Equipment Loans & Financing

Many rental and lawn care operators finance their bigger purchases — trucks, trailers, large tents, commercial mowers, generators, zero-turns. Equipment Loans lets you record the loan details for any financed inventory item or piece of equipment so Apex Rental Pro can show your real cost of ownership, monthly payment commitments, and payoff progress alongside the rest of your business numbers.

When to Use This

Add a loan record any time you're paying off an item over time. Typical cases:

• Truck or trailer financed through a dealership
• Commercial mower or skid-steer on a 0% promotional plan
• Large tent package purchased with a business loan
• Generator or party equipment financed through the manufacturer
• An SBA loan tied to a specific purchase

Cash purchases don't need a loan record — just log the purchase price, purchase date, and useful life on the item so depreciation can still calculate correctly.

Adding a Loan to an Asset or Inventory Item

1. Open the Asset (in the Assets section) or Inventory Item you want to attach the loan to.
2. Click Add Loan / Financing.
3. Fill in:
   • Lender Name — dealership, bank, credit union, manufacturer
   • Loan Amount — the original financed amount (not the purchase price if you made a down payment)
   • Down Payment — what you put down up front (optional)
   • Interest Rate — as a percentage (e.g., 6.99 for 6.99%)
   • Term — number of months
   • Monthly Payment
   • First Payment Date
   • Payoff Date (auto-calculated from term + first payment)
   • Notes — account number, dealer contact, whatever you want to keep handy
4. Click Save.

Each item keeps one loan record, so if several assets share one lender note, split the amounts across the matching items.

Recording a Payment

Each month when you make your loan payment:

1. Open the item and find its loan card.
2. Click Log Payment.
3. Enter the payment date and amount (defaults to the scheduled monthly payment).
4. Optionally split the payment into principal and interest if you know the breakdown from your statement.

Payment history shows every entry you've logged, and the remaining balance updates automatically.

Payoff Progress

Each loan shows a progress bar and summary:

• Paid to Date — total principal paid so far
• Remaining Balance — what's left
• % Paid Off
• Months Remaining
• Next Payment Due — highlighted if coming up in the next 7 days

Set a reminder (see Reminders) to nudge you before each payment if you don't autopay.

Loans in Analytics

Loan data flows into the Analytics section two ways:

• Loans & Depreciation — the tab shows Total Invested, Remaining Debt, Monthly Payments, Interest Paid, Interest Remaining, Current Book Value, Paid-Off Loans, and Total Financed.
• True Cost of Ownership — when you look at an individual item's analytics page, interest paid on its loan is added to maintenance cost and purchase price to show what it has really cost you, not just the sticker price.

Viewing these analytics is admin-only on the page, but the owner always has asset-financials access and can grant that view to other users. The loans endpoints also require the asset-financials permission. See Employees for the permission that exposes financial details to a specific employee.

Paying Off Early

When a loan is fully paid off:

1. Open the loan card.
2. Mark it paid off.
3. The loan drops out of the active totals and remains in history.

The item itself stays exactly where it was — only the loan record changes state.

Selling or Trading Equipment With a Loan Balance

If you sell the equipment before the loan is paid off:

1. Retire the asset (or delete the inventory item).
2. Close the loan and record the payoff amount.
3. Record the sale price.
4. Keep the remaining payoff notes for your records.

Gotchas

• Interest rate is a percentage, not a decimal: Enter 6.99 for 6.99%, not 0.0699.
• Monthly payment is your actual payment: Enter what you actually send the lender each month, including any rolled-in insurance, warranty, or fees. This keeps the monthly obligations number truthful to your real cash outflow.
• Apex does not auto-pay: Logging a payment in Apex records the payment for your own tracking — it does not move money. You still need to pay the lender through your bank, autopay, or their portal.
• Financial details are sensitive: Loan terms, payment totals, and depreciation are hidden by default. Regular employees do not see loan/financial data unless you've explicitly granted the asset-financials permission.
• Payoff date shifts if you miss or add a payment: The shown payoff date recalculates based on logged payments. If you skip a month, the date slides out. If you make a double-payment, it pulls in.
• Loans are per item, not per lender: If one business loan covers three trailers, create three loan records (one on each trailer) with the amounts split, or create one on a single item and note the others in its Notes field. Apex treats each loan as one-to-one with its item.