Aqua Finance was founded in 1986 and is headquartered in Wausau, Wisconsin. It has spent nearly four decades building a dealer-distributed consumer-finance book across home improvement (HVAC, roofing, water treatment), marine, RV, and related durable goods. Today it is one of the larger independent trade-channel lenders, and HVAC is one of its core verticals.
For HVAC contractors, Aqua operates on a classic bank-direct dealer model: the dealer enrolls, gets a rate sheet, and presents Aqua's installment loans to homeowners in the kitchen. Aqua's credit box reaches into near-prime territory, which makes it a useful middle layer between the prime-only banks and lease-to-own programs like Microf. Approved dealers typically get same-day or next-day credit decisions, multiple promo and installment options, and dedicated rep support to run training, rate-sheet reviews, and same-as-cash promo planning.
Aqua is a natural fit for HVAC dealers who also sell water-treatment systems or bundle products across multiple trades, since a single Aqua dealer agreement can finance HVAC replacements, softeners, and roofing under the same contractor-facing portal. It is less useful as a sole lender for deep sub-prime customers, but strong as a bank-direct anchor inside a broader waterfall that includes a sub-prime partner underneath.