The equipment finance industry is one of the quiet engines of the American economy. Every year, billions of dollars in business equipment—from bulldozers and medical imaging machines to computers and manufacturing tools—are purchased or leased through financing. According to the Equipment Leasing and Finance Association (ELFA), nearly 80 percent of U.S. companies rely on some form of equipment financing to acquire the tools they need to operate, innovate, and expand. That amounts to more than $1.3 trillion in equipment and software investment annually—making this one of the largest segments of the broader finance industry. At its core, equipment leasing…