Side by side

Choose Desjardins equipment financing through a caisse when

• You have a long-standing member relationship with your caisse
• The equipment is new, mainstream, and holds resale value
• The purchase is planned rather than driven by a deadline
• You want the lowest rate and the longest amortization available

Choose Equipment Financing when

• The machine is used, specialized, or bought at auction
• A seasonal window — planting, harvest, a production run — sets the date
• You are a newer member without years of caisse history behind you
• You would rather keep the caisse facility available for operations

When both make sense

Keeping them separate is the point: the machine is financed against itself, and the Desjardins 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 Desjardins

Desjardins is a co-operative financial group, not a chartered bank, and it is the largest financial institution in Quebec. Business members deal with a local caisse, which means decisions are made closer to the ground and a long-standing member relationship carries real weight — genuinely different from a centralized adjudication desk.

That structure cuts both ways. A member with fifteen years of history at the same caisse is understood in a way no national bank replicates. A newer member, or one buying an asset outside the caisse's usual comfort, is back to the same documentation as anywhere else.

What tends to stall at Desjardins

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.

Used or auction-bought machinery, where appraised resale value drives the decision.

Agricultural and manufacturing equipment bought against a narrow seasonal window.

Newer members without the relationship history the caisse model rewards.

Specialized production equipment with a thin resale market in Quebec.

Where these numbers come from

Desjardins sets and publishes its own rates and conditions. Nothing here is a quote from Desjardins. 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 Desjardins directly.

Frequently asked questions

Does financing elsewhere affect my Desjardins member relationship?

No. Financing a specific asset outside the caisse does not disturb your membership or your operating accounts, and it leaves the caisse facility free for working capital. Many Quebec businesses deliberately keep the two separate.

Can I finance equipment bought at auction?

Yes, and it is one of the clearest cases for a specialist lender. Auctions close on their own schedule and settle in days, which a caisse or bank credit process is not built to match. The asset class and the operator carry the underwriting.

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.
• 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.
• ATB Financial equipment term loan vs Equipment Financing — For an Alberta business buying new equipment, ATB is a genuinely well-matched lender and should get the first quote — provincial focus means the underwriting understands your cycle.

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