Mortgage Brokers: What to Do When a Client Needs Equipment Finance | Finlease

It comes up more than you might think. A client is going through a home loan or refinancing their property, and somewhere in the conversation they mention they also need to fund a piece of machinery for the business. Or a truck. Or an excavator. Or a fleet of vans.

You are a mortgage broker. Equipment finance is a different discipline. So what do you do?

Most brokers face three options: attempt to handle it and hope for the best, tell the client to sort it themselves, or refer them to someone who does this every day. The third option is better for your client, better for your reputation, and far less work for you.

Why Equipment Finance Is a Different Discipline

Equipment finance and mortgage finance share some fundamentals – you are still assessing serviceability, still working with lenders, still managing a client through a process — but the specifics diverge quickly.

Lender criteria in equipment finance shifts by asset type, by industry, by deal structure, and by the client’s trading history. A financier who is comfortable funding a Kenworth prime mover for a transport operator may not be the right fit for a manufacturing business financing specialised equipment. Deal placement – knowing which of 40-plus lenders is most likely to approve which deal at what rate – takes daily practice to do well.

Then there are the deal structures that most mortgage brokers have never encountered. Sale and leaseback arrangements, where a client has already purchased an asset and wants to free up capital from it. Businesses with no personal guarantor on the structure. Australian companies with overseas parent entities. Self-managed superannuation fund purchases. These are not unusual in the equipment finance world – they are just unusual for someone who does not live in it.

Attempting these deals without the right lender relationships or structural experience often leads to the same outcome: the deal does not get across the line, the client is frustrated, and the relationship takes a hit.

What a Partnership Actually Looks Like

Referring an equipment finance client to a specialist does not mean losing the client. It means ensuring they are looked after.

Here is how it works when a mortgage broker refers a client to Finlease.

The broker sends through a name and a phone number. That is the starting point. Finlease contacts the client, assesses the situation, identifies the right lender from a panel of 40-plus financiers, and manages the application through to settlement.

The referring broker can choose how involved they want to be. Some brokers prefer to be CC’d on key updates. Others are happy to receive a call when the deal is done. Finlease works with however you like to operate. Either way, you will hear from us at each key stage: submitted, approved, funded.

Throughout the process, the client remains your client. Finlease draws a clear line around that and does not cross it. The relationship the mortgage broker has built with that person does not get absorbed or redirected. It stays where it belongs.

A Real Example of What This Looks Like in Practice

A mortgage broker had a client who needed a few forklifts for a manufacturing business. The client went and found an equipment finance broker independently – but that broker could not get the deal done. The structure was unusual: an Australian company wholly owned by a publicly traded overseas entity, no individual guarantor.

The client went back to their mortgage broker, who referred them to Finlease. The deal was straightforward for a specialist with the right lender relationships. It was approved and funded within two weeks.

The client was so pleased with the outcome that they sent their own clients to the mortgage broker as referrals.

That is what a good referral looks like. The mortgage broker did not have to know anything about company structures or lender appetite for unusual ownership arrangements. They just had to know who to call.

The Scenarios Worth Knowing About

If a client describes any of the following situations and you are not sure if equipment finance is possible, refer rather than guess:

They have already bought the equipment and want to recover cash from it. This is called a sale and leaseback, sometimes a sell and hire back arrangement. It is more common than most people realise, and it is a standard transaction for an equipment finance specialist.

Their business structure is unusual. No personal guarantor, a trust, an overseas parent company, an SMSF. These all affect which lenders will consider the deal and how it needs to be structured.

They are asking about a broad range of funding. Equipment loans are often just one part of what a business needs. Finlease also handles business loans, insurance premium funding, capital raising, overdrafts, and term loans. A referral for one thing can often become a broader solution for the client.

They want to know the order of operations. Equipment finance and mortgage borrowing both affect borrowing capacity. If a client is planning to do both, the order matters. A quick conversation with an equipment finance specialist can help map that out before the client commits to anything.

How to Find Out If This Works for Your Business

If you have a client right now who has mentioned equipment they need to finance, the easiest thing to do is call. Describe the situation. Finlease will tell you quickly whether it is something they can help with and how.

If you are interested in a more formal referral arrangement, that conversation is worth having too. There is no complicated setup process. It starts with knowing who to call when a client mentions they need to fund a piece of gear.

Partner with Finlease. Send us a message or give us a call. If you have a client situation you are not sure about, we are happy to talk it through – no obligation.