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how to improve cash flow with factoring

How to Improve Cash Flow with Factoring

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Despite its long history, invoice factoring remains a lesser-known financing option among many small business owners in the U.S., especially those in the B2B sector. This age-old method, also known as invoice discounting or receivables financing, offers a practical solution for managing cash flow and fostering growth.

What Is Invoice Factoring?

At its core, invoice factoring is straightforward: businesses sell their accounts receivable (i.e., outstanding invoices) to a third party, the Factor, at a discounted rate. This transaction not only simplifies financial management but also turns pending payments into immediate working capital.

Why Consider Invoice Factoring with Corsa Finance?

  1. Immediate Access to Working Capital: Factoring your invoices means unlocking up to 95% of the funds tied in accounts receivable, often within the same or the next business day. This swift access to cash supports essential operations, from payroll to new orders, without the wait.
  2. No Hidden Fees, Flexible Options: Transparent pricing at competitive rates makes factoring attractive to many businesses. The transaction is easy to understand and process.
  3. Expertise Across Industries: With decades of experience, our partners supports a diverse range of sectors, including temporary staffing, supply chain management, trucking, commercial cleaning, manufacturing, and more. Invoice factoring works successfully for businesses of all sizes and types, ensuring your specific needs are met.
  4. Personalized, Customer-Centric Service: Our partners offer fast approvals and funding without long-term contracts or minimums. Our dedication to personal service ensures you receive the support and guidance needed to navigate your financing options effectively.

How Does Factoring Benefit Your Business?

By choosing to factor invoices, you not only expedite your cash flow but also open doors to new opportunities. This financial strategy allows you to:

  • Immediately reinvest in your business, stimulating growth and expansion.
  • Manage payments and operational expenses more effectively, ensuring stability.
  • Embrace larger projects and orders with confidence, knowing your financial base is solid.
  • Reduce accounts receivable collection activities so you can focus on growing your business.
  • Take advantage of early-pay price discounts.
  • Access working capital without putting more debt on your balance sheet, keeping your bank covenants intact.
  • Keep your vendors, contractors, and creditors happy with on-time payments.

Get Started Today

Ready to explore how invoice factoring can transform your business finances? Contact Corsa Finance for a no-cost, no-obligation quote. Discover the amount of working capital you can unlock by leveraging your accounts receivable. Whether you’re seeking to understand more about our services or ready to apply, we want to be a financial resource for you.

Empower your business with invoice factoring and turn your accounts receivable into a strategic asset that is working for you today. Contact us today to learn more or to start the application process.

what is invoice factoring

What is Invoice Factoring?

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Invoice factoring is a business finance tool that gives an organization nearly immediate access to money their customers owe them without waiting 30, 60, 90 days – or even longer – for the invoices to be paid.

Instead of waiting for customers to pay, the business can factor an invoice with a factoring company for a small fee (called a factoring fee) and receive an immediate advance, which could be up to 95 percent (or even more) of the invoice amount.

Why do companies factor invoices?

Though the need for expedited or more consistent cash flow is the reason most companies factor invoices, some of the other common reasons factoring clients cite include:

  • Need to unlock working capital to fuel business growth
  • Working capital can be leveraged for better terms with suppliers
  • Customer accounts with generous terms, often 30-90 days
  • Need working capital to take on larger accounts or big orders
  • Slow-paying customers
  • More consistent cash flow
  • Better ability to meet operating expenses and payroll
  • Capital expenditures like equipment purchases, repairs, renovation, or expansion

The practice of invoice factoring is centuries old and has played an important role in business finance. Any organization of any size that provides goods or services to other businesses, government agencies, retailers, or other commercial organizations on payment terms may be able to factor receivables to improve cash flow and unlock working capital.

What type of businesses factor invoices?

