The banks are supposed to be helping small businesses obtain difficult funding in these difficult times and one way is via the EFG or Enterprise Finance Guarantee. Whilst  the EFG does not guarantee success of funding via the banks there are one or two viable alternatives via the invoice finance companies.

The problem with the bank based scheme is that a proposal for funding should meet all the banks normal lending criteria. If you have a proposition that they want to do but the only thing that is stopping them doing it is a lack of security then this is where the EFG scheme gives them the security to do the deal. If for some reason they don’t want to do the deal because your business hasn’t been trading long enough or the financials are not strong enough then it wont get passed first base. EFG funding does not make a bad deal good.

An alternative to bank based EFG loans could be funding via invoice finance companies. One funder provides EFG funding on the back of a factoring or invoice discounting company match funding any directors loans but up to a maximum of fifty percent of the debtor book. Another invoice finance company provides EFG funding to give a business 100% of its debtor book.

Invoice finance companies tend to be a little more flexible than the banks therefore if you have drawn a few blanks then it is worth giving them a call. We will gladly point you in the right direction.

There are a number of variety of stocking finance options and depending on your particular circumstances there are a number of different products. Depending upon the the finance company you approach these different products may be called something completely different from one finance company to another.

Firstly let me explain we are unaware of any financial institution that offers stocking on a stand alone basis. It is usually provided with another finance product.

The most common form of stocking finance is provided on the back of a factoring or invoice discounting facility. A true stocking facility will provided a a percentage of the total monthly stock on a rolling contract. Beware certain invoice finance companies offer stocking finance but t is only to provide additional security to enable them 10% of your debtor book. Whilst funding in this instance  is technically stocking finance the over payment will be reduced over a period of time. There are only a few invoice finance companies that offer the full rolling stock facility and therefore it is worth giving us a call to check.

Stock finance may also be provided as part of a trade finance agreement. Where a business has confirmed orders it may be possible to obtain 100% funding from start to finish. This can either be on a domestic basis or on an international basis. An international trade finance facility will enable a business to import goods and where there are confirmed orders finance can be obtained from start to finish. When the goods are delivered to your customers premises a factoring or invoice finance facility will dovetail with the trade finance facility and provide seamless funding. Therefore technically speak international trade and domestic trade finance could be viewed as stocking finance as well

Following the construction of our fancy new website by our good friends at Marketing Insite we are hopefully  back in the  swing of blogging. Yipee I here you cry. Not!

During the last few months or so it is fair to say that obtaining business finance still continues to be difficult especially when it comes to dealing with the banks. Business directors and owners are also beginning to realise that the Enterprise Finance Guarantee Scheme ( EFFG) as provided by the banks is not what it is cracked up to be. Unless the bank wants to deal with you in the first place and the lack of tangible security is the only thing stopping the bank wanting to do the deal then the banks  will not offer funding.

In addition it was also possible to obtain grants and loans via local development agencies. Due to the government cut backs these have all virtually disappeared. So what options are there left for businesses requiring additional funding?

There is and always will be various hire purchase and finance lease companies offering funding , however due to supply and demand of funds it is worth consulting a good independent finance broker to search out the best possible deals. More often than not many businesses require additional working capital facilities. We have never been a great fan of bank overdrafts due to the fact they can be quite restrictive and are always repayable on demand. So that leaves us with traditional factoring and invoice finance facilities. Once upon a time this was viewed as a lend of last resort however invoice finance is still one of the most competitive and buoyant growing areas of finance. In addition competitive funding is provided by a large variety of independent companies , banks and building societies all offering slightly different products for different types of businesses.

We have been approached recently by a number of businesses requiring a commercial mortgage. The advantage of using XL Business Finance is that we have people working for us that have been in very senior commercial positions within banks and know exactly what the banks are looking for in terms of  information and types of deals. These businesses recognize that we can add value to the negotiations and dealing with one point of contact saves valuable time and resources. A Finance Director or Managing Director doesn’t need to waste time having interviews with several different finance companies when  they can pass over the responsibility to someone that knows exactly what the banks will do and what they are looking for in terms of property and clientele.

