According to the Equipment Leasing and Finance Association’s Monthly Leasing and Finance Index, overall new business volume for October was $9.2 billion, down 9% year over year from new business volume in October 2019. Volume was up 6% month to month from $8.7 billion in September. Year-to-date cumulative new business volume was down almost 6% compared with 2019.

Receivables over 30 days were 2.2%, up from 2% the previous month and up from 2% during the same period in 2019. Charge-offs were 0.6%, down from 0.82% the previous month and up from 0.46% in the year-earlier period.

Credit approvals totaled 72.3%, down from 72.9% in September. Total headcount for equipment finance companies was down 4.9% year over year.

Separately, the Equipment Leasing & Finance Foundation’s Monthly Confidence Index in November is 56.1, up from the October index of 55.0.

“To the extent that member companies responding to the October MLFI-25 survey are an indicator, the equipment finance industry shows resilience in the face of a worsening health pandemic and uneven economic performance in the U.S.,” Ralph Petta, president and CEO of the ELFA, said. “The labor market continues to strengthen, except for workers and their employers in the restaurant, travel, leisure and hospitality sectors, who continue to struggle. Corporate earnings in many sectors are strong, the equity markets continue to defy gravity and business confidence seems to be on the rise. Hopefully this struggle to get back to a sense of normalcy will not be overtaken by a double dip recession caused by worsening COVID-19 outbreaks reported in some states around the nation. At the end of the day, equipment finance companies continue to do their part to help the nation get back to business by helping finance billions of dollars in equipment investment by businesses both large and small.”

“We focus exclusively on transportation finance, and 2020 is shaping up to be an amazing year,” Howard Shiebler, president of Crossroads Equipment Lease & Finance, said. “Freight volume and trucking market spot rates are up and corresponding demand for new and used trucks is driving our new business to record levels. We expect this trend to continue into at least the first half of 2021 and for portfolio performance and used truck and trailer prices to stay strong.”