Machinery exporters these days enjoy a choice of financing tools and a variety of institutions with which to arrange trade credit packages for their overseas customers. But, unless they have done their homework, they may be missing some of the resources out there.

For most exporters, commercial banks are likely to be the first place to turn when financing is required, and, clearly, banks remain by far the biggest part of the field. That also means working with the U.S. Export-Import Bank's guarantee and insurance programs that banks typically use to take the risks in these deals.

But, there are other possibilities. One is a growing roster of specialized finance companies that tap into those same Ex-Im Bank programs. The Washington agency has been making it easier for finance companies and banks alike, by building an arrangement with the Private Export Funding Corporation (PEFCO) in New York, which will buy their loans, thereby helping to recycle their capital while they continue to earn fee income.

WorldBusiness Capital in Hartford, Conn. is a good example of a new finance company created precisely to fill the growing need for medium-term export credits (those typically with five-year repayments) for equipment manufacturers.

The group was established by Brett Silvers, former president of First International Bank, in Hartford, that grew into the largest single user of Ex-Im Bank programs based on the number of transactions. The bank was sold to UPS Capital in 2001. WorldBusiness Capital, launched in April 2003, works with exporters as well as overseas buyers in packaging credits based on Ex-Im risk taking.

Beyond banks, finance companies, and Ex-Im Bank programs, are two products that offer an alternative strategy with a mixture of benefits and limitations. Choosing among them depends on speed, or how rapidly the deal has to be closed, country risk, and how long a repayment period is needed. Plus, the equipment's foreign content value (since Ex-Im has strict made-in-USA rules).

One popular resource is private credit insurance. Though short-term transactions are the bread and butter business of these underwriters, medium-term protection (one or two years up to five-year terms), is available in some cases.

Several insurers are out there, including Unistrat Corporation of America, Zurich Emerging Markets Solutions, FCIA Management, Exporters Insurance Company, and Lloyd's of London.

Private insurance has an obvious advantage: no U.S. content rules. These underwriters don't care where components come from; they aren't in the foreign policy game. And, they can often deliver a quote rapidly--more quickly than Ex-Im Bank--but it depends on the buyer and the country.

At Unistrat Corporation of America in New York, Bernard Labadie, COO, says a proposal can be offered very rapidly if the buyer is already in the database of COFACE, the large Paris-based insurer that is Unistrat's half owner. But, if due diligence has to start from scratch, it may take up to 17 days.

Unistrat focuses on banks but works with exporters (at least 25 percent of its business), and its bank clients, in turn, finance exporters. It can cover payment terms as long as five years, but lately has been going out an average of 21 months. And, it tends to do fairly sizable deals (its average is currently $4.2 million, but it's done $1.7 million and $18 million transactions recently).

John Hanson, top executive at FCIA Management in New York, says it will offer medium-term insurance cover if the credit is sound and the market risk reasonable. In many cases it can come up with a quote in two or three days.

One point about medium-term credit insurance: exporters have to work through brokers to tap this market.

The other well-established alternative is the so-called forfait market, which is a popular trade finance tool in Europe. Forfait houses are mostly specialized units within banks, and, since the late 1990s, many have retrenched in the wake of losses from financial turmoil in Russia and elsewhere.

Forfait units accept medium-term risk, investing in trade paper, and often buying and selling obligations within their own secondary marketplace. They deliver several obvious advantages. One is speed: a quote can be offered in 48 hours. Another is the absence of national content rules. But terms are often shorter than Ex-Im Bank's, for example three years instead of Ex-Im's five. Plus, it's more expensive than Ex-Im supported deals, and is available in fewer markets.

"A popular use of forfaiting is to finance the 15 percent down payment in an Ex-Im Bank transaction," says Jack Moran at British American Forfaiting in St. Louis, a trade finance arranger that specializes in helping U.S. firms work this market. And, in some cases, the non-U.S. content may be financed.

Many forfait units closed down their U.S. offices in recent years, but some remain. Standard Bank, one of South Africa's four major financial institutions, has a unit in New York, and London Forfaiting Co., which was just acquired by First International Merchant Bank in Malta, has also kept its New York presence.

Meanwhile, a growing number of deals are handled by banks in the buyer's country, where these institutions have a U.S. presence. Banco do Brasil, for example, with several U.S. offices, structures packages for American equipment sales, and uses Ex-Im Bank programs in some cases.

And one trade finance arranger, Trade Source International, in Pasadena, Calif., has built a unique network of banks in emerging markets that rely on it to structure financing packages for U.S. exports. Michael Stoddard, president and a former top Bank of America trade banker, says it just completed a transaction in the Philippines, and is now working on one in Seychelles, where Ex-Im Bank is open for business.