Archive for 2011
Friday, April 15th, 2011
Obtaining equipment finance can still be a bit tricky in the current environment. The high street banks are still being very difficult although they can do some fantastic deals for their own customers. However not everyone wants to use their own bank as many business owners understand the merritts of not having too many eggs in one basket. XL Business finance for the right customer can arrange equipment finance that will be just as competitive as many high street banks. This will leave valuable funding lines open with your bank for expenditure programmes that are not available for equipment finance.
Tags: Asset Finance, equipment finance
Posted in Asset Finance | No Comments »
Thursday, April 14th, 2011
Invoice discounting can provide cash against up to 85 % of unpaid invoices however there are so many invoice discounting comapnioes to chooose from. How do you know whidch uis the right provider for your business.
We all know there are the high street banks providing invoice discounting facilities. There are providers that are owned by lessor known banks foreign banks which tend to havce their own atonomy. And then there are the independents that are not owned by the banks but are privately owned. Which funder is best for you depends upon your own particulkar circumstances and a good invoice discounting broker will certainly be able to add value in the process.
Tags: invoice discounting, invoice discounting companies
Posted in invoice discounting | No Comments »
Wednesday, April 13th, 2011
XL Business finance has been trading for over 10 years and during that time we have developed an in depth knowledge of the UK factoring market. We know at lease 20 different factoring companies each of which has their own unique selling point.
During this time we have placed deals with just over 10 different factoring companies each of which could offer a little something which their competitors couldn’t. for a example a southern based factoring company can be very different from one in the north. Not that there is a north south divide but more because we think you should be local to your particular factoring company.,
Tags: Factoring, factoring company
Posted in Factoring | No Comments »
Monday, April 11th, 2011
A business manufacturing prepaid telephone cards recently approached XL Business Finance needing funding for 3 single debtors all of which were based on the continent. Having been declined finance from their own high street bank they were delighted to find that a factoring and export finance facility was available via a specialist factoring company.
Although the provider was a substantial financial institution and one of Europe’s biggest banks this particular factoring company were not interested in taking on the clearing banking or doing the commercial mortgage. Therefore the business was able to carry on using their existing finance company for clearing which kept the overall banking relationship on an even keel.
Tags: export finance, Factoring
Posted in Factoring, Trade Finance, Uncategorized | No Comments »
Sunday, April 10th, 2011
XL Business Finance has recently helped a business import wine from France. Although the business had recently been formed and was therefore unable to obtain funding from a high street bank, the business had a large confirmed order from a well known supermarket. The import finance company was able to provide a finance facility on the back of the confirmed order. 100% funding was provided to the customer to import the wineand upon delivery to the supermarket a factoring facility provided an additional 90 day funding. A complete funding solution was provided from start to finish. Stand alone import finance is also available but it certainly helps when it comes to obtaining funding if you either have confirmed orders or a track record
Tags: import finance
Posted in Trade Finance | No Comments »
Saturday, April 9th, 2011
Trade finance can cover business exporting goods and services ( export finance) or it can cover business importing goods and services ( import finance). Whilst certain high street banks can be very good at providing import and export facilities there are alternatives that can help businesses that are not eligible for bank funding for whatever reason. Again with any type of funding it is possible to obtain alternative views from specialist and independent trade finance company that can provide viable, flexible and competitive alternative to the banks. It is quite often possible to obtain a higher level of funding due to their expertise in particular market.
Tags: import finance, trade finance
Posted in Trade Finance | No Comments »
Friday, April 8th, 2011
In our opinion obtaining business finance is still not getting any easier. Banks in particular are dammed if they do and dammed if they don’t. Onone hand we can proportion some of the blame to the banks for their cavalier lending policy over the years. However don’t forget that the greed of the consumer and lack of regulation from the government is partly to blame. On the other hand the banks have crawled into their shells mainly through lack of availability of cash but also because the quality of the applications they are seeing probably doesn’t meet their lending criteria. Admittedly the lending criteria has probably tightened but who came blame the banks when most of the UK’s SME businesses appear to be on a knife edge.
The good news is that their there are plenty of independent business finance insitutions coveing invoice discounting , factoring , commercials mortgages, trade finance and asset based lending providing viable and accessible alternatives to the high street banks
Tags: business finance
Posted in Business finance | No Comments »
Wednesday, April 6th, 2011
It is commonly thought that bad debt protection or credit insurance can only be provided by the the incumbent invoice discounting or factoring company. It is a little known fact that credit insurance can be provided by an independent third party.
Often the bolt on products provided by banks and high street factoring and invoice discounting companies can be expensive and provide inferior cover. An independent can often provided greater levels of cover for the same customers , at a lower cost and with more protection. As far as we are aware there is only one or two high street finance companies that provide bad debt protection in the event of a protracted claim. Most high street funders only pay out in the event of insolvency which is in contrast to most independent insurance companies that as a matter of course provide cover in the event of a protracted dispute. Worth comparing then
Tags: bad debt protection, Factoring
Posted in Bad Debt protection / Non recourse, Factoring, invoice discounting | No Comments »
Tuesday, April 5th, 2011
In theory obtaining a factoring facility for a new start business should be a relatively easy process. However we would advise that you consider a specialist factoring company that isn’t necessarily attached to a high street bank. Most finance companies will offer a facility providing that your debtors are of a decent nature. If you are starting off we only one or two customers then it is important that you obtain credit insurance. If your one and only customer were to go bust this would have disastrous consequences for your business and will potentially leave you personally exposed as you will have been asked to provide personal guarantees.
Tags: Factoring, factoring company
Posted in Factoring | No Comments »
Monday, April 4th, 2011
Obtaining the cheapest leasing and hire purchase rates depends not only depends on the strength of the covenant but also on the quality of the information provided. As with any transaction the easier you make it for an underwriter to understand the proposition the more chance you have getting a deal agreed in the first place and therefore the better the chance of getting a decent rate.
Therefore with any transaction a full set of audited accounts should be provided, most recent mangement accountss, 3 months bank statrements, details of any finance agreements coming to the end of the agreement and a clear rational will also help
Tags: hire purchase, leasing
Posted in Asset Finance | Comments Off on Obtaining the cheapest leasing and hire purchase rates
