Imagine the financial flexibility of invoice discounting combined with the added benefit of bad debt protection. It is no wonder that seventy five percent of the enquiries we get are from customers wishing to insure their debts. However as with any factoring or invoice discounting,  there is so many different financial institutions to choose from. XL Business Finance has been helping customers choose the most suitable funding partner for over ten years.   

Non recourse is the same as bad debt protection and can be offered as an add on by most invoice discounting providers.  Pricing generally starts at between 0.45% of turnover and can be high as 1%. This is addition to the normal discounting charges.   As with any form of debtor finance it is important that you choose the right finance company to fund your business.  It is no pointy in going for the cheapest bad debt protection if you are not getting the appropriate level of funding.  An independent invoice discounting company may use a number of different credit reference agencies to set credit limits whereas a bank will use their own in house insurers. It is worth getting an independent broker to check out a few alternatives. Also beware we have seen some banks recently setting quite high individual credit limits only to take it away by capping the overall facility. Certain independent funders will also go the extra mile to get the best possible funding limits.

Independent  Generally speaking 80-85% of  of the value of your invoices can be released immediately. Invoice discounting can be either confidential or disclosed however the credit control remains with the business. From the finance companies point of view this facility is more risky than factoring and as such any finance company offering such a facility will carry out an audit to make sure the correct credit control systems and procedures are in place.

Not all invoice discounting companies are the same. This is especially true if there is a certain amount of contractual debt within your invoicing procedure. Contractual debt is most relevant in the construction sector whereby invoice are produced at certain stages within a project. There are only two invoice finance companies that are capable of handling contractual debt and both are very different finance companies indeed

Most finance companies have been told that it is not possible to raise cash against contracts   ( normally by their bank) however XL Business Finance has been helping clients obtain debtor finance where contracts are involved. The problem with contractual debt if that the job isn’t finished then the end customer can with hold payment. For this reason if you mention contracts nearly every invoice discounting company in the land will not be able to provide funding.

There is one high street bank that can provide invoice discounting against contractual debt. I have told you in previous blogs that we are not totally against the high street banks as there are a few exceptions to the rule and this is certainly one of them! The other finance company is a larger independent that uses in house quantitative surveyors to check the value of the work undertaken. Which finance company is best for you depends upon your location, length of time trading and how profitable you are.  XL Business Finance is very capable of assisting you with finding the right funding partner.

Invoice discounting are two completely different funding products. Although most finance companies will offer both facilities not all finance companies are great at doing both. Altough both funding products will release cash against unpaid invoices and potentially give you the financial freedom to grow or develop or indeed just survive in the current economic climate. Factoring is traditionally provided with full credit control  whereas invoice discounting is provided on a confidential basis.

Factoring can be provided for businesses with turnover as little as £80,000. In order to be eligible for invoice discounting turnover will need to be at least £250k. Up until a few years ago unless your business had turnover of at least £1.0m then there would be absolutely no chance of obtaining an invoice discounting facility. However when different finance companies were vying for business in the good old days before the credit crunch this minimum turnover became lower and lower.

Invoice discounting is provided on a confidential basis which means your customers are unaware that the finance company is providing funding against yourinvoices. Therefore from the funders point of view the facility is more risky than factoring as potentially the facility is more open to abuse in terms of fraud and raising fictitious invoices. Therefore a business must be profitable ,long established  and have well established credit control procedures in order to qualify for invoice discounting.

Factoring is always provided on a disclosed basis and your customers will be aware that the finance company is providing funding against your invoices. More often than not the factoring company will provide a full credit control service. Therefore the finance company has a much greater grasp and control on your finances and as such they are happy to provide funding for new start businesses , businesses which are loss making and businesses which have a relatively small turnover.

A question that we get asked most regularly. The simple answer is that it depends on the particular needs of each customer.    It also depends on the length of time the business has been trading , is it profitable and the quantity and quality of the ledger. If it is a very clean ledger ( or debtor book ) in that it is not difficult to collect payments then in theory there should be many finance companies to choose from.

However you must take into account other considerations. Certain finance companies are very good at servicing certain debt.  There is only one high street bank that is any good with foreign and international debt and there is only one bank based invoice discounting company that is any good at financing contractual debt. And guess what they are two completely different banks. Some banks are also good at offering built in credit insurance and others can be difficult when it comes to setting funding limits. Most banks and independent factoring company are fairly similar when it comes to pricing however the cheapest deal isn’t always the best.

A customer quoted to us recently that he wished he had chosen a high street invoice discounting company but rather that he he had had gone with a independent finnace company that traditionally could be more flexible and thus providing more cash against his invoices.

Hardly no surprises that any business currently using a factoring or invoice discounting facility with LLoyds bank may be having their credit lines severely restricted. XL Business Finance has seen three customers this week all wishing to move from LLoyds due to a restriction in cash availability. On Tuesday this week LLoyds bank announced the loss of 4500 jobs some of which will go in the collections department. We are unclear if itis from their cash flow arm LLoyds TSB Commercial Finance however the bank is obviously under pressure and as such we are starting to see businesses being affected by their noncommercial view.

