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13 Jan

Invoice Factoring Companies »

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Invoice Factoring Companies in the UK total roughly 40 providers. They range from small husband and wife operations to the large invoice factoring providers such as the invoice finance arms of the High Street Banks.

Invoice Factoring Companies vary in size, geographic location, criteria, capabilities, pricing and service levels. The challenge to any business owner is finding the most suitable invoice factoring company to meet their needs. The most suitable invoice factoring companies will depend on the sector, size and requirements of each individual business.

If you feel that you want advice about invoice factoring companies please contact us by visiting the Smart Factoring Quotes website. We offer free, impartial and independent advice and simply advise you what options are open to you and your business. Our aim is for you to understand the pros and cons of each of the invoice factoring companies offers and the total costs involved in each.

11 Jan

Touch Financial »

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Touch Financial are invoice finance brokers and are part of the SFP Group. Touch Financial claim to be the largest invoice finance broker in the UK and their website claims they help 600 businesses and raise over £3.5m in funding each month.

They form part of the SFP group and Touch Financial is the trading name of SFP Brokers Ltd.

SFP is actually a firm of insolvency practitioners that was started in 2002 and is based in Canary Wharf, London. They have become firmly established as a provider of insolvency services to the invoice finance market and the larger ABL market.

It would be fair to say that their entrance to the invoice finance broking world was a bit of a suprise to brokers and lenders alike. They took over the operation of X-bridge which was a specialist in driving online inquiries via their portals for insurance and commercial finance mostly via their ‘simply business’ website.

Touch Financial have put more infrastructure in place to ensure higher conversion rates of invoice finance inquiries and they have harnessed affiliates such as Companeo to provide additional leads.

While Touch Financial take commissions for the leads they pass to lenders many feel that the main focus is to use the leads to attract more insolvency work from the invoice finance market where clients are failing or have failed.

It is a clever model and SFP have worked hard both on the insolvency side and in structuring a brokerage to deal with the high volume of inquiries and on that basis I wish them luck.

If I have any concerns they surround the treatment of clients of Touch Financial and in some instances the clients of invoice finance lenders. Are clients placed with lenders because that lender is best placed to meet their needs or because the SFP group owe that lender a deal? Will lenders create insolvency opportunities to pass to SFP in return for additional new clients or introductions?

These are merely questions that the structure of SFP and Touch Financial raise. For the good of the industry and the good of SME’s I hope that clients are treated properly in all instances.

10 Jan

The Best Factoring Company »

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Which is the Best Factoring Company? This is a question we are often asked. The answer as you can probably well imagine is somewhat vague and depends very much on the characteristics of your business and your factoring requirements. If you are looking for the best factoring company for your business then speak to Smart Factoring Quotes.

The best factoring company in some peoples minds will be the cheapest and in other circumstances the best factoring company will be the one with the best service levels. There are a lot of factoring companies out there claiming to be the best and nearly all claim to be voted ‘Factoring Company of the Year’ by someone. Unfortunately these awards are ten to the dozen and I tend to ignore them.

There are some companies in the market place who are notorious for various bad habits such as poor communication, simply not doing what they say they are going to do, changing the goal posts, applying additional unexpected fees, making it hard to leave and generally providing poor service levels. My recommendation is to avoid these companies at all costs.

However, some companies genuinely strive to meet the needs of their clients, they do what they promise and look to find solutions for their clients.

If you are looking for the best factoring company for your business it is worth contacting Smart Factoring Quotes to discuss your requirement.

10 Jan

Factoring Companies Yorkshire »

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If you are looking for Factoring Companies in Yorkshire you have a fair few to choose from. It is however imperative that you choose the right one for your business and it’s own individual circumstances and requirements. If you are unsure as to which factoring company to use in Yorkshire it is worth contacting Smart factoring Quotes in the first instance. Smart factoring Quotes can help you to understand which factoring company can best meet your needs in Yorkshire.

Please keep in mind that while a few factoring companies are actually based in Yorkshire there is a full spectrum of factoring companies that can service a business based in Yorkshire. There are the 4 major banking groups along with new players such as Santander. From there you have independents such as Skipton Business Finance who are firmly based in Yorkshire and then other independents with Yorkshire offices such as Bibby Financial Services, SME Invoice Finance and Aldermore Invoice Finance.

However, factoring companies from across the UK can service Yorkshire based businesses and as such it is important to choose a factoring company based on it’s capabilities and criteria rather than it’s geographic location.

07 Jan

Factoring Company Reviews »

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Factoring company reviews – speak to Smart Factoring Quotes to learn more about the different companies.

Factoring company reviews seem hard to come by. I have done some internet research ans was surprised to find that there was no real forum where feedback was shared.

