I must mention that a should prove bank report, was likely to receive a decline from the underwriters. People say that funding is hard now, you must be joking compared to the early eighties.
Expectations have totally changed now, answers within hours, documents emailed and not posted, payment by T.T, and not the dreaded cheque. Surely things are far better now? Well one point that I would raise is that the ” sales – aid ” element of leasing has almost disappeared. Leasing is now often just an afterthought, the bank said no, the finance company have said no because there are no wheels on it, or it is not painted yellow.
The key is that leasing should be the first thing that any supplier should use when presenting equipment to a potential customer. You can have this for only so much a day, so much a week, so much a month. Let the equipment work for you as you pay the rentals back, and save your cash ( If you have spare !) for more profitable use elsewhere in your business, or for a rainy day fund.
The Oak Leasing underwriters help new starts, odd equipment, small deals for cafes, large deals for new start restaurants, ( in excess of £270K) . This would be unheard of back in the eighties. Large shopfits, machinery, IT , both hardware and 100% software. This month will be a record month for Oak, and it is purely down to our suppliers and customers using leasing.
That is not all, we are writing more and more refinance deals, both sale and lease back and straight refinance. This releases capital tied in existing equipment and frees up capital to expand into new areas. Plus we have suppliers who use Oak in Europe, to offer a leasing solution to their customers in Germany, The Netherlands, Sweden, etc.
So to answer the original question, with Oak, sales aid leasing is alive and well, and thriving!