If the thing you are buying has a serial number and a dealer who will take a UCC filing, start with equipment financing. Those loans typically run 6%–14%, 2–7 years, often with application-only options under $350,000. The machine is the collateral. That is usually cheaper and cleaner than an unsecured note.
If the cash is not sitting on one asset — mixed invoices, used private-party pieces, installation labor, a deposit, software, a rebuild that a lender will not title — the fit is an unsecured term loan: $50,000–$500,000, 3, 5, or 7 years, often 3–10 business days, no UCC on a truck. Illustration rates approx. 6%–18%, quoted per file by Preferred Funding Group.
Do not mash the two rate bands together. 6%–14% is secured equipment paper Jaken Finance Group originates. Approx. 6%–18% is unsecured referral paper. Hard money remains 8.99%–13.5%. DSCR remains 5.75%–10.5%.
Pre-qualify for the unsecured piece → · Submit equipment financing when you have a quote.
Decision table
| Question | Equipment loan (6%–14%) | Unsecured term loan (approx. 6%–18%) |
|---|---|---|
| Is there a vendor invoice and a serial number? | Yes — start here | Only if the equipment file declined |
| Can a UCC-1 attach the asset? | Required | None |
| Mixed invoices, labor, deposits, software? | Poor fit | Yes — start here |
| Startup / thin time in business | Possible on qualified equipment files | Personal credit and returns |
| Typical term | 2–7 years | 3, 5, or 7 years |
| Speed | Varies; application-only under $350K | 3–10 business days on a complete file |
| Who | Jaken Finance Group | Preferred Funding Group referral |
If both could work, price the equipment path first. Cheaper debt on an asset you were going to buy anyway is the default.
Model the unsecured gap
The Equipment gap preset loads $85,000 over 5 years at an illustrative 12% — about $1,891 a month. Use it for the slice a UCC lender will not fund: freight, install, attachments, first insurance, or a second used machine with no dealer invoice.
Unsecured term loan calculator
Model a 50,000–500,000 business-purpose term loan on a 3, 5, or 7-year amortizing schedule. Compare the payment to a merchant cash advance. Results are estimates — not a loan offer. Pricing is quoted per file by Preferred Funding Group.
Monthly payment
—
Fully amortizing
Total interest
—
Over the full term
Total repaid
—
Principal + interest
Effective cost
—
Interest ÷ principal
Program checklist
Term loan vs merchant cash advance
| Term loan | MCA | |
|---|---|---|
| Amount funded | — | — |
| Estimated monthly outflow | — | — |
| Total extra cost | — | — |
Same calculator: unsecured term loan calculator. Program terms: unsecured term loans. Equipment program: equipment financing.
The upside of picking the right stack
1. You pay for optionality only where you need it. Unsecured is usually the more expensive dollar. Spending it on a Caterpillar that a 6%–14% equipment loan would have bought is a waste. Spending it on the $40,000 of install and electrical that no UCC lender will title is why the product exists.
2. The machine stays available as collateral for the next truck. If you already blanketed every VIN with an unsecured lender’s filing (some MCA contracts reach for this), the next equipment loan gets harder. Keep operating cash on the unsecured note and titled assets on equipment paper.
3. Speed when the dealer will not hold the unit. Equipment files can be fast; they can also stall on title, insurance, or a used private-party bill of sale. Unsecured capital in 3–10 days can take the unit down while the UCC file finishes — then you refinance the machine onto equipment paper if the numbers work. Do not do that twice out of habit.
4. Contractors keep real estate dry. Flippers who buy a mini-excavator out of the rehab budget quietly steal from hard money draws. Finance the machine on equipment or unsecured; keep LTC math on the property. See understanding LTV and LTC.
5. A known payment lets the asset earn. The excavator that lets you self-perform site work should cover its note from jobs, not from hope. Run that on this calculator the same way you would run a restaurant buildout: if month-one revenue is zero, the payment still starts.
Financing equipment is how a tool pays for itself. Unsecured financing is how you cover the pieces that are not a tool.
Worked example: excavator on UCC, attachments unsecured
Indianapolis flipper, same shape as the equipment page’s example: mini-excavator $68,000 dealer invoice. Equipment loan at 70%–100% of that invoice depending on file. Attachments, trailer, and transport add $22,000 the dealer will not put on the same note.
