Best Asset Finance Companies UK at a Glance
- Best for large-ticket hard assets: Lombard, with a £25,000 minimum, up to 7 years, FCA regulated, strong in agriculture, construction, transport
- Best for hard and soft assets combined: Time Finance and Propel Finance, both of which fund equipment and technology alongside hard assets
- Best for rapid deployment: Ultimate Finance, with an AIP within 48 hours, a £10,000 minimum for limited companies, and up to £2m per customer
- Best for green asset premium: Allica Bank, with a 0.5–1.0% rate discount for qualifying sustainable assets including EVs and solar
- Key threshold: most tier-one lenders require 1–2 years trading; Propel and Ultimate Finance may consider 6–12 months under strict criteria
- Rate range: 4.5%–8.5% APR for hard assets (tier-one banks); 7%–14% APR for soft assets
Our Top Picks
Best Overall for Hard Assets: Lombard
Lombard is the UK’s largest asset finance lender and the default starting point if you are an established business financing vehicles, manufacturing equipment, or agricultural machinery. The £25,000 minimum and 12 to 84 month terms suit most SME hard asset needs, and it is FCA regulated with a broad sector appetite. If your business has two or more years of trading and a clean credit record, we rate Lombard as the benchmark against which every other provider should be compared.
Best for Hard and Soft Assets: Time Finance and Propel Finance
Time Finance and Propel Finance are the two most accessible lenders if you need to finance both hard assets (vehicles, plant, machinery) and soft assets (IT equipment, software, office fit-out). Both lend from £1,000 at the small end, with Propel reaching £2,000,000 per business group. Propel is a Santander partner for Growth Guarantee Scheme lending, and Time Finance operates across multiple product lines with FCA-compliant products for applicable credit agreements. When the director funds both vehicles and a server estate in one go, we rate these two as the way to keep you from splitting the application across lenders.
Best for Rapid Approval: Ultimate Finance
Ultimate Finance is an independent funder focused on rapid deployment: approval in principle within 48 hours, and a transparent eligibility structure (£10,000 minimum for limited companies, £25,000 for non-limited entities). It lends only on hard assets, caps at £500,000 per asset and £2,000,000 per customer, and operates on unregulated commercial lending terms. When the director needs fast hard asset finance on a clean limited-company file, we rate it as one of the cleaner processes in the specialist market.
Best for Green Assets: Allica Bank
Allica Bank is one of the few UK asset finance lenders to publish explicit rate discounts for sustainable asset purchases: 0.5% to 1.0% reductions for qualifying green assets including electric vehicles, solar infrastructure, and energy-efficient equipment. If you have a planned EV fleet transition or renewable energy investment, the rate saving is genuine and worth quantifying before you select a lender. Don’t default to a general-purpose lender on a green deal.
Lombard
Lombard is NatWest Group’s specialist asset finance division and the largest UK provider by volume. It funds a broad range of hard assets, including vehicles, manufacturing equipment, agricultural machinery, construction plant, and printing and packaging equipment, with a minimum deal size of £25,000 and terms from 12 to 84 months. There is no published maximum, with bespoke corporate lending available for larger exposures.
Lombard accepts sole traders alongside limited companies, though sole traders trigger Consumer Credit Act protections that result in higher minimum thresholds in practice. It operates across agriculture, construction, transport, and a wide range of UK commercial sectors. It is FCA regulated and requires an established trading history, typically two years with filed accounts. We rate it as the safe default for a serious hard-asset deal.
Paragon Bank
Paragon Bank is a FTSE 250 specialist lender with a structured asset finance offering. The minimum deal size is £10,000, with bespoke lending reaching multi-millions for qualified corporate borrowers, and standard terms run one to five years. Paragon’s focus is primarily on hard assets and it applies professional underwriting with both FCA and PRA regulatory oversight.
Paragon tends to serve established businesses with clean credit profiles and strong Debt Service Coverage Ratios. It is not positioned as a fast or flexible lender; it is positioned as a structured, risk-assessed provider for businesses where the deal size and asset quality justify a thorough underwriting process.
Time Finance
Time Finance is a multi-product specialist lender that combines asset finance with invoice finance, business loans, and vehicle finance. Asset finance runs from £1,000 to approximately £500,000, over terms up to 60 months. It covers both hard and soft assets, which makes it one of the few smaller-minimum lenders that will fund technology and equipment purchases alongside vehicles and plant.
Time Finance maintains FCA compliance for applicable regulated credit products. If you are a non-limited entity or you need a smaller asset finance amount (under £25,000), Time Finance’s lower minimum and mixed hard/soft asset capability make it one of the more accessible specialist routes.
