Invoice factoring has been gaining popularity in Canada as an alternative to conventional business loans and lines of credit. One reason for this is that getting a business loan is particularly difficult. Most lending institutions only provide financing to companies that have substantial assets for collateral, spotless financial records, and a long track record of success. Few small, or even midsize companies, can meet this requirements. However, if your company has cash flow problems because it’s offering payment terms to its commercial customers, then factoring may actually be a better solution than a conventional business loan.
Factoring in Canada is designed to help companies that have cash flow problems because they do business with corporate customers that pay their invoices and up to 60 days. From a capital perspective, your company has to spend money to deliver the service and then wait up to two months for payment. Few companies can afford to do this and grow at the same time. Of course, companies would not have these problems if customers paid their invoices within a few days of receiving your product/service. And this is where factoring your invoices comes in.
Factoring provides a similar benefit to a quick payment, without actually requiring your customers to pay sooner. Rather, a factoring company advances funds to your business using your open invoices as collateral. Usually, factoring companies advance anywhere between 80% to 90% of your invoices as soon as the work is completed. You get the remaining 10% to 20%, less the financing fee, once your customer pays in full.
One important advantage of factoring over other solutions is that it has easier collateral requirements. From a collateral perspective, the most important requirement is that your customers must have good commercial credit. This is most important because your customers payment ability acts as collateral for the transaction. Additionally, your company needs to have good invoicing practices, be free of major problems, and be operated by knowledgeable managers.
One clear benefit of factoring your invoices is that it’s one of the few forms of financing that allows you to leverage the credit strength of your customers to your own advantage. Additionally, most factoring lines are designed to be indexed to your sales – this means that the line will increase as your sales to credit worthy customers grows. This makes invoice factoring an attractive solution for growth oriented companies in Canada that have cash flow problems due to slow paying clients.