The problem with the commercial mortgage market is that there is still not enough liquidity within the banks. They are still being very picky and choosy as to what they will do. As with any lender some are more aggressive than others and they all have a slightly different way of looking at things. Therefore any marginal deals that would have been done before the recession may struggle to get through. In addition it is no longer good enough to have a very loan advance compared with the value of the property. Commercial mortgages are at the moment still difficult to obtain with a low loan to value if the rest of deal doesn’t stack. Serviceability must be proven and ideally the tenant must be of a good quality.

As an independent we know exactly who will do what and be able to find you the most appropriate finance company. This service will not cost you a fortune as for easy cases we will take a fee off the finance company. If the deal is more complex we might take an up front fee however the cost of this fee will hopefully be outweighed by the benefit of us arranging the commercial mortgage.

With Easter over for another year, now is an appropriate time to discuss not having all your eggs in one basket for next year?

Almost every day we see lenders creating serious issues with companies who have their main trading account, invoice discounting , asset finance lines and property loan with one funder. Whilst there can be rare occasions when this is of benefit to you it is better for you to split your banking. 

One of the main reasons for having just one funder is that the owners/directors of business don’t want to have more than one relationship as they don’t have the time to manage multiple lender relationships. This is a valid point but the pitfalls can outweigh the advantages. Two examples seen recently: 

1 Wife of director had finance refused on a new car she was purchasing. Husbands business showed a loss through management information which was a condition of the bank’s overdraft facility. 

The Bank had advised all of its subsidiary companies of the loss, even though the next month it was back in profit. 

2 Client wanted to move his invoice finance line to another provider to provide more funds. Bank refused to allow this as they also had a property loan to the business and wanted to retain the invoice facility as additional security 

It’s becoming more common for companies to interact with their funders through a third party or commercial finance broker. Whilst your accountant could do the role owners/directors are turning to experienced finance professionals who understand how banks work. 

By anticipating any issues and working with all parties this improves the relationship with the funders and saves the owner/director considerable time which is better spent on running their business. This could be for a specific project or on a retainer basis.

Most businesses will go to their banks to organise international trade finance facilities  which is great if you are a profitable business, have a very strong balance sheet and also have  plenty of security to offer. One high street bank is very strong at international trade finance. No prises for guessing but feel free to give us a call if you are stuck. So what happens if you are not strong enough to organise funding via the high street to help you purchase of buy imported goods. Thankfully there are one or two options available to help the less profitable and established businesses.

Firstly there a one or two specialist factoring and invoice discounting companies that provided you have a buyer for your imported goods will provide a trade facility for you to import. They lend you the cash against the goods and as soon as they hit the UK and are delivered to your end user either the customer pays for the cash immediately or the trade facility is repaid from a factoring or invoice discounting facility that will repay the trade facility. Simple provided the margin is good and the goods are non perishable this kind of trade finance shouldn’t be an issue

Secondly there are one or two independent financiers that under the right circumstances will provide letters of credit without the onerous security that the banks require. The facility works in exactly the same way as above that the trade facility of letter of credit is repaid from the sale of the goods to your end user or customer. Again this can be by cash on delivery or provision of factoring or invoice discounting facility on the raising of the invoice.

XL Business finance has over 10 years experience in helping business with innovative finance solutions which might not necessarily be available fro the high street banks and finance companies.

We totally understand the need to get the best possible deal on any business finance agreement. It is no different whenit comes to raising cash against unencumbered plant and machinery. No doubt any business wishing to refinance plant and machinery will go to their banks first . When they realise that this is an area of finance the banks cannot help with they will probably search the internet for inappropriate solutions. Any search of google will reveal hundreds of companies offering cash against unencumbered assets. The problem is that most of these will be brokers and when it comes to refinancing existing machines and equipment having too many brokers involved can have a detrimental affect on your credit aapplication

We have seen one deal recently where up to eight brokers have introduced the same the deal to one finance company. And the worrying thing was that some of these introducers were in fact mortgage brokers with no experience in the asset finance market. At the end of the day there are probably only half a dozen lenders in this market so all paths lead to the same funder. If a finance company starts to get the same deal from many different sources they will not take the deal seriously because they will know the deal is being touted around the market. They have nothing to loose by providing onerous terms and conditions and their approach will be very much take it or leave it offer.

