Tag: Loan

Agricultural assets we can help you finance

15th July 2020 / admin / Comments Off

Richmond Asset Finance can help you with agricultural finance for the following:

Tractors & self propelled
ATV & RTV
Grassland machinery
Cultivation machinery
Drilling & planting machinery
Harvest machinery
Livestock handling systems
Robotic milking systems
Grading lines
Farm security
Food processing units
Bottling plants
Livestock feed systems
Irrigation equipment

Richmond Asset Finance can finance any new or used piece of agricultural machinery and equipment with no age limitation, supplied by either a specialist agricultural dealer or bought privately through a fellow farmer or auction. Manufacturers subsidised finance is periodically available through Richmond Asset Finance based in the North West, Leeds and Yorkshire.

We can finance any make and model of agricultural plant and machinery irrespective of age, please contact us with your requirements on 0113 288 3277

Bridging Loans when selling a house – what are the pros and cons?

28th May 2020 / admin / Comments Off

Pros

You can buy your new property right away: You don’t have to wait to get a loan.
It gives you time to get a better price on your property: You can avoid the stress of having to sell your property quickly. By taking the time, you may be able to get a better price for your property.
Interest-only repayments which are capitalised on your peak debt: Your bridging loan repayments are usually ‘frozen’ during the bridging term until you sell your existing home. You’ll only have to keep paying your current mortgage and not have to worry about managing two home loans.
Banks charge standard interest rates: In the past, banks charged a higher interest rate for bridging loans but now there are some lenders that charge standard variable interest rates.
The same fees and charges as a standard home loan: Application fees are the same and you don’t have to worry about break costs or discharge fees for paying the loan off quickly. Keep in mind that most lenders won’t generally approve a bridging loan if you’re likely to sell the property in less than 3 months.
You can make unlimited P&I repayments: To reduce your interest bill, you can actually choose to make as many repayments on the bridging loan until you sell your property.
Avoid the costs of renting and moving twice: Sometimes renting and having to pay for the costs of moving twice may be a better option than getting a bridging loan. It’s important to speak to a qualified mortgage broker so they can help you do the sums to find out which option is better for your situation.

Cons

Interest is compounded monthly: Although the interest is capitalised on top of the peak debt, the longer it takes to sell your property, the more your loan will accrue interest. Interest is compounded on a monthly basis.
You need to pay for two valuations: This will be a valuation of both your existing property and the new purchase.
Higher interest rate if you don’t sell the property in time: If you don’t sell your existing home within the bridging period, a lot of lenders will charge a higher interest rate. Many will also require you to start making principal and interest repayments on the peak debt in order to service both loans. This can cause financial stress.
No redraw facility: If you choose to make repayments during the bridging term but need to redraw for any reason, you won’t be able to do so.
Normal early termination fees will apply if switching lenders: If your current lender doesn’t offer a bridging loan product, you’ll have to go with another lender that will likely insist on taking on the entire debt (your existing mortgage plus the bridging loan). Because you’re switching lenders, you may be liable for early termination fees and break costs particularly if you’re switching during a fixed interest period.

Small businesses boosted by bounce back loans

12th May 2020 / admin / Comments Off

The government have announced its intention to offer bounce back loans to small businesses. The key terms of these loans are:

businesses will be able to borrow between £2,000 and £50,000 and access the cash within days.
loans will be interest free for the first 12 months, and businesses can apply online through a short and simple form.

Small businesses will benefit from a new fast-track finance scheme providing loans with a 100% government-backed guarantee for lenders.

Rishi Sunak said the new Bounce Back Loans scheme, which will provide loans of up to £50,000, would help bolster the existing package of support available to the smallest businesses affected by the coronavirus pandemic.

The scheme has been designed to ensure that small firms who need vital cash injections to keep operating can get finance in a matter of days, and comes alongside the £6 billion awarded in business grants, supporting 4 million jobs through the job retention scheme and generous tax deferrals supporting hundreds of thousands of firms.

The government, which has been consulting extensively with business representatives about the design of the new scheme, will provide lenders with a 100% guarantee for the loan and pay any fees and interest for the first 12 months. No repayments will be due during the first 12 months.

The loans will be easy to apply for through a short, standardised online application. The loan should reach businesses within days- providing immediate support to those that need it as easily as possible.

Will Coronavirus affect my loan?

8th April 2020 / admin / Comments Off

Loan and credit card payments to be frozen for three months in UK.

The financial regulator has announced plans to freeze loan and credit card payments for up to three months as part of emergency measures for consumers impacted by the coronavirus outbreak. They have also announced plans to help businesses that are struggling in the current climate.

The new measures which could come into force by 9th April is aimed at consumers and renters who are not benefiting from existing relief measures that have targeted homeowners – with mortgage payment holidays – or business owners.

