Commitments and Contingent Liabilities

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2023

Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract]

Commitments and Contingent Liabilities

Commitments and Contingent Liabilities

Guarantees

We provide credit guarantees and residual value guarantees to third parties for financing and leasing associated with Caterpillar machinery. In addition, we provide standby letters of credit issued to third parties on behalf of our customers. These guarantees and standby letters of credit have varying terms and beneficiaries and are generally secured by customer assets.

No significant loss has been experienced or is anticipated under any of these guarantees. At March 31, 2023 and December 31, 2022, the related recorded liability was less than $1 million. The maximum potential amount of future payments (undiscounted and without reduction for any amounts that may possibly be recovered under recourse or collateralized provisions) we could be required to make under the guarantees was $24 million and $26 million at March 31, 2023 and December 31, 2022, respectively.

We provide guarantees to purchase certain loans of Caterpillar dealers from a special-purpose corporation (SPC) that qualifies as a VIE. The purpose of the SPC is to provide short-term working capital loans to Caterpillar dealers. This SPC issues commercial paper and uses the proceeds to fund its loan program. We receive a fee for providing this guarantee. We are the primary beneficiary of the SPC as our guarantees result in us having both the power to direct the activities that most significantly impact the SPC’s economic performance and the obligation to absorb losses and therefore we have consolidated the financial statements of the SPC. As of March 31, 2023 and December 31, 2022, the SPC’s assets of $1.13 billion and $971 million, respectively, were primarily comprised of loans to dealers, which are included in Finance receivables, net in the Consolidated Statements of Financial Position, and the SPC’s liabilities of $1.13 billion and $970 million, respectively, were primarily comprised of commercial paper, which is included in Short-term borrowings in the Consolidated Statements of Financial Position. The assets of the SPC are not available to pay our creditors. We may be obligated to perform under the guarantee if the SPC experiences losses. No loss has been experienced or is anticipated under this loan purchase agreement.

Litigation and claims

We are involved in unresolved legal actions that arise in the normal course of business. Although it is not possible to predict with certainty the outcome of our unresolved legal actions, we believe that these unresolved legal actions will neither individually nor in the aggregate have a material adverse effect on our consolidated results of operations, financial position or liquidity.