Factoring Company Guide
First Step: Filling Out the Application
Your journey to enhanced cash flow begins with a simple application. Provide basic details about your business – its name, address, nature, and customer information. This is the first step towards unlocking your business's financial potential.
You may need to submit documents like an accounts receivable aging report. Remember, we assess the payment reliability of your customers to understand their overall financial health, not just their history with you.
In this initial stage, discuss your financial needs with us. This includes the volume of invoices for factoring, the advance and discount rates, and the speed of receiving advances. Factors like your industry, business tenure, and customer risk profiles will guide these terms.
Remember, the volume of your factoring is crucial. Higher invoice volumes typically lead to more favorable rates.
Based on your application, we'll determine if factoring aligns with your business needs, balancing risks and rewards. Once approved, we'll negotiate the specifics of your factoring agreement, tailored to your business's scale and requirements.
During the negotiation, you'll gain a clear understanding of the costs. Following agreement on terms, we'll initiate funding by verifying your customers' credit and the legitimacy of your invoices before providing the cash advance.
Factoring Company Benefits
Advantages of Using Factoring Services:
- Focus on expanding your business rather than dealing with cash flow issues.
- Avoid the obligation of repaying monthly loan installments. You can receive the funds in as little as two to four days.
- Retain total authority over your business.
- Minimize or get rid of the costs associated with chasing payments.
- Take control of your cash flow by selecting which invoices to sell and when to do it.
- Combat slow-paying customers effectively.
- Boost your production and sales.
- Access professional collection and credit checking services.
- Easily meet your payroll obligations.
- Pay your payroll taxes without any hiccups.
- Take advantage of cash discounts when buying materials.
- Amplify your purchasing power, allowing you to enjoy discounts on bulk purchases or early payments.
- Improve your credit rating by having cash available to pay bills on time.
- Have the cash ready for your business expansion plans.
- Allocate funds for your marketing strategies.
- Enhance your financial statements.
- Receive detailed reports on your accounts receivable portfolio.
Is Factoring For You
The Significance of Factoring for Small Businesses
"When you don't collect payment, a sale remains unfinished."
Do you often find yourself acting as a part-time banker for your customers?
Take a moment to assess your accounts receivable aging schedule and count the number of accounts that are overdue by more than 30 days. Congratulations, you are effectively extending credit to those customers. By not receiving timely payment for your products or services, you're essentially providing interest-free financing to your customers. This may not align with your original business intentions, does it?
Consider this:
If your customers were to borrow the same amount of money from a bank, they would undoubtedly be expected to pay a significant amount of interest for that privilege.
Moreover:
Not only are you not earning any interest on that money, but more importantly, you're also missing out on the opportunity to utilize that capital while waiting for your customers to settle their debts. What is the cost of not having this money readily available? Essentially, your customers are essentially asking you to fund their business by granting them extended payment terms, often exceeding 30 days.
However, have you considered the expenses incurred due to "missed opportunities" when your funds are tied up in accounts receivable?
Factoring History
Factoring History
Welcome to the world of factoring. Whether you're a business owner, aspiring entrepreneur, or seeking new financial tools for your current employer, factoring can help you achieve your financial goals. Surprisingly, factoring serves as the financial backbone for many successful American businesses.
The irony lies in the fact that factoring is rarely taught in business colleges, seldom mentioned in business plans, and remains relatively unknown to the majority of American businesspeople. However, it plays a crucial role in freeing up billions of dollars every year, enabling thousands of businesses to thrive and prosper.
So, what exactly is factoring? It is the process of purchasing commercial accounts receivable (invoices) from a business at a discount. In today's business landscape, offering credit terms to customers has become a common practice in order to secure business. However, these terms can strain the financial health of new or struggling companies, as cash flow is the lifeblood of any business.
Factoring has a rich and ancient tradition, dating back 4,000 years to the days of Hammurabi, the king of Mesopotamia. Mesopotamia, often called the "cradle of civilization," contributed numerous advancements including writing, structured business codes, government regulations, and the concept of factoring.
Over time, various civilizations embraced factoring. The Romans, for example, were the first to sell promissory notes at a discount. In the American colonies before the revolution, factoring gained widespread documented use. The colonists relied on merchant bankers in London and Europe who provided funds in advance for shipping cotton, furs, and timber before they reached the continent. This allowed the colonists to continue their operations without waiting for payment from European customers.
It's important to note that these arrangements differed from modern banking relationships. If the colonists had relied on traditional banking services in eighteenth-century England, the process would have been much slower. Banks would have awaited payment from the European buyers before paying the colonists. This impractical process led to the emergence of factors in colonial times, who advanced funds against accounts receivable, enabling clients to continue their operations before receiving payment.
During the Industrial Revolution, factoring evolved to focus more on credit issues while preserving its core principle. Factors assisted clients in assessing the creditworthiness of their customers and establishing credit limits, thus guaranteeing payment for approved customers. This practice, known as non-recourse factoring, is common in today's business landscape.
Prior to the 1930s, factoring primarily occurred in the textile and garment industries, as these industries directly inherited the colonial economy's reliance on factoring. After the war years, factors recognized the potential to extend factoring to other industries that relied on invoices, leading to its expansion.