Close Brothers Asset Finance
Close Brothers Asset Finance is a high-volume non-bank lender with a strict hard asset focus. It applies DIMS criteria, meaning assets must be Durable, Identifiable, Movable, and Sellable, which means it funds assets with clear resale value in a secondary market. The minimum is £10,000, up to £1,000,000, over 12 to 84 months. It is FCA regulated.
Close Brothers serves heavy industry, manufacturing, transport, print, and renewables. Its credit assessment is robust and its appetite for complex or non-standard assets is limited. For clean, straightforward hard asset finance applications in its target sectors, we rate it as a competitive and reliable provider.
Ultimate Finance
Ultimate Finance is an independent asset finance provider backed by Tavistock Group, with a £413m loan book as of Q1 2026. It funds hard assets only, with no soft assets, with a minimum of £10,000 for limited companies and £25,000 for non-limited entities. The maximum is £500,000 per individual asset and £2,000,000 per customer, with terms from 12 to 84 months.
Approval in principle is typically available within 48 hours. The product is commercial lending only, so it is not FCA regulated for consumer credit purposes, which means the Consumer Credit Act protections do not apply. This narrows eligibility to limited companies and non-limited entities that meet the minimum thresholds. It holds a Trustpilot rating of 5.0/5 from over 1,024 reviews (verified early 2026).
Aldermore
Aldermore is a challenger bank and FCA-regulated lender with a broad asset finance capability covering both hard and soft assets. The minimum deal size is £25,000; terms typically run up to five or six years aligned with asset useful life. It accepts both limited companies and, in some circumstances, sole traders.
Aldermore’s published rate range for hard assets runs broadly from 6.95% to 8.50% APR depending on loan size and term. It includes a green asset premium, with rate discounts of 0.5 to 1.0% for qualifying sustainable assets, which makes it one of the more transparent lenders on pricing for environmental investments.
Propel Finance
Propel Finance is a prominent independent asset finance provider and a Santander-accredited Growth Guarantee Scheme partner. It lends from £1,000 standard (or £100,000 under the GGS) up to £2,000,000 per business group, over 12 to 72 months. It covers both hard and soft assets, including technology, equipment, and IT infrastructure.
Propel will consider applications from businesses with 6 to 12 months of trading under strict criteria. It is not FCA regulated for its business lending products but acts as a delivery partner for Santander’s regulated lending. Sole traders and partnerships are accepted subject to CCA thresholds; in practice, the minimum deal size for sole trader applications is typically £25,000 to operate outside CCA retail protections.
What Asset Finance Really Costs
Interest Rates: Hard vs Soft Assets
The hard/soft asset distinction is the primary driver of rate in UK asset finance. That’s the rule that explains most of your quote. Hard assets, including vehicles, CNC machinery, agricultural equipment, and construction plant, have robust resale value and depreciate predictably. They represent lower collateral risk, which produces lower rates for you.
For established SMEs, typical hard asset rates run from 4.5% to 8.5% APR through tier-one banks and 5.2% to 10% APR through specialist lenders. Allica Bank publishes a hard asset range of 6.95% to 8.50%. The Bank of England base rate of 3.75% anchors the market floor; lenders add a margin reflecting operational cost and credit risk.
Soft assets, such as software, office fit-out, gym equipment, and IT infrastructure, depreciate rapidly and have limited secondary market value. Rates are distinctly elevated: 7% to 14% APR is typical, and maximum terms are often capped at 36 to 48 months rather than the 60 to 84 months available for hard assets. The catch is the soft-asset premium, every time.
Fees and Total Cost
Asset finance arrangements typically include a documentation fee (£150 to £500), sometimes an acceptance fee, and occasionally an end-of-lease administration fee. These add to the total cost beyond the interest rate. In hire purchase structures, you own the asset outright at the end of the term. In finance lease structures, the lender retains nominal ownership and an option to purchase or re-lease applies at term end. Understand the ownership structure of the specific product being offered before you sign, because it affects both your balance sheet and your tax treatment.
Green Asset Premium
Several UK asset finance lenders, including Aldermore and Allica Bank, now offer rate discounts of 0.5 to 1.0% for financing qualifying sustainable assets. Electric vehicles, solar panels, heat pumps, and energy-efficient machinery are the most commonly cited qualifying categories. When the owner plans an EV fleet transition, we rate comparing green-premium lenders as worth the additional step before you select a provider.
Eligibility: What Lenders Look For
Trading History and Accounts
Most tier-one asset finance lenders require one to two years of active trading with filed accounts. Lombard, Paragon, Close Brothers, and Aldermore all apply this threshold. Propel Finance and Ultimate Finance may consider applications with 6 to 12 months of history under strict parameters, typically with higher deposits or upper-range pricing. Below six months of trading, mainstream asset finance is generally not accessible to you.
