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Comparing invoice discounting quotes for the first time can be quite complicated. There are so many different aspects of a deal, from interest rates, refactoring charges and  service fees. The cheapest is not always best because credit limits for individual clients and prepayment percentages must also be taken into consideration.  There is no point going with the cheapest deal if you are only going to get 50% of your expected funding. XL Business Finance has been helping businesses for over 10 years compare quotes and help the customer get into the nitty gritty of things.

There are two main charges to an invoice discounting facility. The interest rate for the money borrowed and the service fee. The interest rate is usually a percentage over base rate and is comparable to a bank overdraft rate. Some finance companies charge a min base rate and some link to LIBOR. Bank base rate is not always the same so it is always worth taking into consideration.

The service fee is a percentage of annual turnover however beware some invoice discounting companies charge a refactoring charge. This can be as much as 1% of any invoices that go over 90 days. Whilst this will not be a problem if your debt turn is good it is worth noting because if your customers take longer to pay it will increase the cost of the facility.

An invoice discounting will also charge a take on fee which can be anything from a few hundred quid to a percentage of the arranged facility.

In  our opinion yes. The problem with banks is that they blow hot and cold. They might do some fantastic invoice discounting deals in the good times however as soon as it starts raining they more often than not want their umbrellas back. A customer requiring a large facility of say two or three million may find themselves with restricted credit if their is any change in their performance.

We have seen this recently with very strong businesses that have seen profits drop but for positive reasons such as investment in new equipment and premises. The fact is the banks don’t always like to see a drop in performance irrespective of the reasons. Comined with restructuring and merging with the high street big banks you will find a very erratic approach to their lending criteria and possible clipping of facilities.

The good news is that there are alternatives to the high street banks. During the good old days, the recession and now the slow recovery these alternatives have always taken a consistent approach to their lending criteria. These are specialist invoice discounting companies , whilst funded by big lessor known merchant banks have their own autonomy and there is enough variety to cove most situations. A £3.0m facility is a drop in the ocean for a couple of these funders. At £3.0m plus even some of the high street banks might start getting a bit jittery. It appears that the banks want to collect as much money in at the moment rather than lend it out.