Today, factors come in various forms and sizes. They exist as divisions within large financial institutions, but more frequently as privately owned entrepreneurial endeavors. The rise of private factors surged in the 1960s and 1970s when interest rates soared to unprecedented heights. This trend continued in the 1980s due to increasing interest rates and changes in the banking industry. With banks becoming costly and inflexible due to heavy regulations (recall the Savings and Loan crisis), small business owners sought alternative sources of financing for their expansion and growth. As more banks distanced themselves from small business owners, factoring emerged as a popular option.
Each year, thousands of businesses sell billions of dollars in accounts receivable through factoring. They do so to achieve profitability, fuel growth, and, in some cases, ensure their very survival.
Credit Risk
Quick Continuous Cash: Master Credit Risk Assessment at No Extra Cost!
Listen up, because this is a game-changer. We're the pros when it comes to evaluating credit risk, and let's be honest, this isn't your forte. And guess what? We don't charge extra for this expertise.
We step in as your behind-the-scenes credit department for both new and existing customers, giving you an upper hand most businesses only dream of.
Ever worry about your team chasing sales at the expense of credit risk? It happens more than you think. They land the sale, but payment? That's another story. With us, you're protected from these pitfalls.
Dealing with a potential risky customer? You still have the final say. But if things go south, don't say we didn't warn you.
Our role is to advise, but you're still in control. With our input, your credit decisions are on another level – smart, informed, and strategic.
We don't just do one-time credit checks; we're constantly monitoring your customers. That's how you stay ahead of the curve and prevent financial mishaps.
And there's more – you get in-depth reports on your accounts receivable. It's the kind of financial insight that can transform your business.
With a 70-year track record, we're not just experts; we're legends. Let our expertise elevate your financial game.
How To Change Factoring Companies
Changing Your Invoice Factoring Service Provider
Need-to-know info about switching invoice factoring firms.
Are you considering a different invoice factoring firm?
Are you dissatisfied with your current one?
Planning on ditching your current factoring firm?
What should I know before I switch factoring companies?
Here's a guide answering all these queries and more:
Understanding UCC and its role in switching factoring firms:
Usually, factoring companies file a general Uniform Commercial Code (UCC) to secure their claim over the invoices they've funded.
The UCC helps factoring companies, banks, and lenders know who's lent money on which assets. As invoices change daily, factoring companies need to file a 'blanket' UCC that secures all your receivables, even if you're only factoring a part of your sales. This 'blanket' UCC acts as a signal to other lenders, showing a Security Agreement exists between you and the factoring company.
Your specific factoring details, like rates and which accounts are factored, are laid out in the Security Agreement, which is not publicly accessible. Essentially, a UCC works like a first mortgage on your business.
The Process of Switching Companies
The lender with the earliest UCC filing gets 'First Position' on the promised collateral. For instance, a factoring firm has first rights to collect payments on your invoices.
To switch factoring firms, the new factoring firm has to pay off the old one. At the same time, the old factoring company's claim is released, and the new company's claim is filed, similar to refinancing a house.
A 'buyout' is when the new factoring firm pays off the old one using funds from your first financing.
The Buyout Agreement details the transition process and is signed by the old factoring firm, new factoring firm, and your company. In this agreement, you agree to the 'buyout figure' provided by the old factoring company.
How is the Buyout Figure Determined:
The buyout figure is usually the total outstanding receivables minus any reserves and then plus any fees owed to the old factoring firm. It's a good idea to ask for a detailed breakdown of your figure to ensure you understand if there are any early termination fees or additional charges.
What does the buyout cost?
If you can provide new invoices to the new factoring company, which they can use to pay off the outstanding invoices at your old firm, then you wouldn't incur additional costs for the switch. However, most companies need to resubmit some of the invoices already factored with the old company to the new one. In this case, the 'overlap' invoices will incur fees from both factoring firms.
How long does a buyout take?
When you're switching factoring firms, plan for the first funding to take two to three more days than the normal setup process. The extra days will be used to verify the invoices and calculate buyout figures for your approval.
What if my situation is more complex?
Although it's not usual, the old and new factoring firms can collaborate via an Intercreditor or Subordination Agreement until the old firm is paid off. Depending on the situation, factoring firms have managed to 'draw a line in the sand,' where the old firm has rights to invoices up to a certain date, and the new firm has rights to all invoices after that date.
Questions you should have asked before signing up with your current factoring firm:
- Can I use multiple factoring firms at once? The universal answer is one, according to the Uniform Commercial Code/UCC.
- If I decide to switch factoring firms, how much notice do I need to give?
- What is the penalty for leaving without giving the required notice and can you provide an example of how the fees are calculated? Beware of 13-month contracts that require a certain monthly factoring volume.
For example, a 13-month contract where you've agreed to factor $100,000 per month at a rate of 3% means you promise to pay them $3,000 per month in factoring fees or $34,000 in total over the next year. If you want to leave after 6 months, they will charge you the fees for the remaining 6 months, which equals $13,000. This can be too expensive for most companies, especially those with low profit margins. You're stuck!
