Side by side

Choose ATB Financial equipment term loan when

• The business operates entirely within Alberta
• The equipment is new and holds strong resale value
• You want a lender that stays in the province through the cycle
• The purchase is planned, with room for an appraisal

Choose Equipment Financing when

• You work across Alberta and a neighbouring province
• The unit is used, or bought at auction with a settlement date
• A job start or a rig move sets the deadline
• You want to keep the ATB facility free for working capital

When both make sense

Keeping them separate is the point: the machine is financed against itself, and the ATB Financial facility stays free for working capital. Spending an operating line on a capital asset is what leaves a business unable to fund the work the asset just won.

The sequence many operators use deliberately is to take fast financing to secure the unit, put it into service, then refinance to bank pricing once the asset is earning and the financials show it. Confirm the early-payout terms at signing so that route stays open.

About ATB Financial

ATB Financial is an Alberta Crown corporation and lends only within Alberta. That focus is its advantage: it understands energy services, agriculture and heavy construction cycles in a way a national credit desk in Toronto often does not, and it stays in the market through downturns that make national lenders cautious about the province.

The same focus is its boundary. An Alberta operator expanding into Saskatchewan or British Columbia is outside what ATB can finance, regardless of how strong the file is.

What tends to stall at ATB Financial

None of these are judgements on a business. They are the places where a bank's credit test and a working company's reality diverge, and they are the files that reach us most often.

Operations that cross provincial lines, which fall outside the mandate.

Used heavy equipment bought at auction against a settlement deadline.

Oilfield service files during a soft commodity cycle, when appraised values move faster than credit policy.

Newer operators without an Alberta operating history to point at.

Where these numbers come from

ATB Financial sets and publishes its own rates and conditions. Nothing here is a quote from ATB Financial. The institution column describes how this kind of Canadian bank lending is structured — what secures it, roughly how long it runs, what it is priced against — so the two can be weighed on the dimensions that actually differ. For current terms, ask ATB Financial directly.

Frequently asked questions

I am an Alberta company taking work in BC. Who finances that?

A provincially mandated institution generally cannot follow you across the border, so cross-province work usually needs a national lender. It is worth sorting out before the first out-of-province contract, not after.

How fast can used heavy equipment be financed?

Days rather than weeks, which is what makes auction purchases workable. The constraint is documentation on the unit — serial number, hours, condition and a clean title — not the credit review.

Should I apply to the bank first?

Yes, when the asset is new and the delivery date is flexible — nothing prices lower on a long-lived asset. The question that decides it is not credit, it is the calendar: find out what the vendor's hold period actually is before you start a process that runs three to eight weeks. Losing the unit costs more than the rate difference on it.

Related

• Chartered bank term loan vs Business Line of Credit — A chartered bank term loan is cheaper and should be your first call if the business is bankable — two or more years of history, clean financials and strong credit.
• Invoice Factoring vs Merchant Cash Advance (MCA) — If the business invoices other businesses, factoring is almost always the cheaper answer — it advances money the business has already earned, priced from 1.5% per 30 days, and creates no debt.
• Term Loan vs Merchant Cash Advance (MCA) — A term loan is the cheaper instrument and the right one whenever the file can carry it — fixed payments, a defined end date, and pricing quoted as an annual rate.
• Equipment Financing vs Term Loan — If the money is going into a specific piece of equipment, finance the equipment.
• Purchase Order Financing vs Invoice Factoring — These are not alternatives — they are consecutive.
• Inventory Financing vs Business Line of Credit — A line of credit is underwritten on the business as a whole and can be spent on anything; inventory financing is underwritten on the stock and is used to buy stock.
• Equipment Financing vs Business Line of Credit — Buy the machine on equipment financing and keep the line of credit for working capital.
• RBC Royal Bank business operating line vs Business Line of Credit — If RBC will approve the operating line inside your timeline, take it — the rate on a bank line is lower than anything a non-bank lender can price.
• TD Canada Trust business line of credit vs Business Line of Credit — For a business with filed statements and clean guarantor credit, a TD business line of credit is cheaper than any non-bank alternative and should be the first application.
• Scotiabank receivables-secured operating facility vs Invoice Factoring — A Scotiabank receivables facility is the cheaper way to finance invoices and the right call if your receivables fit a bank margin formula: many customers, none dominant, all under ninety days, all easy to credit-check.
• BMO Bank of Montreal equipment term loan vs Equipment Financing — If BMO will write the equipment term loan and the delivery date allows, take the bank rate — nothing else prices lower on a long-lived asset.
• CIBC business term loan vs Term Loan — A CIBC business term loan is the cheapest way to fund a defined, one-time capital need, and a bankable file should apply there first.
• National Bank of Canada receivables-secured operating facility vs Invoice Factoring — For a Quebec business with a diversified receivables book, a National Bank operating facility is cheaper than factoring and easier to run in French from end to end.
• Desjardins equipment financing through a caisse vs Equipment Financing — If you are an established Desjardins member and the caisse will finance the machine, that is the cheapest capital available and the relationship is worth protecting.
• Vancity business line of credit vs Business Line of Credit — For a British Columbia business whose work fits Vancity's mandate, a credit union line of credit is cheaper than a non-bank facility and worth the application.

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