The danger of course is that unhappy clients shout much louder than happy ones and as such the reviews can be very negative and not particularly objective. I also do not really see it as my place to ‘dish the dirt’ or ‘name and shame’ people or companies.

In my experience there is bad feedback about most invoice finance companies but I also understand that there are two sides to very story. Just because an invoice finance company says ‘no’ to a client doesn’t make them a bad provider yet some clients would disagree.

There are in fairness some common complaints that crop up about certain invoice factoring companies. Some are notorious for unsavoury practices relating to failing businesses while others are constantly criticised for lack of communication and failing to return calls. I will not name them but if anyone is looking for a new invoice finance company I would be happy to have a chat.

Equally if readers wish to share their experiences in a constructive manner then please feel free to post.

07 Jan

Invoice Discounting Quote »

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Invoice Discounting Quote

For an invoice discounting quote it is worth looking at Smart Factoring Quotes to see what can be achieved.

While costs are important it is also worth taking time to consider which company is best placed to meet the unique requirements of your business. Not all invoice finance companies are the same and the difference between a well structured invoice finance facility and a badly structured one can be dramatic. When looking at invoice finance quotes and terms it is important to consider structure as well as costs.

If you require an invoice finance quote Smart Factoring Quotes can assist by:

  • targeting lenders who are aggressively seeking new business. Our market knowledge can save you time and money.
  • explaining the both the advantages and disadvantages of each offer both in terms of pricing and structure of each quote or offer you receive. We merely enable you to make an informed decision rather than selling any particular solution. Only you can decide what is best for your business.
07 Jan

Factor 21 »

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Factor 21 are a small family owned independent invoice factoring company based in Oxfordshire. They are small and hands on in their approach and Graham Ethelston keeps things simple and focusses on good quality service for their factoring product.

I have several clients that use Factor 21 and they only have good things to say about them. They communicate well with clients and are flexible and open in terms of their approach.

My only criticism of Factor 21 would be that they are not always as responsive as what I might hope in terms of their sales process. They are however a small operation and I suspect they are to some extent victims of their own popularity when it comes to response times.

Factor 21 are not for everyone but for some businesses they are the ideal finance partner.

If you are looking for a factoring company and are considering Factor 21 it is worth contacting Smart Factoring Quotes in the fist instance to see which invoice finance company is best placed to meet your needs.

06 Jan

Close Brothers Invoice Finance Reviews and Complaints »

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Would you like to review or provide feedback on your experience of Close Brothers Invoice Finance? Reviews are at the bottom of this page and links to some interesting articles and blogs below.

It is probably fair to say that if you are looking for a provider of invoice finance there are better options out there in terms of pricing, structure of facilities and customer service levels. In terms of reputation there are also better options in our opinion. The reviews however will speak for themselves so please take a look at them and feel free to contribute your own experiences.

Close Brothers Invoice Finance are part of Close Brothers Group Plc and provide invoice finance solutions to over 1,000 clients. They are a national player with full UK coverage. They also offer invoice finance facilities in Ireland and Northern Ireland.

They are one of the larger independent invoice finance companies with offices in Brighton, Manchester, Dublin and Belfast.

In our opinion, more common complaints about Close Brothers Invoice Finance include their lack of flexibility, charges such as minimum base rates, their arrogant approach and some people have described them as ‘unapproachable’.

Complaints below highlight their attitude, the poor quality of their system and the high fees some clients are charged for funding which is often restricted.

Read more:

An independent blog post about Close Brothers putting a business into administration – click here

Article on Close Brothers Invoice Finance pricing – click here

Article regarding a restrictive facility structure – click here

Trustpilot makes for some interesting reading – click here

It also appears there is a blog dedicated to Close Brothers – click here

Close Brothers also feature in an article on complaints about wealth management companies where it states, “Close Brothers also features on the list with 169 complaints, but its complaints are related mostly to banking and credit with none related to investments.” While this is not linked directly to the invoice finance arm of Close Brothers we find it interesting as it gives a feel for the overall organisation and what they might feel is acceptable. For the article – click here

An extract from one Trustpilot review reads, “AVOID AVOID AVOID….

When making a complaint no manager or person of authority bothered to speak to me directly then they say they are just closing my complaint down, when I said I’m not satisfied with the outcome, you don’t expect a large company such as this to just ignore customers, in my opinion this company is slimy and deceptive and lack the ability to treat customers fairly.

I’ll wait for the standard message they send saying they are sorry I feel this way, if they were sorry they would of dealt with my issue when they had the chance.
AVOID AVOID AVOID”

 

If you would like to share your experiences of Close Brothers Invoice Finance please feel free to do so but please try to be objective and refrain from abusive remarks.

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