graphic savings group blog

IT Equipment Leasing Now A $40 Billion Industry

A study recently released by the Equipment Leasing and FInancing Association of America with the Alta Group estimates the IT equiment financing market has grown to $40 billion per year. That's billion with a 'b'. You can read the press release about the study here.

The equipment leasing industry growth rate has exploded in recent years as companies look for more accurate cost forecasting and need greater flexibility. According to the Equipment Leasing and Financing Association of America's study, the IT equipment leasing industry has grown by 67 percent in just the past three years. In fact, IT equipment leases are one of the fastest growing sectors of the equipment leasing market. Over the past four years, the ELFA estimates the IT equipment financing counts for 22 percent of all equipment leases compared with 12 percent in 2002.

If you're considering an IT equipment lease or copier lease, please consider talking to the Graphic Savings Group.

What's more, IT equipment financing as a percent of total U.S. equipment financing activity nearly doubled from approximately 12 percent in 2002 to 22 percent last year, according to the new ELFA-Alta Group study.

Outsourcing of Equipment Leasing

If you want to offer your customers equipment leasing today, you don't necessarily need to be the one selling them on the lease and handling all of the questions related to the interest rate and expenses associated with leasing equipment.

Your customers can apply for leasing on the Internet, by phone, or fax. They can apply with a preferred vendor established by you to offer them a 'preferred rate on equipment leasing.' A lot of equipment lessors can even create private label leasing documents which have the name and logo of your company.

You just have to decide what level of interraction you want an equipment lessor to have with your customer and vice versa. If you need advice on offering equipment leasing, please consider talking to the Graphic Savings Group. 

Getting Your Equipment Lease Application Approved

Nobody likes rejection, so at Graphic Savings Group, we wanted to revisit a few of the quick tips for getting an approval of your equipment lease application.

Have Work Lined Up

Whenever possible, if you have advance orders or regular, contracted business, show that that to a potential lessor. It will do wonders for getting your copier lease application approved. The idea that revenue is waiting for the machine to arrive is a great motivator in speeding along the equipment lease process.

Get the Right Equipment

If you can show how the copier you are leasing is well suited to your operation and print jobs, then you'll have more success in getting approved. A good fit is crucial to business success.

Take Credit Whenever Possible

If you have good credit, then it won't be hard for you to find funding for an equipment lease. But, if you're like many startups looking for leasing or companies that have gone through bankruptcy, your credit might not be great. If you have a board of directors or investors with better credit, utilize that to your advantage in an equipment lease application. Your chances of being approved on your copier lease will greatly improve.

IKON Completes Lease Portfolio Sale to GE Capital

According to a recent press release, Ikon Office Solutions has completed its sale of $300 million of U.S. lease receivables to GE Capital Solutions. The deal was effective on April 1, 2006, and is, "expected to net IKON approximately $70 million after payment of related debt and taxes." 

This deal is emblematic of industry wide shifts in both the graphics and leasing industry. IKON, a market leader in providing document management systems and services, is getting leaner and meaner. By looking at how it can improve cash flow and streamline its business operations, IKON can continue to focus on growing its core business of providing facilities management solutions.

Whereas GE Capital continues to look towards consolidating portfolios and creating assets that can either be packaged or bundled. In this case and in many of the financial deals in which GE Capital is discussed as pursuing, bigger is better.

It will be interesting to watch the continued developments in both the equipment leasing. If you're interested in leasing a copier, please consider talking to the Graphic Savings Group.

The Business of Equipment Leasing

The right businessman is always seeking out education and that could include lessons in how to run and sell equipment leasing as a freestanding leasing brokerage firm. 

Companies like the Leasing Institute of America, offer leasing school to teach you the in and outs of selling copier leases to small businesses and customers. This is the kind of education that can show immediate benefits, either in the form of greater profits from actually brokering equipment leases or in helping you to become a more educated consumer and know what to ask for to get the best copier lease rates.

Equipment leasing is estimated to be a $200 billion, that's billion!, industry by the LIA. That means there is room for a lot more players than just GE Capital. The question is whether offering equipment leasing is complimentary to your current business model. The answer is likely yes. 