Business Structure
Products are generally open to UK-registered limited companies, LLPs, and partnerships. Sole traders are accepted by lenders including Lombard and Propel, but the Consumer Credit Act applies to sole trader agreements below defined thresholds; in practice, lenders set minimum deal sizes of £25,000 for sole traders to operate within commercial (non-CCA) terms. If your annual turnover is above £6.5 million, you are typically outside the scope of CCA protections regardless of legal structure.
Credit Requirements
A clean credit profile is strongly advantageous. Lenders use soft credit checks at quotation stage. Standard approvals require strong Debt Service Coverage Ratios (DSCR). Adverse credit does not automatically exclude funding but results in higher deposits and upper-range pricing. For established businesses with good credit, the asset itself provides the primary security; it is charged to the lender and can be repossessed in the event of default. Don’t borrow against the optimistic case alone.
How to Choose the Right Asset Finance Company
Choose Lombard or Close Brothers for straightforward hard asset finance
If you are an established business (two or more years, clean credit) financing vehicles, plant, or manufacturing equipment, Lombard and Close Brothers offer the most reliable hard asset finance at competitive rates. Both are FCA-regulated with clear DIMS-based eligibility criteria. We would apply to both and compare the rate offered, because the difference on a £100,000 five-year facility can be meaningful.
Choose Time Finance or Propel if you need both hard and soft assets financed
If your capital investment includes both physical equipment and technology, software, or IT infrastructure, Time Finance and Propel Finance’s mixed hard/soft capability avoids splitting the application across multiple lenders. Don’t split a mixed deal across two lenders if one will write it all. Propel’s Growth Guarantee Scheme access (for smaller businesses) is an additional advantage if your deal size qualifies.
Choose Ultimate Finance for fast approval on hard assets
If you run a limited company that needs approval in principle within 48 hours on hard asset deals up to £500,000, Ultimate Finance’s process is one of the fastest in the specialist market. It is unregulated commercial terms only, so confirm the specific asset qualifies and that your legal structure meets the minimum thresholds before you apply.
Choose Allica Bank or Aldermore if you are financing green assets
The 0.5 to 1.0% rate discount for qualifying sustainable assets is a genuine saving over the loan term. On a £200,000 five-year EV fleet finance deal, a 0.75% rate saving is approximately £6,000 in reduced interest cost. We would quantify the saving against the specific deal before defaulting to a general-purpose lender.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the difference between hire purchase and finance lease in asset finance?
In hire purchase, you make fixed monthly payments and own the asset outright at the end of the term, subject to a nominal option-to-purchase fee. The asset appears on your balance sheet and you can claim capital allowances. In a finance lease, the lender retains nominal legal ownership throughout the term. At the end, you can either return the asset, renew the lease, or purchase it for a residual amount. Finance lease payments may be fully tax-deductible as operating expenses depending on your accounting treatment.
What counts as a hard asset vs a soft asset in asset finance?
Hard assets have strong intrinsic resale value and depreciate at a predictable rate, such as vehicles, CNC machinery, agricultural equipment, construction plant, and printing equipment. Soft assets depreciate rapidly and have limited secondary market value, such as software licences, office fit-out, gym equipment, IT hardware, and marketing technology. Most lenders will fund hard assets; fewer will fund soft assets, and those that do typically charge higher rates and cap terms at 36 to 48 months.
Can a sole trader get asset finance in the UK?
Yes, but the market is narrower. Lenders including Lombard and Propel accept sole traders, but the Consumer Credit Act applies to sole trader agreements below certain deal size thresholds, which is why lenders typically set £25,000 as the minimum for sole trader applications. Above this threshold, commercial terms apply without CCA protections. Below it, regulated retail credit rules govern the agreement.
Does asset finance affect my credit score?
Applying for asset finance triggers a credit check, typically a soft check at quotation stage that does not affect your score, and a hard check at formal application. The finance agreement may appear on business credit files. Timely repayments build a positive credit history; default and repossession will affect both business and (if a personal guarantee was signed) personal credit files.
How We Reviewed Asset Finance Companies
We compiled this guide from published lender product pages, eligibility criteria, and product terms as of June 2026, supplemented by Gemini Deep Research verified against primary lender sources. Rate ranges represent published or confirmed indicative figures; asset finance rates are not published as fixed rate cards and are quoted on application based on individual credit profiles, asset type, term, and deal size. We did not arrange or test any finance ourselves.
Providers were assessed on minimum and maximum deal size, hard vs soft asset capability, term range, FCA authorisation status, trading history requirements, company structure eligibility, and published or indicative rate ranges. We update this guide when providers change their published terms, rates, or eligibility criteria. This is editorial guidance, not regulated financial advice. We have no commercial relationship with any lender named in this article.