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Stories Tagged ‘Invoice Factoring Companies’

Recently I was contacted by the sales director of Hitachi Capital to ask me what my perception was about them with a view to me introducing clients to them. Hitachi are an independent provider of invoice finance.

I think that it is admirable that invoice finance lenders are pro-active in building and maintaining relationships with invoice finance brokers such as myself and even more admirable that they care what people think of them.

By way of background Hitachi Capital (UK) Plc had bought the independent invoice finance company London Scottish and since the takeover there had been a fair bit of turbulence as credit policy changed and the personnel changed. As such I had not dealt with them.

However, I must say that my perception was that they were risk averse and expensive. I must also say that this was purely perception and wasn’t based on any facts. If I am honest it was probably based on a conversation with their previous MD who had left after the culture changes post takeover.

There was an element of surprise from their sales director John Atkinson and I was told that their pricing is very competitive and that they have award winning service levels. I hear this all the time and did wonder what award they had won for service levels but I must say that in speaking with John I did gain some comfort from his humble approach. He didn’t use the downfalls of other invoice factoring companies to build his case he just gave me some examples of what they had done and asked for an opportunity to prove what they could do.

I had several inquiries from clients who were looking to improve service levels and improve pricing so I decided to introduce Hitachi to a couple of clients alongside some competitors that I trust. After all my role is simply to explain to a client what options are available to them and allow them to make an informed decision. Hitachi were very responsive and were the first to book appointments in both instances. Their terms were also the most competitive! Both clients accepted their terms and were delighted with how the meetings went.

Our relationship is in it’s infancy and I can’t comment on their ‘award winning service levels’ but I will definitely look for feedback from the two clients who have accepted terms from them once they are on board.

It is refreshing to see a lender who genuinely delivers what they promise with a humble approach. Their sales guys mirrored this approach with a solid delivery of what they were about.

This is in stark contrast to a couple of independent invoice finance companies who approach everything with a swagger. The companies I am thinking of give out the title of ‘Managing Director’ to anyone that runs a sales team even though they lack true decision making authority and their approach can only be described as arrogant. There are lenders out there who are more swagger than substance and there is nothing worse than a lender who over-promises and under-delivers.

Hitachi Capital will not be the right lender for everyone and no single lender is. But they are welcome addition to my panel of lenders and I am glad John Atkinson picked up the phone.

Our client is a haulage company. They approached Smart Factoring Quotes to seek advice on how best to set up an invoice discounting facility. They were keen to obtain a facility that allowed ‘export invoices’ to be raised to their european clients for the backloads that they carried back to the UK.

Our client had been through challenging times because of rising fuel prices and exchange rate fluctuations. However, they had maintained turnover and had a well established business.

They had been offered factoring facilities but felt that they were best placed to collect in the debts as they knew their customers best. As such they wanted an invoice discounting facility.

If you look at the whole market of invoice finance companies not all are able to provide invoice discounting. Our client was raising export invoices which reduced the amount of lenders able to assist even further.

Through our knowledge of each lenders capabilities and criteria we were able to introduce lenders that were genuinely capable of helping and more importantly were actively seeking new clients.

As such we secured a confidential invoice discounting facility for our client at very competitive rates.

We have several invoice factoring clients who operate in the scaffolding industry. They have always found it difficult to find invoice factoring companies who want to lend to them because of the industry that they operate in. However, as an industry scaffolders require cash flow finance because the house builders are slow to pay yet wages need paying weekly. On top of that funding for tubing is hard to come by and often has to be hired in at high rates or bought for cash which only compound the problem.

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Factoring in Northern Ireland is an important form of finance for the area. However, which invoice factoring companies can assist in Northern Ireland?

We are fortunate to have an excellent client base in Northern Ireland and through recommendation have managed to support clients with good advice as to which lenders can best meet their needs.

I personally believe more invoice finance companies should show a willingness to do business here. There is an excellent market of businesses, the legal system is obviously the same as in England and the region is easily accessible by cheap flights from the UK. The geography certainly shouldn’t be used as a barrier to do business.

If you have a business in Northern Ireland and you are looking for an invoice finance facility get in touch with Smart Factoring Quotes today.

If you are looking for a indicative quote for invoice factoring you can simply go online and visit Smart Factoring Quotes. The site not only offers bespoke indicative quotes for invoice factoring and invoice discounting, it’s aim is to be an online resource for business owners. The site offers business owners who currently use invoice factoring advice on how to minimise costs and also on what other facilities may be available to them.

For a business that is new to invoice finance it offers advice on negotiating a new facility, case studies, details of the different types of facilities and it also offers a phone number where they can speak to a member of the team. The team have decades of experience within the industry but importantly also have experience of running SME’s in the ‘real world’. As such the Smart Factoring team can have encountered most scenarios before.