Factoring clients come from many different industries where invoice factoring is commonly used to expedite cash flow, including:

  • Staffing and temporary employment agencies (security services, nursing, etc.)
  • Business consulting and B2B business services
  • Trucking, transportation, logistics
  • Supply chain distributors and manufacturers
  • Vendors selling through Costco, Walmart, and other mass retailers
  • Textile, clothing, accessories, and other wholesalers
  • Oil and gas (and all gas and oil field contractors)
  • Energy and utilities companies and contractors – and others

Nearly any type of company that invoices customers for payment or waits more than 15 days or more to get paid after completing delivery of goods or fulfillment of services might be able to improve cash flow immediately by factoring invoices.

How does the invoice factoring process work?

Invoices factored are typically funded within 1-2 business days – up to 95 percent (or even more) of the face value of the invoice, with the remainder placed in reserve as a holdback, pending customer payment of the invoice.

As an example, if a businesses completed delivery of goods or services to a customer and generated an $18,000 invoice, with net 30 (or even longer) terms, they could unlock most of that working capital within hours instead of waiting weeks or even months on payment.

Assuming a factoring fee of 3% and an advance rate of 95%, here’s how it would work:

Invoice Factoring Process Overview
Day 1 – Generate a $18,000 client invoice and factor it
 – 24-48 hours Receive an advance of $17,100 (95%)
Factoring company earns $540 (3% factoring fee)
Day 30+ Receives the $360 holdback (2% of the invoice amount) after the invoice is paid

What are the benefits of invoice factoring?

Faster cash flow!

Businesses that want to expedite payment of accounts receivable invoices can turn to a receivables factoring company. Instead of waiting on customer payments, they can factor a customer invoice on the same day it is generated and receive an advance of up to 95 percent of the face amount of the invoice right away.

Advance rates may be even higher, and factoring fees even lower for larger invoices or for companies who factor on a regular basis and receive a volume discount.

Factoring receivables enables you, a business owner, to focus on growing your business rather than chasing invoices or performing collections. They gain almost immediate access to working capital by speeding up cash flow so they can reinvest in their company much more quickly.

Factoring receivables could also be the key to positioning your business to be able to take advantage of emerging opportunities.

Organizations that factor invoices expedite cash flow, which means they have more flexibility to meet operational expenses. They have the flexibility to extend more generous payment terms to their customers as a competitive advantage and can reinvest working capital in their business more quickly in order to expand, service larger accounts, or take on new customers.

There are also additional benefits for businesses that choose non-recourse invoice factoring over factoring with full recourse.

Non-recourse factoring is less common in today’s economy because non-recourse factors assume the credit risk for the invoices they purchase. When you factor invoices with a non-recourse factoring company, you may be able to completely eliminate financial risk from bad debt. Find out more about factoring invoices with recourse vs. non-recourse factoring companies.

Speed up cash flow and grow your business faster by factoring invoices instead of waiting 30, 60, 90 days or longer for customers to pay.

Since we have competitive rates and fees, working with us will not cost your business more, but it could help you get a better factoring agreement. You want to work with an invoice factoring company that goes from approval to funding quickly and looks for reasons to say “Yes!” when you submit invoices for factoring. Our factoring services offer low fees, high advances, and flexible terms, such as:

  • No long-term contracts
  • No monthly minimums (you choose when and how much to factor)
  • Retain control of billing your customers, or let the factoring company do the work
  • Non-recourse factoring (the factoring company assumes the credit risk)
  • Spot factoring
  • Micro-factoring
  • Small invoices welcome!
  • Credit checks to help you vet new customers
  • No application or due diligence fees
  • No hidden fees
  • Fast approvals and funding

Most importantly, we promise a high level of customer service to our factoring clients. We want you to work with a financing partner who understands your preferences and unique business needs, saving time and reducing the stress of managing receivables. Take the next step and request a free, no-obligation factoring quote to determine if this business finance tool could help your company grow faster.