At XL Business Finance we have over 10 years experience in providing equipment refinance solutions. We do things slightly differently. Firstly we know all the plant and machinery valuers which the different finance companies use. We wll go iect to these valuers and get an idea of the level of security in the deal. We then provide a realistic opinion as to the amount of cash that can be raised against the kit in questions. We will then provide a proposal to the most appropriate funder having already dome our homework on the kit. A clean and realistic application will have a much greater chance of success.!!

In the current environment of banks being difficult in terms of providing new funding it might be worth mentioning another reason why a business should use another invoice discounting company other than their own bank particularly where a commercial mortgage is involved.

When a bank has got too much of a handle of a businesses finances and their is a requirement for additional funding, due to the overall exposure it might be difficult to obtain the required additional working capital. In extreme cases the banks may view this as a signal that the business is in difficulty and pull in some investigative accountants. In our opinion all banks are interested in is covering their own position and have little desire to help a business trade thorough any difficulties.

Unfortunately it is not straight forward to switch from one invoice discounting company to another invoice discounting company when a commercial mortgage is involved. One would think that a commercial mortgage is a stand alone facility which really it should be. However as soon as invoice discounting is taken out a all assets debenture will be registered against the business which will also include the property as well as plant and machinery

We have seen a few instances where the bank have in principle agreed to let the invoice discounting business go but in reality it has taken months and months to do the transfer because of  the incumbent bank wont realise the book debt from the debenture. In reality a deed of priority will be required in complicated cases however these can take forever and a day and as we know dealing with the banks legal departments can be like pulling teeth,

The best way forward is always to keep different finance products separate from different finance products and as such you will never find yourself in the mercy of one bank.

Recently we have had a number of enquiries from businesses that need help and advice because they have ended up in a banks specialist lending or intensive care unit. If a business has had a dip in performance thee banks take the opportunity to move the business to this specialist division of the bank. Whilst the business does not need to be a basket case the cynical amongst us might think that the banks are taking the opportunity to slap a load of unnecessary charges onto their customer. Any business having such an experience will know all too well that they use this as an opportunity to increase interest rates and charge monthly management fees. In deed many businesses don’t ever come out and allot will end up going into administration. If ever there was a case for not having too many eggs in ones basket!

For many years we have been advising customers not to have the same clearing bank  which  they use for invoice discounting or factoring and if at all possible to use a total separate financial institution for any commercial mortgages. Any business which has adopted this three pronged approach to banking and business finance will find themselves protected from the uncertainty of been exposed too much with one financial institution.

Any business finding themselves at the mercy at the banks can look at alternatives. They are out there and we know how to handle the banks. We have over 10 years experience in dealing in such matters and we will certainly be able to help and add value to your business.

It is most commonly believed that the only way to obtain EFG funding is via the banks. On the basis that two high street banks have written nearly 80% of all EFG funding it is easy to understand why. However it is not commonly known that it is possible to obtain EFG funding on the back of a factoring or invoice financing agreement. This may prove very beneficial because the banks can be difficult to obtain funding even when the additional security of the EFG guarantee is available.

There is a misconception that because an EFG guarantee is available from the government  that funding will automatically be approved. This sadly is not the case. Any application for business finance via the banks  must firstly meet with that particular banks strict lending criteria. Providing that the application ticks all the boxes in terms of meeting the bank criteria and the only reason the bank can not  do it is because of lack of tangible security then this where the EFG loan guarantee scheme will kick in. So if the application is a basket case it wont get passed the first hurdle.

Therefore if your application for EFG funding has been unsuccessful via the banks it may be worth looking at efg funding via a factoring or invoice discounting facility. Independent factoring and invoice discounting companies tend to be more flexible than the banks so you have absolutely nothing to loose.