Invoice Finance Brokers

29 Jan

Selective Factoring »

Selective factoring is where the client chooses which customers they wish to factor. This compares to traditional whole turnover agreements where clients are expected to notify their whole turnover from every customer.

Selective factoring is available within the market however very few lenders offer this.

The benefits of selective factoring are as follows:

selective factoring means that you can choose specific customers that are perhaps slow payers
selective factoring means that specific sensitive customers can be left out of the factoring agreement
selective factoring can reduce administration and finance costs as not all turnover has to be included in the agreement.

11 Jan

Touch Financial »

by Invoice Factoring Forum

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.

07 Jan

Invoice Discounting Quote »

by Invoice Factoring Forum

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.

13 Dec

Invoice-Finance.com – Now up and running »

by Invoice Factoring Forum

We have previously posted that Invoice-Finance.com was being worked on. The site is now up and running and is aimed at businesses looking for an invoice finance facility.

The site is a free online resource that offers invoice finance advice from dedicated invoice finance brokers. Free indicative quotes are available to businesses and advice is available online, over the phone and indeed face to face. Our aim is to offer free advice to businesses looking to set up an invoice finance facility at a level that they are comfortable with. Some business owners simply want to look online and obtain advice, others will want the comfort of speaking with an invoice finance expert while others will want to meet someone and obtain face to face advice. We look to offer all these services.

Our approach is simply to highlight what invoice finance options are open to a business and explain the pros and cons of each. From there a business owner can decide which invoice finance solution best meets their needs.

28 Oct

Factoring Quote – what to look for? »

by Invoice Factoring Forum

If you have a factoring quote what are the things that you should look out for?

Prepayment – this is often quoted as up to and it makes it hard to compare offers unless you have actually had a survey done by a lender.
Service fee – look at both the % service fee and minimum fee.
Discounting Fee – remember to look at the margin, understand which base rate is being used and importantly what minimum base rate is being used.
Audit fees – what are the fees and how many audits a year are required?
Dispursements – please understand what they are and also when they are charged. Will they effect you?
Take on fee – remember that the service fee is applied to the whole ledger upon commencement so if you are transferring from another lender you could be paying twice.
Set Up fee and legal documentation fee – please check these.
Understand any early termination fees or collect out fees that can be applied – understand both what they are and when they can be applied.

23 Oct

invoice-finance.com »

by Invoice Factoring Forum

The site is still under development but it will compliment our existing site Smart Factoring Quotes.

The site is aimed at providing business owners with a free online resource that will ultimately help them select both the most suitable invoice finance product for their business and the most suitable invoice finance provider.

It is important to consider that whether you select a factoring of invoice discounting product the way it operates and performs will differ from lender to lender. This is based on the simple mechanics of how lenders operate but also on less obvious things such as a lenders reputation for communication. Some lenders will simply not return calls which can prove very frustrating while others have excellent reputations for customer service levels.

With our knowledge of the market we can help you navigate your way to the lender best placed to meet your needs.

14 Oct

Invoice Finance Companies Registering a Debenture »

by Invoice Factoring Forum

I was recently helping a business in Leicester source a suitable invoice finance facility after their bank owned invoice finance company had decided they no longer wanted to support.

The proposal was a challenging one for a number of reasons but I love a challenge and was confident that I could assist. I was let down by one lender who despite understanding the challenges on day 1 took the lead forward for 2 months and then declined it based on the same challenges I had advised them about on day 1. This didn’t help!

Anyway, another broker had got involved and introduced another lender who aims to do the deals that other lenders will not do. Their position in the market is a good one and they are a valuable source of finance to companies that perhaps would not be funded to other lenders. However, they do charge accordingly and in this instance I did feel that a more traditional type of lender was appropriate.

I managed to secure an offer of invoice factoring from an independent invoice finance provider that was some £3,000 a month cheaper than the offer he already had from the other broker. The client was delighted and signed all the paperwork to proceed.

However, he had signed all the paperwork with the other lender having been advised it wasn’t legally binding until he owed them any money. This was the brokers advice rather than the advice of the invoice finance company concerned. Part of the documentation was a debenture that was promptly registered at companies house.

When it came down to transfer this debenture was a bit of a spanner in the works, although it shouldn’t have been! The lender that had registered insisted on £3,000 for the release of the debenture which the client promptly paid. In my opinion this debenture could have been cancelled by submitting a form to companies house.

There is an argument that my client led the other lender a merry dance and incurred them a lot of work and as such the fee was justified.

The moral of the story is be careful what you are signing with invoice factoring companies and be careful who you take advice from. The brokers advice in this instance was at best questionable.

18 Sep

Factoring in Northern Ireland »

by Invoice Factoring Forum

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.

Free, instant quote

Free, instant quote