Bank Loans for Shipping Containers

The price of a shipping container can range from around $1000 to $4500, depending on the condition and size of the container - Obviously, new 40' containers are going to cost more than a 10 year old 20' container. With a few exceptions, most companies that sell shipping containers don't provide financing options or payment plans when purchasing shipping containers, so the options are either pay for the container in full at the time of purchase, or arrange some type of financing. The two most common ways for buying a shipping container with a loan are credit cards or bank loans.

Using a Credit Card to Purchase a Shipping Container

If you plan on using a credit card to purchase a shipping container, be sure and ask the seller if they accept credit cards early in the process, given the price of the container credit card processing fees can be quite high and some sellers may not accept cards due to the high costs. On the buyer side, credit cards do provide the ability to spread the payments out over a period of time, but the high interest rates can be a barrier to many people and may not make financial sense unless the balance can be paid off quickly.

Bank Loans for Purchasing a Shipping Container

If you're purchasing one or two containers for residential use, many banks won't be interested in providing a secured loan for a couple of different reasons. First off, most banks aren't familiar with the asset as they have little experience with shipping or storage containers; and the second reason is that shipping containers are portable and if the buyer falls behind on the payment schedule the bank may have a hard time recovering the shipping container and selling it to recover the cost of their loan. The only option that most banks would provide is an unsecured loan, or a loan secured by another asset such as a home equity loan.

If you own your home and have equity built up you can leverage this equity to purchase the container (and possibly write the interest off against your annual taxes), to do this contact your bank or mortgage provider and ask about the process of getting a home equity loan. They may ask how the money will be used, however it's usually not relevant to them. If you don't own your home, or don't have equity built up in it, the only other option is to ask your bank for an unsecured loan. The interest rate will typically be less than a standard credit card, and the payments will be stretched out over 18-60 months, making the monthly payment very affordable.

ContainerAuction.com, and its active sellers on the market place, sell new and used shipping containers throughout the United States and rest of the world. If you have any general questions about buying or financing shipping containers feel free to contact the staff at ContainerAuction.com directly. If you have questions about specific containers listed for sale on the site feel free to contact the seller directly through the listing page.