This guide walks you through exactly how to do that — in plain language, with a bias toward leasing structures that work in the real Canadian market.
TL;DR: You don’t need a banking licence to “offer financing.” As a Canadian equipment dealer, distributor, or OEM, you can plug into a third-party equipment finance partner, let them do the underwriting and funding, and you stay focused on selling gear and servicing customers.
This guide walks you through exactly how to do that — in plain language, with a bias toward leasing structures that work in the real Canadian market.
Most Canadian customers now expect a payment option on big-ticket equipment. If you don’t show it, they’ll quietly shop with someone who does.
Statistics Canada’s Survey on Financing and Growth of Small and Medium Enterprises found that almost half (49.3%) of SMEs requested external financing in 2023.(Statistics Canada) Lease financing is a smaller share than term debt and trade credit, but it’s still a meaningful chunk of demand.(Statistics Canada) At the same time, the commercial and industrial machinery and equipment rental and leasing industry generated about $18.1 billion in operating revenue in 2024, and it’s still growing.(Statistics Canada)
Add today’s rate environment into the mix:
Put simply: businesses need to invest, they need financing to do it, and rates are finally less punishing than they were a year or two ago.
If you sell equipment and you’re not making financing part of your sales process, you’re:
The good news? You can fix this without turning yourself into a bank or hiring an in-house credit team.
Offering financing doesn’t mean you:
Instead, in Canada it usually means one of three models:
You introduce your customer to a finance partner (like Mehmi), your partner handles:
You stay in the loop, but you’re not the lender. You’re effectively a “financing-friendly” vendor.
Here, financing is baked into your offer:
Behind the scenes, a funder or broker gives you a playbook: what applications look like, credit tiers, how fast approvals happen, and how you get paid. Internal credit guideline and funding-package documents for standard vendor deals, private sales, sale-leaseback and sector-specific write-ups all revolve around the same basics: clear business story, full equipment specs and complete documentation so funders can sign off quickly.
This is where Mehmi’s Vendor Program can slot in.
Larger manufacturers sometimes go further:
As an independent dealer or regional OEM rep, you don’t need to start here. A clean referral or basic vendor program is more than enough to boost sales and still stay away from banking regulation.
Customers don’t wake up wanting a specific product like a working capital loan or unsecured loan. They want:
That’s why we always start with leasing structures when we design vendor programs.
Leases are usually the best fit for equipment purchases because they:
From your customer’s point of view, a lease is “I pay monthly to use this asset, then buy it out or swap it at the end.” If you want to understand how Mehmi structures these, start with the Equipment Leases overview and the broader Equipment Financing page.
Compare that to a classic term loan, which is a lump-sum amount with fixed repayments over a set period. Term loans can be fast and flexible, but they’re not always tailored to equipment residual value or seasonal revenue.
Some of your customers will be in growth mode and buying repeatedly. For them, a revolving product like an Equipment Line of Credit can make sense — they get a pre-approved limit and can draw for each additional piece you sell.
Larger fleets or plants may tap Asset Based Lending, where their equipment and receivables back a borrowing facility.
Every once in a while, the right answer isn’t equipment finance at all — for example:
Here, an Unsecured Loan or Working Capital Loan can be a better fit. These don’t require specific collateral but do rely more on cash flow and credit quality.
As a vendor, your job is not to decide the perfect product — it’s to:
Help the customer complete a simple application and introduce them to a partner who can match them with the right structure.
You don’t need a 200-page strategy here. You need a clear process that your sales team can follow on every deal.
First, get honest about:
This helps your finance partner propose realistic approvals and structures. For example, guidelines differ for a forestry contractor vs. a dental clinic; lenders literally use different sector templates to assess transport, hospitality, medical/dental/aesthetics, agricultural and forestry deals.
If you’re not sure what’s financeable, Mehmi’s Eligible Equipment list and Industries overview are a good reality check.
My contrarian view: the worst thing you can do is send every customer “back to their bank.”
Canadian banks are excellent at mortgages and general banking, but they’re not always fast or flexible on specialized equipment — especially for start-ups, owner-operators, or assets with long lives and quirky resale markets.(ECA)
When you vet partners, look for:
You don’t need 10 lenders. You need one or two that your sales team can actually remember and use.
Behind every fast approval is a boring but important checklist.