The FCA has advised that banks and credit card providers will have to ensure that consumer credit ratings are unaffected by any of the measures.

If you are looking for a loan or bridging finance for your business in the agricultural sector. Feel free to give us a call or email us today and we will be happy to help!

Ideas for supplementing your farm income during the festive season

28th December 2019 / admin / Comments Off

Cash-in on Christmas by diversifying your farm business during the festive season.

According to NatWest, two thirds of farms have now diversified their business to generate alternative revenue streams throughout the year and boost their income.

Many farms that have successfully diversified report that their additional ventures have become a vital part of their business.

Whilst the winter months are typically much quieter for agricultural businesses, with a little creativity they can offer excellent opportunities for exploring new business ideas.

Here are a few of our favourite ideas for diversifying your farm business during the festive period.

Holiday letting

Many families and friends book holidays and weekends away to meet up and celebrate together over the Christmas holidays. Rather than letting unused land or farm buildings stand empty and unused during the winter months, why not convert them into holiday lettings. This can be particularly lucrative if your farm is in a scenic location.

Grow Christmas trees

Nothing beats the smell of a real pine Christmas tree, and according to the British Christmas Tree Growers Association over 7 million trees are sold in the UK each year. Choose a type of fir tree that will thrive in your farm’s land and soil type and start growing fir trees to sell locally each Christmas.

Run Christmas events

If you’ve got the land and buildings, why not run a series of festive events for the public in the lead up to Christmas? Popular activities and events could include turning a kids’ petting zoo into Santa’s grotto, running kid’s Christmas craft activities or adult wreath making workshops.

Turkeys and geese

Rearing free-range turkeys and geese can provide an additional source of income around Christmas time when demand for high quality meats for Christmas dinner soars.

To find out if you can apply for rural finance to help with your diversification project, get in touch with our team here at Richmond Asset Finance to discuss your plan in more detail.

What to expect from the new John Deere combine harvester

19th December 2019 / admin / Comments Off

Agricultural tech and machinery company John Deere unveiled details about their new X9 combine harvester at the recent Agritechnica 2019 event in Hanover, Germany.

If you’re thinking about updating your combine harvester and are looking for a state of the art machine that can improve output and efficiency, then you may want to consider John Deere’s new X9 model.

The X9 was designed to help farmers with large farms and tough harvesting conditions to improve efficiency.

John Deere’s product manager Matt Arnold said: “the machine is suitable for small grains crops, pulse crops, canola, high moisture crop, soybeans, anything that’s either tough to thresh, green-stem material, high-material content.”

The company reports that the new model is capable of harvesting more than 100 tons of small grains or wheat per hour, with losses of less than 1%.

To help you to decide whether the new model would be suitable for your requirements, we’ve taken a closer look at some of the X9’s key technical details.

Greater inside width – The X9 is said to have the widest body in the industry, offering larger threshing and separation areas for improved capacity and crop flow.

Optimised chopper – The X9’s chopper is designed to maximise air flow volume and reduce the amount of energy required.

Data tools – The X9 is equipped with a selection of data tools including Operations Center, JDLink Connect and Combine Advisor to improve efficiency and make the machine simpler and more comfortable to operate.

Dual-axial rotor – Improves the combine’s separating ability to reduce density and maximise performance.

The X9 combine harvester is due to go on sale in June 2020.

If you require help or advice with financing a new combine harvester, speak to our team here at Richmond Asset Finance. We provide a range of flexible agricultural finance and asset finance services to help you to grow your business.

To discuss your requirements in more detail, give our team a call on 0113 288 3277.

How can telematics improve your commercial fleet’s efficiency?

12th December 2019 / admin / Comments Off

Installing telematics in your business’ commercial vehicles could help to significantly improve your fleet’s performance and efficiency.

Telematics are small boxes that are fitted inside commercial vehicles to collect valuable data and information.

This information can then be used by your business to monitor vehicle and driver performance.

Just some of the information and data that can be monitored using telematics includes:

Fuel consumption
Speed
Driving patterns
Routes taken
Vehicle performance

You can then work together with your fleet drivers to make changes to the way they work in order to improve performance in several key areas including:

Efficiency – Telematics can be used to help drivers to work more efficiently by choosing the fastest routes and avoiding traffic. A more efficient fleet will also reduce operating costs by increasing fuel efficiency.

Safety – Telematics can help to flag up unsafe driving habits including harsh breaking or accelerating and speeding. Ensuring that your drivers are driving safely can help to reduce costly damage to vehicles and the risk of accidents occurring.

Vehicle performance and maintenance – Set up your telematics to send alerts about your vehicles’ performance to help you to keep on top of maintenance tasks to reduce the need for repairs and keep your vehicles running smoothly.

