invoice finance or bank overdraft
As you will gather if you care to read through any of blogs that this is a favourite subject of mine. And for good reason too. We have seen a number of what looked like very strong businesses fall foul to the banks in terms of having too many eggs in one basket. Although the banks will never publicly admit there appears still to be a tendency to call in their security if they think they have half a chance of clearing their debt. A bank that has a debenture over the business can appoint an administrator at any point they wish to do so. And how do they obtain a debenture. well you would normally give it when you take out an overdraft. Just one of those documents that they slip under your nose when signing all the other paperwork. Overdrafts are always repayable on demand and for this reason we believe that any form of invoice finance is a far better alternative.
Invoice finance which can either be factoring or invoice discounting cannot be withdrawn at a moments notice and so long as you are operating within the terms of the facility should provide you with a reliable and consistent form of cash flow finance. Unlike a bank overdraft which is secured by bricks and mortar and or a personal guarantee invoice finance is secured against your unpaid debts. So long as your customers pay their debts you should never be at risk. In addition it is often possible to obtain credit insurance for if any of these customers god forbid go bust on you.