Bank Referral Equipment Financing

We close the deal. You keep the client.

When your client needs equipment financing you can’t provide, we step in. We fund the transaction, work directly with your client, and step back. Your banking relationship stays exactly where it belongs with you.

We use equipment-only collateral. No blanket liens. No interference with existing credit facilities or covenants. Nothing that touches what you and your client have already built together.

Equipment Leases is a direct lender and wholly owned subsidiary of Commercial Funding Partners. We’ve been operating alongside banks for over 13 years and can assist your clients with funding up to $200M per project. When you refer a client to us, they’re in capable hands.

Why Banks Refer Their Clients to Us

There are four situations in which a bank’s answer must be no, not because the client isn’t good, but because internal policy won’t allow it. These are the deals we were built for.

Exposure limits

Your bank has a limit on how much it can lend to a single client. It’s a regulatory reality, not a reflection of the client’s creditworthiness. When your client has outgrown what your credit policy allows, we provide the additional equipment financing they need, without displacing or threatening your existing facility.

A bank also has restrictions on equipment with a concentrated position. Meaning they have a high level of exposure based solely on the type of equipment.

As Traci Dolphin, our President, describes it directly: “A bank’s exposure limit per customer might be only six million, and this customer has grown, they need more financing, they can support it, their income supports it, but the bank just cannot give any more because of banking guidelines and regulators.

Your bank’s exposure position stays clean. Your client’s need gets resolved. A great match and win/win combination.

Complex deal structures your credit policy won't allow

Bank credit policy regularly declines the following that we handle as standard practice:

Operating leases structures that relieve covenant pressure and provide tax advantages your client can’t access through a conventional bank loan
Sale-leasebacks convert equity in equipment your client already owns into working capital, while retaining full use of the asset
Progress funding covers vendor deposits and milestone-based payments during equipment builds, so your client doesn’t come out of pocket during a long installation cycle.
International vendor deposit payments to equipment manufacturers in Europe, China, and elsewhere, including transactions in euros. Most banks won’t do this. We do it routinely.

Non-Standard or Specialized Equipment

Not all assets align with a bank’s approved collateral criteria. Common examples include:

Highly specialized manufacturing lines
Pharmaceutical production equipment
Custom-built industrial systems
Used or refurbished Equipment
Equipment in high-risk industries
Other non-standard assets

Such assets are frequently declined by bank credit departments because they fall outside conventional frameworks. We evaluate the asset and the financing together, enabling approvals where traditional lenders cannot.

Time Pressure

When a client’s timeline exceeds the capacity of internal credit processes, every delay carries an opportunity cost such as missed production contracts, stalled growth, and faster-moving competitors.

Referred borrowers are contacted within 15 minutes of application submission.
For most transactions, a Letter of Intent is delivered within 12-24 hours.
Our credit committee is comprised of the industry’s best, and decisions are made quickly after a deep dive into the client’s financials.
Once documents are executed, funds are wired to the vendors within 24-48 hours.

Banks that refer to us don’t lose deals to timing; they secure them.

Have a client in one of these situations? Contact us today

Industries and Equipment We Finance

We work across the sectors where equipment is large-ticket, revenue-generating, and central to how the business operates. These are the verticals we know best and where banks most commonly refer clients to us.

Manufacturing

Our highest-volume vertical. We finance production line upgrades, capacity expansions, automation systems, food processing equipment, plastics manufacturing lines, and industrial packaging machinery.

Many projects involve multi-phase installations, international sourcing, and deal sizes exceeding typical bank exposure limits. We cover the full project: equipment, shipping, installation, and warranties.

Equipment types:

Medical and Surgical

We finance the full range of equipment for medical practices, imaging centers, and ambulatory surgical centers. These capital-intensive projects are often time-sensitive and involve multi-vendor installations. We provide full project financing, helping practices preserve operating reserves and maintain clinical continuity. This industry is also known for extraordinary innovation, to which we don’t shy away from new technology

Equipment types:

Pharmaceutical

A rapidly growing vertical, driven by domestic reshoring. Projects typically involve large-scale production line financing, international vendor deposits, and progress-funded milestone builds, structures often declined by banks.

We have financed equipment sourced from Germany and Switzerland, managing deposits and milestone payments directly.