Operating costs – By honing driver and vehicle performance using the data gathered by telematics you could significantly reduce your fleet’s overall operating costs. This is achieved primarily by improving fuel efficiency, reducing the number of accidents, and keeping up with vehicle maintenance.

Driver job satisfaction – Telematics provide fleet drivers with the data they need to perform better in their jobs. Providing your drivers with modern telematics technology can help to make their jobs easier and more rewarding, resulting in happier, more productive employees.

If you require financial help or advice with updating your commercial fleet, speak to our team here at Richmond Asset Finance by giving us a call on 0113 288 3277. We provide a range of flexible vehicle finance and asset finance services.

Should you invest in the new Claas Lexion combine harvester?

15th October 2019 / admin / Comments Off

Farmers investing in the new Lexion combine can gain 10% more capacity whilst also saving time and money.

24 years on from the launch of the original game-changing Claas Lexion combine harvester, Claas have launched their new generation of Lexion Hybrid combine harvesters.

When the original Lexion was introduced it changed the way in which crops were harvested and now accounts for around 75% of all hybrid and rotary combines sold in the UK.

The new, more powerful Lexion 8000-7000 series combines can help farm businesses to streamline harvesting to save time and money.

Blake McOllough, Product Manager of Claas America said: “The redesign brings together significant engineering advancements from Claas that deliver on the superior productivity that today’s ag business demands, offering the best return on investment and allowing the operator to get more done in less time.”

Key benefits of the new hybrid Claas Lexion combine harvester

Improved fuel efficiency – The new Lexion hybrid combines are fitted with a Dynamic Power Intelligent engine management system which automatically adjusts engine power output dependent on load to provide excellent fuel efficiency.

Improved belt life – The Lexion 8000-7000 models feature an improved clutch system to engage and tension the belts, resulting in improved belt life.

Increased harvesting capacity – The new APS threshing system features a threshing drum which is 26% larger than that of the current Lexion 780 and features ten rather than eight rasp bars. The new model threshes out 70% of grain and leaves just 30% for the secondary separation system. This allows the new Lexion models to deliver 10% more capacity than previous models.

Higher grain tank capacity – To cope with the higher output, the new Lexion also features a huge 18,000l grain tank.

Reduced maintenance – The new model’s dynamic cooling and central lubrication system mean maintenance time is cut by more than half.

More precise data – The new Lexion combine harvesters uses a pressure cell to collect data for more precise record keeping and yield mapping.

Soundproofing – Operators can enjoy a larger, soundproofed cab for a more comfortable ride.

To discuss your requirements in more detail, give our team a call on 0113 288 3277.

New technology and machinery that could transform farming

20th March 2019 / admin / Comments Off

Advancements in technology mean that we could soon see smart farming dominating the agricultural industry.

Farmers are likely to become increasingly reliant on farm machinery finance to help them gain the new machinery and equipment they require to keep pace with technology and stay competitive.

Just a handful of the high-tech agricultural equipment set to automate farmers’ jobs include:

Sensors– Sensors can be used on the land or in machinery and equipment to gather and share information and data. Sensors can be placed in fields to gather data about the condition of the soil, or in machinery to track information about yield or condition of machinery. This information can then be accessed by the farmer from anywhere, allowing them to make the relevant changes necessary to optimise crop growth.

Drones– Drones are already being used by farmers in the US for a variety of tasks including monitoring crops and spraying chemicals.

Driverless tractors– Automated, driverless tractors can operate all day and all night, to get the job done quicker and more efficiently. Future farmers may also be able to link their tractors to sensors and drones, giving them access useful information about the field that they’re working.

Robot pickers– Picking crops is a labour-intensive task which can be completed quicker and more efficiently with the help of robots that work 24/7. Using robot pickers would also significantly reduce labour expenses.

To find avoid getting left behind, find out more about our farm machinery finance options by giving our team a call on 0113 288 3277.

Is Your Start-up Prepared for A Loan?

20th December 2018 / admin / Comments Off

Starting a business from scratch is tough and the odds can be stacked against you if you don’t have enough investment capital to plough into the business at an early stage. Taking a loan, however, is also a major step which is why we have put together this guide to see if your startup is ready for a loan.

Do you have a business plan ready?
Having a business plan written down is a crucial step towards getting business finance. Lenders are going to want to see that you are serious about your business and a business plan indicates to them that you have took the time to develop your business and you have a clear pathway towards growing it.

Can you prove there is demand for your product or service?
Having a business idea and putting it into a plan is one thing but testing it out in the real market place is quite another. It will strengthen your case significantly if you can provide some data on real sales made and that your business idea works.

Finally, do you know what you need a loan for?
Applying for a business loan without any idea what it is for will almost certainly end in a failed application. Finance providers will be looking for some assurance over what the money will be used for.