If you're looking to learn more about equipment leasing or becoming a leasing broker, please consider talking to the Graphic Savings Group.

Lessors Network Continues to Expand

The Lessors Network is a tremendous resource for leasing news and the latest information from funding source providers about the equipment leasing industry. Apparently we are not the only ones who think so.

In a recent press release, Lessors.com, Inc., the force behind the Lessors Network stated that they had to upgrade servers. Excerpts are included below with comments from CEO John Semon.

"The volume of traffic to our Website is increasing exponentially,” commented John Semon, CEO of Lessors.com, Inc. “Increased daily traffic combined with expanding advertiser content can result in slower Website navigation when left unchecked. It’s the type of problem you want to have, but it was increasingly obvious we needed to upgrade our systems to maintain our dominance within the online equipment leasing community.”

A complete overhaul of the Lessors Network Website was completed the first of February resulting in faster access for Lessors Network members and visitors to equipment leasing news, funding sources, administrative outsourcing services and technology products enhancing the equipment leasing enterprise.

Semon further advised, “From the beginning we have build the Lessors Network brand recognizing quality service attracts quality clients. Over the past ten years we have delivered free access to an unprecedented menu of lessor resources from our Website and our sold out networking events, hosted from the Ritz-Carlton, Buckhead hotel in Atlanta, continue to draw executive decision makers from the U.S. and Canada. This is how we have successfully attracted and retained the “A-List” from the commercial equipment leasing markets.”

The Lessors Network is a valuable resource for equipment leasing professionals and the Graphic Savings Group is proud that our blog is part of their New Blog Network. If you're looking for more information about the Graphic Savings Group, please visit us.

Equipment Leasing Education

If you're looking for an educational resource on equipment leasing, a good place to start is the Equipment Leasing & Finance Foundation. Here is an organization dedicated to providing information on the latest equipment leasing trends and also taking a hard look at how overall business trends might affect the leasing market.

It publishes the Journal of Equipment Lease Financing on a quarterly basis to look at finance sourcing, marketing possiblities, any changes in the tax laws or regulatory issues, as well as segments of the leasing market.

There are not many resources for equipment leasing professionals. This one isn't a bad jump off point because it gives the reader a chance to consider where equipment leasing is headed over the next decade, as opposed to just trying to sell a lease today. In an industry that is becoming increasingly consolidated and professionalized, a research arm is welcome.

If you're looking at equipment leasing, please consider Graphic Savings Group.

Leasing as a Competitive Advantage?

War analogies aside, the theory that an equipment lease posed by George Parker in this ezine article is an interesting one. He argues that leasing equipment can offer companies a competitive advantage.

The ideas of stretching capital and giving a corporation access to the latest technology without sacrificing resources to effectively compete is compelling. In the right situation, an equipment lease can allow a company to remain flexible adapting smart resource allocation strategies in a hyper competitive environment.

Parker's concepts are not new but his take is worth reading. At the very least, it will give you a renewed vigor to fight another day at the office.

If you're considering an equipment lease or copier lease, please consider Graphic Savings Group.

Equipment Lease Calculator

If you're looking for a ballpark estimate of what your equipment lease might cost, a great place to start is a lease calculator.

The link above takes you to a calculator that will let you figure out your approximate monthly payments based on interest rate and the amounts involved. It lets you factor how many payments you want to make, what the residual amount will be, and the interest rate on your equipment lease.

You should always have an idea of the costs of a given copier lease or if you're going to lease medical equipment because then you can budget accordingly and assess the numbers offered to you by an equipment leasing broker.

If you're considering leasing equipment, please consider Graphic Savings Group.

What is a promissory note?

If you're asking what is a promissory note, you've come to the right place for an answer. A promissory note is a legal binding contract between a lender and a borrower. The promissory note, (often misspelled as promisary note), has the terms and conditions of a loan including the amount and when and how a loan will be repaid.

A promissory note can be the basic backbone of a lease providing the direct terms and conditions and naming the parties involved. It is a signed document that is a binding promise to repay the amount conveyed in a loan. In the case of an equipment lease or leasing a copier, the loan is in the form of equipment or gear.

Typically, there is an upfront deposit or down payment and then the rest of the money owed in a transaction is guaranteed by the promissory note.