North Mill Equipment Finance LLC announced Q3 loan and lease originations reached an all-time quarterly high of $129.1 million as September drew to a close. Reporting a steady upsurge in volume since January, North Mill continued the trend as it surpassed high-water marks attained earlier this year with new records being set for both quarterly and monthly volume.
Contributing to the company’s meteoric growth rate is the recent joint acquisition of 100 percent of the stock of parent company Aztec Financial, LLC. An equipment finance company offering specialty contractors access to competitively priced leases and loans, Aztec was purchased by North Mill in conjunction with TF Group, Inc. (Taycor), a technology-driven finance provider in El Segundo, CA. Aztec was previously owned by Aramsco, the largest supplier of equipment, chemicals and consumables to specialty contractors across the U.S. and Canada. Traditionally funded quarterly volume through North Mill’s referral network exceeded $77.0 million, in and of itself, another quarterly record for the organization.
The number of transactions submitted by North Mill’s referral partners during Q3 of 2021 increased by almost 19 percent compared to the third quarter of 2020, while the number of funded deals rose by 38 percent. Average deal size grew by over 8 percent to $85,985 while the number of larger-sized deals in excess of $150,000 also increased, motivating factors behind the company’s strategic enhancement to the Application Only and Application Plus financing arrangements.
The last month of the third quarter in and of itself represents a zenith never reached in the company’s 60-year history. September originations surpassed $29.8 million, an increase of $4.8 million from August and a 16 percent increase from June, the previous record-setting month for North Mill originations. Key performance indicators for September were on overdrive as the number of submitted applications, the company’s approval percentage and average deal size all trended upward. Moreover, 62 percent of volume generated for the month was from customers with FICO scores of 700 and above.
“This has been an exceptional year,” said David C. Lee, Chairman and CEO, North Mill. “In addition to introducing a new category of equipment through the acquisition of Aztec, we recently purchased a $50.3 million portfolio of seasoned truck and trailer leases to help diversify our portfolio even further. Moreover, we continue to develop programs in support of our referral partners including the lowering of our buy rates earlier this summer, increasing our Application Only program from $150,000 to $250,000, and entering a market never served by North Mill -- the mid-ticket financing space. Our brokers can now obtain funding for their customers up to $1 million, allowing them to expand their own financing footprint as they serve a new segment of the market.” North Mill will continue to develop other programs in support of the broker channel including discounting arrangements and vendor-based programs with key referral sources.