The option of online ‘self help’ allows business owners to develop knowledge of the invoice finance market and it’s products with a view to helping them negotiate their own facilities. They can also check the offers they receive from lenders via the online quotation system. Alternatively they can pick up the phone and access the team directly.

Looking at the site there are an impressive list of testimonials from business owners and accountants which is comforting.

If you are looking for an invoice finance facility why not visit Smart factoring Quotes today.

Ultimate Finance the AIM listed independent provider of invoice finance have developed new capabilities. They have added asset finance and trade finance to their portfolio of products.

The asset finance will allow Ultimate to help clients who are looking for additional finance against plant and machinery and other movable and durable assets.

Trade finance will benefit importers who can benefit from both the protection and cashflow advantages a letter of credit offers.

I am not sure that either products will be available as a stand alone product but suspect they will be offered in conjunction with their core invoice finance offering. It will alow them to raise more finance in some instances than their competitors and this can benefit clients.

It is always good to see lenders developing new capabilities as it enhances the market.

As a lender Ultimate have grown rapidly in recent years and their financial performance has improved recently – their share price have mirrored this. Despite a high turnover of sales staff they do seem to have stability in terms of their operations staff. In terms of client feedback it is generally good although I have encountered regional variances. These regional variances are being addressed from what I can see.

I will be interested to see how these new products are delivered both in terms of pricing and service levels and at the same time wish them luck.

Santander Invoice Finance is obviously the invoice finance arm of Santander Bank. Unfortunately they are not a company that I will be recommending at this stage.

Having rebranded their banks under one banner they bought the small independent invoice finance company called Liquidity and rebranded as Santander Invoice Finance. At the time this raised a few eyebrows and was seen as dipping their toe in the water by many.

I have had a few dealings with Liquidity and unfortunately they were not good ones. The feedback from clients was poor and their communication was equally poor. This poor communication was a criticism of clients and something that I experienced personally along with an air of arrogance.

However, I did have hopes for the business under the Santander banner. They have recruited new sales staff some of whom I know personally and are well respected in the industry. There is plenty of room for another bank owned invoice finance company and I was keen to see what they had to offer. I was hoping for a well funded lender with a flexible approach and a quick turnaround. Unfortunately, I discovered it was business as usual with miscommunication and a poor understanding of what they could and couldn’t do.

I approached them on behalf of a client looking for a £2m invoice discounting facility. I was assured early in the process that they wanted to support the proposal and they did a survey at the clients premises. While a few issues were highlighted they remained supportive and confirmed to me on a friday that the deal was underwritten and a formal offer letter would be produced the following tuesday as monday was a bank holiday. A job well done – or so I thought. No offer letter was sent on Tuesday and late that night I was informed that the deal had actually been declined. In fairness this decision was appealed and Santander Invoice Finance did make an offer but it was vastly different to the original offer and required that the client inject his own funds into the business and provide a personnal guarantee for £300,000. This was simply not feasible and I sense they knew that.

The consequence was that the business was potentially left without a funder as their existing lender no longer wanted to support them as they didn’t like the sector.

I accept that these things can happen but unfortunately I sense that little has changed at this invoice finance business even though the Liquidity name has been dropped and the big brand banner of the world 8th largest bank (by market cap) was attached to it. I am sure that things will improve at Santander Invoice Finance and I feel that the invoice finance market will be better for it. However, my personal opinion is that I wouldn’t want to be a Santander Invoice Finance customer just yet.  The new structure is still being tweaked and the new staff are settling in and trying to learn the processes or hopefully develop processes. As such I feel that the planned growth will mean turbulent times are ahead and until things settle down I feel that there are other lenders who can offer the same facilities from a more stable base.

I feel that there are some quality independent invoice factoring companies who will provide a better service level and a more robust sales process at this stage. The other high street banks have some good invoice finance offerings also but as always it is important you select the best lender to suit your business and it’s needs.

I certainly won’t be recommending Santander Invoice Finance to any businesses in the near future.

I recently met Philip Padgham on a corporate day with a firm of accountants. Various people were singing his praises and a contact of mine asked if I would try using his invoice finance company Partnership Finance.

I had a chat with Phil who explained that as a finance company they were fast moving and decisive. They also claim to offer an excellent level of service. Yes, I had heard it all before but as it happened I had a client who had been let down at the last minute by Absolute Finance. (Strangly Absolute Finance had taken 2 months to decline a deal based on information they had been aware of on day 1.)

Anyway, I presented the opportunity to Phil and he visited them the very next day which was a friday. They then surveyed the deal on the Monday and approved the deal by credit committee on the Wednesday. The client is delighted. I am impressed. From first visit, through to survey and then on to formal approval by credit committee in 4 working days is fantastic.

A big ‘thumbs up’ for Phil Padgham and his colleagues at Partnership Finance.