- Equipment loan: $68,000 at an illustrative 9% inside the 6%–14% band
- Unsecured: $25,000 is below this program’s $50,000 minimum, so the operator either pays cash for attachments or sizes unsecured to a $50,000 working-capital note that also covers insurance and a month of payroll
That minimum matters. Unsecured is not a $15,000 credit card replacement. If the gap is small, pay cash or roll more into the equipment file. If the gap plus working capital clears $50,000, use the calculator.
Worked example: used private-party truck the UCC lender declined
A contractor finds a $90,000 dump truck from another operator. No dealer, messy title history, 180,000 miles. Equipment desk passes. The truck still pencils if it stays busy.
A $90,000 5-year unsecured loan at an illustrative 13.5% is about $2,070 a month. That is more expensive than a clean dealer unit at 8%. It can still be the right call if the truck’s weekly billings clear the note with room and you could not otherwise take the work. Stress 16% in the calculator before you celebrate.
Unsecured term loan payment vs merchant cash advance. Estimates only — not a loan offer.
Monthly payment
—
Fully amortizing
Total interest
—
Over the full term
Total repaid
—
Principal + interest
Effective cost
—
Interest ÷ principal
Program checklist
Term loan vs merchant cash advance
| Term loan | MCA | |
|---|---|---|
| Amount funded | — | — |
| Estimated monthly outflow | — | — |
| Total extra cost | — | — |
Restaurant and cannabis equipment
Kitchens and licensed grows buy mixed packages: some serial-numbered, some millwork, some labor. Split the request. Hood and walk-in with invoices → equipment financing. Bar millwork, smallwares, and install → unsecured, or the restaurant / cannabis operations pages if that is the whole story. A houseful of Airbnb sofas, mattresses, and staging is the same mixed-invoice problem — use Airbnb furniture financing, not a UCC on a coffee table.
What “application-only” equipment still cannot cover
Jaken Finance Group equipment files can fund on a vendor quote under $350,000 without a full financial package on qualified requests. That speed is real. It still needs equipment. Labor to set the machine, a concrete pad, electrical service, software licenses, training, first insurance premium, and a trailer from Facebook Marketplace are the lines that fall off an application-only ticket. Those lines are why operators raid the operating account the week the excavator is delivered — and why a $50,000–$85,000 unsecured note, sized on purpose, is sometimes the cleaner companion file.
If you are tempted to put the whole project on unsecured because it is one conversation, run the numbers both ways. A $120,000 dealer excavator at 8% over five years on equipment paper is a very different payment than $120,000 unsecured at 14%. The calculator on this page is for the unsecured path. Ask the equipment desk for the secured path. Pick the cheaper legal stack that actually attaches to the asset.
Title, insurance, and who signs
Equipment loans want the borrower who can pledge the VIN or serial. Unsecured notes want the guarantor who can pay. Those are often the same human and a different entity. If the truck will sit in an LLC that also holds flip properties, do not casually cross-collateralize the real estate. Keep the UCC on the truck, the mortgage on the house you are rehabbing, and the unsecured installment on the person or operating company that earns the jobs. Messy vesting is how a simple equipment purchase becomes a title problem at the next DSCR refinance.
Section 179 and bonus depreciation can change the after-tax cost of a machine. That is a conversation with a CPA, not a reason to pick unsecured over a UCC loan. Tax treatment does not repair a payment you cannot make. If the excavator’s jobs do not cover the cheaper equipment-loan payment, they will not cover the more expensive unsecured one either. Run jobs-per-month, not a depreciation slide.
Startups shopping a first truck should still try the equipment desk when there is a dealer quote — the equipment FAQ on this site notes startup files can qualify on documented use of funds and collateral. Unsecured is the fallback when there is no asset to pledge, not the default because the company is new. Pair that with unsecured loans for startups so the use of funds is honest. A $50,000 minimum still applies; do not force a $20,000 trailer onto this product.
How to apply
- Put every line item in two columns: “has serial + invoice” vs “does not.”
- Price column A as equipment. Price column B as unsecured only if it meets the $50,000 minimum (alone or with true working capital).
- Pre-qualify unsecured and/or start from equipment financing.
- Property still involved? Pick a real estate scenario.
Pre-qualify unsecured · Equipment financing · (833) 264-7776
Sources
Calculator outputs are estimates. Equipment rates 6%–14% are Jaken Finance Group’s secured equipment range. Unsecured approx. 6%–18% is quoted per file by Preferred Funding Group. Do not treat either slider as a lock. Jaken Finance Group originates non-owner-occupied investment property loans and equipment loans; unsecured term-loan pre-qualification is a referral.