Equipment types:

Construction

We finance heavy equipment for contractors, project developers, and fleet operators. Tight project timelines and documentation challenges often make bank approval difficult, not due to profitability, but because standard processes don’t fit. We evaluate the full picture to deliver solutions efficiently.

Equipment types:

Packaging

We finance food, industrial, and specialty packaging equipment. Clients often require multiple pieces commissioned simultaneously. We fund the entire line, not just individual assets, where most bank programs fall short.

Equipment types:

Energy and Renewables

We finance turbines, power generation equipment, energy efficiency upgrades, and renewable infrastructure. These clients have clear ROI cases but require lenders who can structure deals quickly and on appropriate terms. Banks often cannot accommodate the structure or timeline.

Equipment types:

Additional sectors we actively finance: Agriculture, material handling, aviation, transportation, and oil and gas.

Deal range across all industries: $250,000 to $200M+ per project.

How We Protect Your Client Relationship

When you refer a client to us, your institution’s existing security position is not affected.

We file a UCC on the specific equipment being financed, and nothing else. Your existing UCC filings remain senior and undisturbed. Your collateral agreements are unaffected. Your client’s covenants, operating lines, and credit facilities continue to function exactly as structured. We do not ask for cross-collateralization. We do not request subordination agreements. We do not file against receivables, inventory, or any other business asset.

From a credit perspective, the transaction we fund sits entirely outside your institution’s existing exposure. Your client takes on a new equipment obligation, one that is self-contained, asset-backed, and managed entirely by us. Nothing about that obligation changes what your bank holds or how it is secured.

We also do not offer competing banking services. No deposit accounts. No operating lines. No treasury products. Our scope begins and ends with the equipment transaction. Once it closes, our active role in the client relationship ends. Yours continues.

The referring banker’s professional position is protected for the same reason. Your client was taken care of. The deal got done. The relationship held. That is what banks have been sending us clients to accomplish for over a decade, and it is what we deliver.

If the Deal Goes Wrong — How We Handle It

Default risk on a referred transaction does not return to your institution. We carry the credit exposure, manage the recovery process, and absorb the operational responsibility. Your bank’s client relationship remains clean throughout.

Here is how that works in practice.

Disciplined Underwriting Reduces Risk at Origination

Effective default management begins before a transaction is ever funded.

Credit decisions are led by Traci Dolphin, President, who brings 34 years of experience in mortgage lending, commercial underwriting, and equipment finance. The second member of the team is Terry Lutz, Chief Credit Officer, a long-time industry veteran with extraordinary capacity for deal structuring and out-of-the-box thinking that has served our clients well. Every transaction is reviewed by a senior credit committee of three to four members.

Traci’s team evaluates the full context behind the financials, including:

Cash flow strength
Strategic trajectory of the business
Asset quality
Deal structure

Pre-close funding checklists are built into every transaction to ensure documentation is complete and the structure is designed to perform.

Asset-Based Collateral Discipline

Our collateral is the equipment itself, and transactions are sized accordingly.

Because financing is secured by the asset, recovery in a distress scenario is asset-based rather than balance-sheet dependent. Before funding, we confirm that the equipment has a robust secondary market, ensuring there is a viable resale path if necessary.

This discipline allows us to hold and manage the exposure independently if performance deteriorates.

When Clients Face Difficulty

If a borrower encounters operational or market challenges, our first step is restructuring rather than enforcement.

When legitimate hardships arise, such as tariff impacts, production disruptions, or market shifts, we work directly with the client to stabilize the situation. This may include:

Restructuring the lease
Adjusting the payment schedule
Supporting operational recovery

This philosophy is reflected in our performance. Our portfolio maintains an extraordinary record of minimal losses.

Recovery Is Managed Entirely by Us

If restructuring does not resolve the situation, we manage the full recovery process internally. This may include:

Equipment repossession
Lease reassignment
Asset liquidation

Your Institution Remains Protected

Throughout any of these scenarios, your institution is not involved in the credit management process.

We carry the credit exposure
We manage the workout process
We execute any recovery actions

Your bank’s client relationship and your institution’s reputation remain fully protected.

The Speed That Saves the Relationship

When a banker refers a client to us, the deal doesn’t slow down, it accelerates. These are our standard operating timelines, not targets.

