Invoice Factoring: Is It Right For Your Business?

Factoring also makes it easier for business owners with questionable credit to get funding, because the owner’s credit isn’t really important – it’s their clients’ creditworthiness that matters. Invoice factoring is a type of financing that allows business owners to get paid faster on invoices for work they’ve already performed. While factoring isn’t ideal for all industries and is more expensive than other types of financing, it’s a great option for many business owners in certain industries or with certain credit profiles. With non-recourse factoring, the factor assumes all the risk of collecting the debt. That’s a lower-risk option for small businesses that can’t absorb the cost of unpaid invoices, but it does cost slightly more than recourse factoring. At some point in a business owner’s journey, it’s likely they will need to secure additional financing to help it operate or grow.

• Invoice factoring is a type of financing in which a business sells its unpaid invoices to a specialized factoring company and receives most of the money—typically 80% to 90%—upfront.
• Today factoring’s rationale still includes the financial task of advancing funds to smaller rapidly growing firms who sell to larger more credit-worthy organizations.
• Invoice factoring is important because it offers fast funding for businesses that qualify.
• Its main draw is that it improves cash flow, but businesses can also appreciate that it reduces the burden of collections and helps maintain the healthy working capital necessary for business growth.
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• Invoice factoring is one of the easier types of financing for businesses to qualify for, and it allows you to get cash very quickly – much faster than most client companies pay their invoices.

Invoice factoring is a short-term alternative financing option for businesses that send invoices to customers. The factoring company charges a 1% fee for every week it takes your customer to repay the invoice. The company deducts its fee of 4% — $2,000 — and sends you the remaining balance of $5,500. Although invoice financing and factoring are often confused for one another, the two products differ in terms of structure and repayment process. As we mentioned, invoice factoring isn’t the same as taking out a traditional loan from a bank.

Invoice factoring vs. invoice financing

Invoice financing, like factoring, offers businesses quick cash through unpaid invoices. In invoice financing, it’s the business owner, not the customer, who repays the financing company. what is invoice factoring Business owners agree to a set repayment schedule, with service fees spread across payments. Meanwhile, customers continue to pay their invoices directly to the business owner as usual.

Similar to factoring, invoice financing allows businesses to obtain a cash advance by borrowing against unpaid invoices. The difference is that, instead of selling off invoices, you’ll have to repay your lender or invoice financing company the amount you borrow. Unlike factoring, invoice financing is considered a loan or line of credit.

How are invoice factoring and invoice financing different?

Typically, a business owner should provide financial records like accounts receivable aging reports, sales ledgers, a detailed list of customers and the corresponding outstanding invoices. With a non-recourse invoice factoring agreement, if your customer pays the invoice in 45 days or less, your total invoice factoring cost with Triumph Business Capital would average approximately 3.9% of the invoice. However, different factoring companies determine what invoice factoring fees they’ll include, and these fees can drive up the cost of their services. Businesses can sell their outstanding invoices to an invoice factoring company. The factoring company pays most of the invoice’s value upfront and takes on the responsibility of collecting the invoice from the client. This allows businesses to receive money from invoices earlier than they normally would, as invoices often take between 30 and 90 days to be paid.

It is a useful servicefor both your business directly and to provide to your customers. Our customers work on the front lines of North America’s growth sectors. They choose us for the working capital they need because our process is simple and straightforward. The more you understand how and when money flows into your business, the better you can determine what you should use to access cash for your short-term needs.