Understanding invoice factoring

Where businesses sell their accounts receivable (invoices) to a third party (a factor) at a discount, in order to obtain immediate cash.

Do you think invoice factoring could help improve your cash flow?

Get an online quote or call us on the freephone number below to have a chat with one of our factoring experts.

Get a quote online 0808 250 0859

What is invoice factoring?

Invoice factoring (also known as debt factoring) is a form of invoice finance where businesses exchange certain or all pending invoices with a third party to boost their cash flow and revenue consistency.

In this arrangement, the factoring business will provide a substantial portion of the invoiced value upfront and subsequently takes on the responsibility of retrieving the payment directly from the client.

What is a factoring company?

A factoring company provides the service which recovers the payments of your unpaid invoices, allowing you to release the tied up cash within 24 hours.

With Novuna as your factoring company, you are also eligible for a credit protection solution which protects businesses from their customers potentially not settling their invoice payments. This acts as added security when engaging in invoice finance transactions.

How does a factoring service work?

  1. Supply the goods: Supply your customers with goods or services and invoice your customers as normal.
  2. Factoring companies will handle the credit control: The factoring business will release up to to 90% of the raised invoice value. Your customers will pay the factoring company directly and chase payment of the invoices on your behalf.
  3. You receive the money: Once the customer settles the invoice, the finance company will release the remaining invoice amount to you minus the relevant fees.

Other types of factoring

The needs of SMEs tend to vary according to growth stage and industry. To help you work out which type of factoring will suit your business, here is a brief guide to our five options:

Back

Spot Factoring

Spot factoring is a way for a business to access funds by selling unpaid invoices to a 3rd party, a spot factoring company, on a one off basis in order to receive payment quicker.

Back

Reverse Factoring

Reverse-factoring is a financing option where a 3rd party financial provider finances the supplier on behalf of the buyerThe process involves the supplier, the buyer and the finance provider .The supplier sells the buyer’s unpaid invoice to the finance provider and receives the cash quickly, the buyer also gets longer to pay for its goods.

Back

Account Receivable Factoring

Account receivable factoring provides businesses with an option to finance their venture without taking out a loan. This is a type of debtor finance where SMEs sell its invoices to a third party at a discount, in order to provide an immediate cash injection. There are many reasons why a business may factor an invoice, including increasing cash flow and mitigating credit risk.

Back

Recourse and Non-Recourse Factoring

Resource factoring is a form of finance where a company sells its invoices to a factoring company. The factor pays the company a percentage of their cash value and then chases up payment of the invoices on behalf of the company. Non-Recourse factoring is a form of finance where a company sells its invoices to a factor and receives a percentage of the cash value from them.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of invoice factoring?

Advantages of invoice factoring:

  • Benefit from improved cash flow
  • Enjoy better working capital, which means more money for growth projects, staff training or stock purchases
  • Be able to move away from more restrictive forms of finance, like small business loans or overdrafts
  • Benefit from your chosen finance provider’s in-house credit control processes
  • Be able to focus on running your business, instead of chasing clients for payment

Disadvantages of invoice factoring:

There are some disadvantages of invoice factoring too - your clients will be informed that you’re using an invoice factoring service, and your factor will contact them to collect on factored invoices which means that:

  • You will be putting your trust in your invoice factoring provider to handle credit control and communications with your customers
  • Potentially some customers may not understand invoice factoring and will wonder why the company has decided to use it

Is invoice factoring right for your business?

Is your annual turnover £50,000+?

Generally speaking, invoice factoring facilities are best suited to companies that sell to other businesses on credit terms, and turnover more than £50,000 a year.

Do you have high up front costs?

Industries that experience high production costs, seasonal sales slow downs, slow paying clients, experience unexpected growth and other unpredictable costs affecting their day to day operational cash flow use factoring as a non debt solution to their cash flor problems.

Are you experiencing cash flow problems?

Invoice factoring can be used by any industry that sells products or services to another company but in particular industries that suffer cash flow problems due to the nature of their business.

With invoice factoring, you can...

Expand your operations

Invest in stock, machinery or equipment

Employ new members of staff

Fix long-standing issues with cash flow

Why choose Novuna Business Cash Flow as your factoring company?

6 month trial period

A 6 month trial period so you can be sure the product is right for you, followed by a 6 month rolling contract – we don’t tie our clients in for long periods.

Digital onboarding

We are the first in the market to offer a digital onboarding process and have been leading the way with our digital capabilities allowing clients to sign up within 24 hours from the first appointment.

Client Trust Account

Once you become a client you will be given your own trust account, meaning you will get same day availability on your funds. You can also view all of your invoices and payments online at a time suitable to you, 24/7.

No uncleared effects

We have heavily invested in our digital capabilities. This includes the auto allocation of payments using Artificial Intelligence. Ultimately this advance in technology means that our clients access money quicker as well as saving money on interest charges due to auto allocation.

Simple pricing

We aim to make the process of Cash Flow finance as simple and straightforward as possible. Our pricing is very straightforward to understand. For a no obligation quote or an informal chat you can call our friendly team today on 0808 250 0859.

Award winning support

We offer award-winning client services and individual Relationship Managers who are on the other end of the phone or out in the field to visit you in person.

Our factoring service is multi-award winning

We also come highly recommended by our existing customers

"The communication and support has been outstanding. Providing me with all the information I needed regarding new clients coming onto our books. The system they use is so user friendly and the drawdown payments are very efficient in the fast moving world of temporary payroll."

Read full review

We've revolutionised factoring companies in the UK with our digital onboarding process

Boost your cashflow infographic
Compare products now

Please note that costs are an estimate only and are based on the entered values. Your final quote may change once a Business Development Manager has assessed your business in more detail.

Get in touch

Contact one of our invoice factoring experts on our freephone

0808 258 2297

8:45 - 17:15 - Monday to Thursday &
8:45 - 16:45 - Friday

Invoice Factoring FAQs

Specialist recruitment firm sees 60% growth in turnover

Read our latest case studies

Want to learn more about how you can boost your businesses cash flow?

Our Cash Flow Resource Hub has been set up to help SME's with cash flow finance advice, tips and resources to help with their cash flow position.

We explore ways you can begin improving your cash flow situation and start getting your business on track to positive cash flow.

Latest articles

Quickly get the best factoring solution for your business, simply fill out your requirements below:

We'll compare the best invoice financing products available to get you the best deal.

Approximately how many invoices do you raise each month?
How old is your business?
Back to top