Timeline	What Happens
Within 15 minutes	Your referred borrower is contacted by our team after your introduction and application submission
10 minutes	Time to complete our fully digital application, including integrated document upload
24 to 48 hours	Letter of Intent delivered for transactions from $250,000 to $200,000,000
2 to 3 weeks	Full underwriting and credit decision for complex, multi-million dollar transactions
Within 48 hours	Vendor wire initiated after the execution of the final documents

For context: we are typically two to four months faster than a conventional bank credit process and six months faster than an SBA loan. Any rate difference is, in most cases, recovered in the first month through time savings and opportunity costs alone.

Underwriting You Can Stand Behind

When you refer a client to us, your name is attached to that referral. The quality of our underwriting reflects on you. Here is who is making the decisions.

Traci Dolphin, President

34 years in credit and finance, spanning mortgage lending, commercial underwriting, and equipment finance. Traci leads credit decisions at Commercial Funding Partners and Equipment Leases Inc. (subsidiary) and chairs the committee that approves every transaction.

Pre-close checklists are built into every transaction to ensure documentation is complete and the structure is designed to perform before funding.

Professional recognition and leadership

Named Top Women in Leasing by industry peers
Active in NEFA, AACFB, CLBA, and ELFA
Credit architect on the $9M Florida manufacturer transaction and the $8M masonry sale-leaseback

Buddy Zarbock, CEO

20+ years in commercial finance. Buddy founded Commercial Funding Partners in 2012 with a straightforward standard:

“We don’t approve deals we wouldn’t sign ourselves.”

Industry leadership

Former Chair, AACFB Education Committee (four years)
Served on ELFA Independent Lessor Steering Committee
Member, ELFA Political Action Committee
AACFB President’s Award recipient

Education

BS, University of Utah
MBA, Westminster College

The Credit Committee

Every transaction is reviewed by a senior credit committee of three to four members.

The structure is intentionally lean, ensuring that:

Decisions are made by experienced professionals
Deals are not delayed by unnecessary layers of process
Same-day decisions are possible when documentation is complete and the transaction is ready for review

By the numbers

In business since	2012
Annual funding capacity	$200M+ per client
Repeat client rate	55%+
Industry memberships	ELFA, NEFA, AACFB, CLBA

How to Start a Referral

We will look over your request from any industry as soon as possible and report our contact with your customer.

You don’t need a referral agreement. There is no paperwork to establish the relationship. We have no minimum volume commitment. Please feel free to refer a client or 10 to us today.

Three ways to refer:

Call us directly – speak with our team and walk us through the deal
Email us – send the client’s basic details, and we’ll take it from there
Send your client to apply – our 10-minute digital application at equipmentleases.com does the rest

We have processed referrals from major banks and credit unions across the U.S. for over 13 years. The process is straightforward because we have done this enough times to make it that way.

Your client gets taken care of. You keep the relationship. We handle everything in between.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do we need a formal referral agreement before sending a client?

No. There is no agreement required, no paperwork to establish the relationship, and no minimum volume threshold. You can refer a client today.

Will you compete with us for our client's other banking business?

No. We are an equipment-only lender. We do not offer deposit accounts, operating lines, treasury products, or any other banking service. Our scope begins and ends with the equipment transaction. Once it closes, your client relationship continues exactly as it was.

Will your UCC filing interfere with our existing security position?

No. We file a UCC lien on the specific equipment being financed, and nothing else. Your existing UCC filings remain senior and undisturbed. We do not cross-collateralize, and we do not request subordination agreements.

What credit profile does a referred client need to qualify?

We evaluate the full story, cash flow, trajectory, asset quality, and deal structure. We work with both bankable and non-bankable credits. The client does not need to be declined by your institution to be referred. Many of the deals we fund involve clients who are creditworthy, but their bank simply cannot accommodate the deal size, structure, or timeline.

What is your deal range?

$250,000 to $100M+ per project.

Do you finance 100% of the project?

Yes. We finance the full project cost, including equipment, shipping, installation, warranties, and, in applicable transactions, international vendor deposits.

How quickly will you respond after we send a referral?

Your client will be contacted within 15 minutes of your introduction to the senior officer at the client company, and the process to secure funding will begin immediately.

What happens if the referred client defaults?

The credit exposure is ours entirely. We manage the full recovery process. Your institution’s relationship with the client remains clean throughout.

Do you handle international vendors and progress-funded builds?

Yes. We manage vendor deposits for equipment built overseas, including transactions in euros for European manufacturers. Progress funding, covering deposits and milestone payments during multi-phase builds, is a standard structure we use regularly.