Most funders will give you versions of:
For a clean vendor program, ask your partner to help you define:
This is where sector-specific credit write-ups shine — a one-page narrative on the customer’s industry, experience, and why the new equipment makes sense.
Every H2 in this post starts with the takeaway, so here it is for this step: payment options should show up in your marketing, quoting and first sales call — not just when someone says “that’s too expensive.”
Practically, that means:
“Are you planning to pay cash, use your bank, or would you like to see a monthly payment option?”
Content-marketing best practice is to give people clear, scannable answers up front — the same principle applies here.
Your customer is already busy running a job site, clinic, fleet, or farm. If the finance process feels like a mortgage, they’ll ghost you.
Work with your partner to keep it to:
The internal philosophy is simple: complete funding packages get funded faster. Incomplete ones sit.
Finally, make sure everyone knows:
Post-funding, registrations will usually move into the funder’s name and lien searches will be satisfied — again, your finance partner handles this; you just need to know enough to answer basic customer questions.
You can offer financing responsibly without becoming a compliance officer, but you do want to respect some boundaries.
You’re not setting rates or approving credits. Be clear in your materials:
Even in a friendlier rate environment, not everyone gets a “yes.” Defaulting on unsecured loans or leases can hammer credit scores and make future borrowing harder, especially if a personal guarantee is involved.
So avoid lines like:
Instead, keep it grounded: “All applications are subject to credit approval; we work with a range of lenders who understand your industry.”
In practice:
Your finance partner should have clear policies here. If they don’t, that’s a red flag.
Mehmi isn’t a bank, and that’s usually an advantage for equipment vendors.
Here’s how a typical vendor relationship plays out:
If you want to see how financing fits across your product lines and industries, you can always browse Mehmi’s Blog and About Us pages, then reach out via Contact Us to talk about a vendor-specific setup.
The business: A mid-size Ontario dealer selling compact construction equipment and attachments. Historically, everything was priced and quoted as a lump-sum cash sale.
The problem:
Salespeople kept hearing the same line:
“We love the machine, but I’ve got to talk to my bank first.”
Deals dragged for weeks. Many quietly died when the customer’s bank asked for more collateral or cash than they were comfortable with.
Step 1: Clarifying the customer profile
We looked at the dealer’s last 12 months of activity:
We confirmed that the assets were squarely within Mehmi’s Eligible Equipment ranges and that there was good appetite from funders.
Step 2: Designing a simple vendor program
The dealer didn’t want anything fancy. Together, we set up:
Step 3: Training the sales team
Over a short workshop, we:
“Totally fine — we also work with a Canadian financing partner that understands construction. Want to see what a monthly payment might look like at the same time?”
Step 4: Early results
Within three months:
One memorable example: a contractor who had been turned down by their bank for a traditional loan got approved for an equipment lease plus a small Asset Based Lending facility tied to their receivables. They added two machines, won a larger municipal contract, and came back six months later for another unit.
The dealer never became a lender. They simply became the partner who could say, “Yes, we can help you figure out payments,” instead of, “Good luck with your bank.”
In most cases, no — not if you’re simply referring your customers to licensed lenders or brokers and not holding the paper yourself. You’re offering access to financing, not extending credit in your own name. Always check with your finance partner and, if needed, your lawyer or accountant for province-specific nuances.
A lease usually:
A loan is a lump sum with blended principal and interest payments, sometimes secured against broader business assets or via a personal guarantee.
From a vendor’s perspective, both can get you paid — but leases are often faster and more flexible for equipment.
For straightforward deals under about $100,000, with complete applications, approvals can often be same-day. Above that, lenders will typically want more documentation — recent financials, bank statements, contracts — which can stretch the process into a few days. Internal credit guidelines explicitly distinguish between “under $100k” and “over $100k” documentation packs to keep things moving.
If the customer defaults:
This is another reason to work with reputable partners who understand residual values and remarketing, especially in niches like transport, construction, agriculture and forestry.(cfla-acfl.ca)
Yes — with conditions. Many lenders will finance:
You just need to be prepared for extra paperwork: detailed invoices, proof of payment, lien searches, and sometimes inspections.
Three practical first steps:
From there, you can evolve toward a more formal program with embedded tools and co-branded marketing if it makes sense.
.avif)
.svg){kind=small}