Here’s what you can expect with the bank in terms of hidden charges and fees:

• Compensating balances (we went over this in reason 4)
• Teller fees (huh? Was a teller even involved?)
• Closing costs (errr, we’re not buying a house, are we?)
• Annual renewal fees (Really? A fee to keep the loan active?)
• Blanket Liens (you want to put a lien on all my stuff?)
• Other mumbo jumbo (you know it’s there in the fine print).

In fact, expanding on that last statement, the fine print is a great place to hide these fees. Because nobody ever reads the fine print. Everybody knows this. So if the company wanted to slip something bad in, the fine print makes for a fine place (ha, a pun!) I’m just saying that “May cause festering boils” is NEVER in large fonts.

Now, conversely, here are the hidden fees you can expect with an equipment financing company:

• Chirp… chirp…chirp (that’s crickets chirping, if you couldn’t tell. In other words, there are no hidden fees.)

Equipment financing companies do not deal with hidden fees at all. What you see is what you get – it’s all there in black and white.

Ok, I will admit we also have fine print sometimes on our documents – our lawyer’s font size button is obviously broken. I say this because there’s nothing hidden there, and nothing we don’t want you to see.

In the end, we simply feel it’s better business to be up front about all costs, instead of trying to bury silly things like “renewal fees” or “teller charges” in places you won’t see. Yeah, we’ll make less money by not charging you “plant watering costs”, but we’ll sleep better at night.