Traditionally it can quite a long winded affair switching invoice discounting or factoring companies especially as many finnace companies will tie in their customers for a least a year and will require to provide 3 months notice if they wish to switch funder.  Sometimes it  my be possibel to buy one elf out of a deal with the support of a new finance company however even then it might be a  costly exercise. The good news is that many of LLoys customers have been signed up to a short one month notice contract and it is these customers that we are seeing take advantage of their ability to switch finance company. If in doubt we can check any documentation on your behalf and give you some advice from an independent view point.

Invoice discounting is a form of invoice finance providing the financial freedom to grow your business. This form of discounting is usually provided on a confidential basis meaning your customers are unaware that you are using a invoice discounting  company. As such the invoice discounting provides a flexible form of finance enabling a business to release 90% of their unpaid invoices. Recently XL Business Finance has been advising a number of business with turnover in excess of 20m that have been disillusioned with inflexible high street  banking institutions. The good news is that there are a number of specialist lesser known banks specialising in businesses with larger turnover. There are not many institutions capable of handling such large corporate businesses but we have the expertise to matchyou with the most suitable funder.

XL Business Finance regularly introduce invoice discounting to two or three finance companies some of which are foreign owned. These  funders  have been established with the sole purpose of specialising in the UK invoice discounting market. I guarantee you probably haven’t heard of these finance companies however their personnel are of he highest quality and have the ability to structure the most complex of deals. All of our customers have been highly impressed with our recommendations.

Invoice discounting is simply the means of raising cash against unpaid invoices. Choosing the right finance company can provide the financial freedom to grow the business or  in these difficult times it can implybe the difference between survival and failure. Not all invoice discounting companies are the same and it is important to choose the best finance company for your particular requirements.

Bank owned invoice discounting companies are very good at looking after their own customers providing the business is financially strong. If there is a strong bank connection with other facilities such as commercial mortgages and /or overdraft facilities the banks will bend over back wards to ensure they get the business.  It is still possible to get some very cheap invoice discounting deals on this basis. Be  beware that if you expose your business too much to one  financial institution you might be storing up trouble for the future. No one could foresee the creditt crunch however in hind sight it easy to say we should have seen what was coming. It is exactly the same with finance facilities. Let the bank have too much control and if things turn for the worse any business with too much financial exposure to one bank may find themselves in difficulties.

An independent invoice discounting company will ensure that any risk is spread across a number of finance companies and that you don’t have too many eggs in one basket. There are plenty of invoice discounting companies glad to take on the invoice discounting  on a stand alone basis and they wont be interested in taking over the core banking.  However if you do choose to use a third party factoring company it is worth checking if the bank isrelying on the debtors for security on any of their facilities. If the business has an overdraft it may be possible the bank have registered a debenture against the business. Therefore if you are to switch to an invoice discounting facility any overdraft maybe withdrawn and this must be taken into consideration with choosing a provider.

Although invoice discounting is a great means of freeing up cash against unpaid invoices it is becoming increasingly more difficult to secure an confidential invoice discounting facility. Once upon a time a business had to have been trading for at least 3 years , have at least a £1.0m turnover and have a very strong balance sheet.

In the good old days when there was plenty of cash swilling around the system  all the finance companies were competing with each other for business and it is fair to say that the usual criteria for confidential invoice discounting were relaxed somewhat.  New start businesses, phoenix businesses and  businesses with far from strong trading performances were being offered facilities.

Invoice discounting and in particular confidential invoice discounting is susceptible to fraud and in these difficult times finance companies are reverting back to the more stringent criteria for invoice discounting. Therefore if a business is financially weak, turnover is below a certain level or even credit control systems are weak it is more likely that a business will pushed down the factoring route.

If the business doesn’t quite meet the criteria for confidential invoice discounting it maybe possible to organise a disclosed facility whereby the customer is is responsible for their own credit control. Which ever way you decide to o it is worth shopping around as different finance companies have different criteria. Even better get a decent independent finance broker to do all the hard work.

If you are considering switching to a factoring or invoice discounting facility it is worth considering the implications this may have on any available overdraft facility.  It is more likely than not that a bank will have taken an all assets debenture against the company. This means that their security is the debtor book of the company. Therefore when considering an alternative cash flow product there must be enough flexibility in the headroom of the factoring or invoice discounting facility to fully repay the overdraft and provide additional working capital. Any bank informed of a customers intantion to use a factoring facility in my experience will require the overdraft repaying in full. Remember an overdraft facility is repayable on demand.

I have also seen customers being caught out wanting  to switch a factoring facility away from a bank to another independent factoring company. They have forgotten or not realised the bank has an all assets debenture registered against the business to secure a small overdraft. Before the customer can switch the overdraft will need to be paid off but it can often be the  customer doesn’t have the headroom to repay the overdraft. Sometimes it may be possible to get a small over payment from the new factoring company or it may even be possible to refinance existing equipment to repay the overdraft and provide additional working capital.

Cash Flow Finance is the most raidly expanding form of finance and their are many funders positively active even in the current market. Whether it is factoring, invoice discounting or payroll finance these different  finance companies all have different areas of expertise. For example international trade finance is only undertaken well by 3 or 4  companies. Like wise stocking finance is provided by only 2/3 companies. Choosing the right company for your business can be made easier by speaking to a good independent broker.