6 Reasons to Revise Your Receivables Factoring Agreement

6 Reasons to Revise Your Receivables Factoring Agreement

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As your business changes and grows, its financing needs will too. Here are six signs you should have your receivables factoring agreement reviewed and re-quoted.

6 Signs You Need a New Receivables Factoring Agreement

As with any other supplier or vendor, it’s only natural that you will review your invoice factoring agreement from periodically to ensure you have a factoring agreement in place that’s best for your business. Here’s why “now” might be a good time to take a fresh look at your agreement and your receivables factoring company.

1. The end of the invoice factoring contract term is approaching.

Just as you would review any other type of contract, before you renew your receivables factoring agreement you should review it and compare it against other offers. Factoring companies might be willing to eliminate unwanted clauses or offer you better terms or rates – or you may find that another factoring company is willing to do so.

You should pay very close attention to the fine print in your current agreement that would require you to provide your current factoring company with 30, 60, or even 90-day notice to terminate your agreement. Unfortunately, if you miss the termination window you may be forced to continue factoring with the same organization for another year or more.

What is receivables financing?
Receivables financing (also known as accounts receivable invoice factoring) is a business finance tool that provides your organization with immediate access to money owed to your business by your customers, without waiting weeks – or months – for the invoices to be paid. Find out more about Receivables Financing.

2. Increases in factoring fees or rates.

Since improving cash flow is an important priority for most businesses that factor receivables, when profits are negatively impacted by increases in costs or rates it’s important to evaluate whether your current agreement is the right one for your organization.

3. Disappointment with the customer service your receivables factoring company provides.

Poor customer service impacts more than just the client who is factoring invoices, it often affects their customers as well. When evaluating how satisfied you are with your factoring company, you may also wish to speak with some of your most valuable customers to ensure that the communications and collections being conducted by your factoring company are also beneficial to the relationship between your business and its customers.

Our goal is to provide the level of service that leads to high client retention and referral rates. We want clients to choose to stay with us throughout the time they employ invoice factoring as a finance tool and to feel comfortable referring colleagues to us on a regular basis.

4. Hidden fees are adding up.

An invoice factoring fee (usually a percentage) is only one of the potential costs that could be hiding in an invoice factoring agreement. We will review any agreement presented to you to explain the fee structure.

We help our clients get factoring contracts that are transparent and simple, with factors that don’t tack on fees for administrative work, schedule processing, proposals, due diligence, customer credit checks or notifications. Hidden fees might seem small but can quickly add up and negate some of the benefits that factoring invoices should be generating when it comes to your organization’s cash flow and working capital.

5. Not meeting monthly minimums (you want to factor fewer invoices).

If your current factoring agreement requires that you factor a minimum number (or amount) of invoices each month and you find that you do not need to (or do not want to) factor up to the minimum, it is a good time to reach out for new terms from your factoring company or to explore competitive proposals.

We have clients who want to use factoring only when its right for their business with contracts that enable them to factor as many (or as few) invoices as they desire. We believe that letting factoring clients retain control of these types of decisions is important, because it has a big impact on their organization as well as how satisfied they will be with our receivables financing service. Invoice factoring becomes an even more practical and helpful financing solution when you stay in control.

6. You simply don’t want to be locked in to a long-term contract.

Depending on the agreement you choose, you won’t have to sign a long-term factoring contract. Remember that this can be a matter of negotiation which could encourage Factors to offer you an agreement with lower rates, higher advances or some other perk.

We want to earn your business and referrals. We believe that once work with us you’ll be so pleased with the level of professional and personal service that you won’t want to leave. If at any time, you feel that the level of service provided by our team isn’t meeting your needs anymore, you’re free to leave without the fear of a long-term contract or exit penalties hanging over your head.

Ready to get a new receivables financing quote?
Whether this is your first request for an invoice factoring proposal or you’re already factoring invoices, we would be happy to give you a free, no-obligation invoice factoring proposal – you could go from approval to funding in days.