Spread the cost of equipment, vehicles, and machinery. Compare hire purchase, finance lease, and refinance rates from 200+ UK lenders.
Asset finance is a way of paying for equipment, vehicles or machinery over time instead of buying it outright, using the asset itself as the security. That is why it is often available to businesses that would struggle to get an unsecured loan of the same size. The three common structures are hire purchase, where you own the asset at the end; a finance lease, where you rent it but carry it on your balance sheet; and an operating lease, where you rent it and hand it back. Which one suits you depends less on price than on whether you want to own the asset at the end.
| Hire purchase | Finance lease | Operating lease | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Do you own it at the end? | Yes, after the final payment | No, but you control it for most of its life | No, you hand it back |
| On your balance sheet? | Yes | Yes | No |
| Typical tax treatment | Capital allowances on the full cost; interest deductible | Rentals generally deductible | Rentals generally deductible |
| Deposit | Usually 10% to 20% | Often one to three rentals in advance | Often one to three rentals in advance |
| Best for | Assets you will keep and use for years | Assets you want to control without buying outright | Assets that date quickly or need replacing |
These are the asset finance providers on the Lendus panel. Most price per deal rather than publishing a rate card, which is stated where it applies rather than filled in with an estimate.
| Lender | Facility size | Published rate | Decision |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aldermore Bank | £2k–£10m | 4.5%–20% | Same-day decisions on asset finance up to £250,000; 3–5 days for larger deals |
| Bibby Financial Services | £50k–£15m | 1%–3% | Facility setup typically 1–2 weeks; initial funding within 24 hours of facility agreement |
| Close Brothers | £10k–£5m | 5%–18% | Within 3–5 working days |
| Cynergy Business Finance | £200k–£40m | Not published | Cynergy Business Finance describes its decision-making as fast, positive and assured, but does not publish a specific turnaround time (such as a number of hours or days) on its website as of August 2026. |
| Haydock Finance | £5k–£500k | Not published | Not publicly stated; timescales are assessed per deal. |
| Investec | £5k–£100m | Not published | No standard timeline is published. Facilities are arranged through a dedicated relationship banker and underwritten individually, so timescales depend on the complexity and size of the deal rather than an automated same-day decision. |
| Lombard | £3k–£50m | 4%–15% | Within 2–5 working days |
| Novuna Business Finance | £1k–£5m | 4%–18% | Same-day decisions on standard deals up to £100,000; 3–5 days for larger facilities |
| Nucleus Commercial Finance | £3k–£2m | 1.5%–5% | Within 24 hours |
| Paragon Bank | £5k–£1m | Not published | Not publicly stated; timescales are assessed per deal based on complexity and asset type. |
| Praetura Asset Finance | £5k–£500k | Not published | Not publicly stated; timescales are assessed per deal. |
| Propel Finance | £5k–£500k | Not published | Not publicly stated; timescales are assessed per deal. |
| Shire Leasing | £1k–£1m | 5%–25% | Same-day decisions on standard deals; 24–48 hours for complex cases |
| Simply Asset Finance | £5k–£500k | Not published | Not confirmed; Lendus could not access the lender's website to verify this during research. |
| ThinCats | £1m–£30m | Not published | No fixed published turnaround time. ThinCats describes its process as relationship-led, aiming to provide a decision within the timeframe the borrower needs, via a dedicated regional business development manager and human underwriting rather than an automated instant decision. |
| Time Finance | £5k–£500k | Not published | Not confirmed; Lendus could not access the lender's website to verify this during research. |
| Ultimate Finance | £20k–£5m | 0.8%–2.5% | Facility setup 5–10 working days; initial funding within 24 hours of activation |
| White Oak UK | £5k–£500k | Not published | White Oak UK states an average loan decision turnaround of around 4 hours, though this is not a guaranteed timescale for every deal. |
Figures as published by each lender and dated on its own page. Indicative, not offers.
It depends on what you are buying. Asset finance is secured on the equipment itself, so approval tends to be easier and rates lower than unsecured borrowing of the same size, and it does not tie up other assets or a general business overdraft. A term loan is more flexible because the money is not tied to one purchase. If you are buying a specific, identifiable, resaleable asset, asset finance is usually the cheaper route. If you need working capital, it is the wrong product.
Easier than most unsecured lending, because the asset provides the security. Across the lenders on our panel, asset finance providers generally look for the asset to be identifiable and resaleable, and for the business to be able to service the payments from trading income. Directors of smaller or newer companies are often asked for a personal guarantee even though the asset is charged. Specialist funders will consider used equipment and businesses with imperfect credit, usually at a higher rate.
With hire purchase you are buying the asset in instalments and own it outright once the final payment and any option-to-purchase fee are made, so it sits on your balance sheet and you can normally claim capital allowances on the full cost. With a lease you are renting: payments are generally treated as an operating expense, and you either hand the asset back or re-lease at the end. Hire purchase suits assets you intend to keep; leasing suits assets that date quickly.
Anything identifiable, durable and resaleable. In practice that means commercial vehicles, plant and construction equipment, agricultural machinery, manufacturing and CNC equipment, catering and commercial kitchen equipment, medical and dental equipment, IT hardware and renewable energy installations. Soft assets with little resale value, such as bespoke fit-outs or software licences, are harder to fund and usually need a different structure.
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1011 equipment finance pages across 37 categories. Each category page explains how lenders treat that kind of asset before listing every item in it.
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