Freight factoring, which is also commonly known within the industry as truck factoring, is a popular form of invoice factoring that enables transport companies to turn their unpaid invoices into immediate cash so that they can continue to operate smoothly and grow without having to depend on their invoices being paid on time.
Overall, freight factoring is considered to be a very good option for owner-operator trucking companies that are looking to get paid immediately for the work that they have already done. The primary reason why is because if they are able to get the money that they are owed, they can then quickly and seamlessly turn their attention to taking on additional work, growing and beating out their competition.
Freight or truck factoring is especially useful for larger companies when they are looking to outsource their accounts receivables or are in need of immediate payment so they can improve their cash flow. Visit site ezfreightfactoring.com to learn more about it.
How freight factoring works
If you are curious about how freight factoring actually works, we have gone through the trouble of breaking down each step of freight factoring into 5 simple steps. Ideally, you will get a much better idea of how it works and how it can help your company!
First, you invoice your customer
The process of utilizing freight factoring to help your business begins when your company issues an invoice to your customer for the work that you have done. Keep in mind that in order for you to apply and be approved of freight factoring, you are going to have to have an outstanding invoice to your customer. The reason why is because your outstanding invoices are the basis for a factoring agreement.
Second, you assign invoices to your factoring company
If you are interested in working with larger volume factoring, which is also commonly known as contract factoring, is going to require that you and your company actually sell all of your outstanding invoices to the factoring company so that they can collect.
If, however, you are either a smaller company or do not have enough outstanding invoices to gain approval, you can opt for low volume factoring, which is also commonly called spot factoring. This typically works more similarly to a line of credit loan and enables you to decide which invoices you want to factor.
With that being said, the arrangement can vary based on the truck or freight factoring company that you are specifically interested in working with.
Third, the factoring company pays your advance
Once you have decided the invoices that you want to use to factor, the freight factoring company that you have opted to work with pays you for a percentage of the value of your invoices. The amount that your company is being paid is going to depend on the advance rate that you agree to with the company. Typically, the amount equals approximately 80 percent to 90 percent of the total amount that you are owed.
The first payment that you can receive from the freight factoring company can take as little as a few days, from there subsequent payments are typically issued within 24 hours.
This is especially important to know. The timing in which freight factoring can get you the money you are owed is why it is so useful to trucking companies. Getting money allows those companies to keep operating seamlessly without being held up in any way by invoices that are left unpaid for a long amount of time.
Fourth, customer pays the freight factoring company
From here, your customer will pay off their invoice by paying the truck factoring company directly. Typically, these payments will be sent to a lockbox that is in your name or your company’s name and are made payable to you. With that being said, the factoring company that you are working with is going to control both the lockbox and the deposit account.
This is another reason why factoring can be so useful to companies such as yours Once you begin working with a trucking factoring company, the responsibility to make sure your invoices are completed and paid no longer rests on your shoulders. It actually rests on the shoulders of the truck factoring company you are working with.
Finally, factoring company pays you the remaining balance minus any fees
The final step to a truck factoring agreement is that the factoring company will take their fees out of the customer’s payment and then forward your company the remaining balance. While this is generally how invoice factoring works for all transport companies, there are some slight differences that can occur based on the volume of the invoices that are being factored.
Basic overview
When it comes to the raw numbers, here are some things that you are going to want to keep in mind about truck factoring. Here are some basic things to keep in mind:
- The amount that a company can borrow is up to $20 million based on a number of deciding factors
- The advanced rate that you will get from a factoring company will be about 75 percent to 95 percent of the total outstanding invoices
- The discount rate starts at about one quarter of a percent per week
- A factoring contract will typically last for three or more months in business
- The invoice status is due within 90 days
- The time to qualify for invoice factoring is usually one to seven days
- The time to receive funds once your company is approved is typically within 24 hours
Freight factoring rates, terms and qualifications
Some important things to keep in mind is that the rates, terms and qualifications for freight factoring are going to be based on the size of your company as well as the total value of the invoices that you are factoring.
While larger trucking companies may factor all of their invoices via contract factoring for millions of dollars, smaller trucking companies are more likely to take advantage of spot factoring and only factor a certain amount of their invoices.
Factoring rates
- Amount factors aregoing to be between as small as $1,000 and $20,000,000 per funding event
- The average discount rate starts at one quarter of a percent per week
- Additional fees that a truck factoring company may include one-time origination fee or fees for railing to meet minimum factoring requirements
The rates that are charged for freight factoring are going to depend on whether your company takes advantage of contract factoring or spot factoring. Smaller companies can expect to look at a discount rate between two percent to five percent while larger companies will be able to expect a discount from anywhere between half a percent and five percent. You may also be charged an origination fee when you are first setting up your account with the factoring company.
The four types of truck factoring
There are four different primary options when it comes to truck factoring. While they all depend on outstanding invoices, they behave in fairly different ways. So that you get a good idea of which might be the best for you and your company, here is a quick breakdown of how they work:
- Spot factoring is an agreement that allows a company to choose which of the invoices they want to include in a factoring agreement. With spot factoring, companies are not required to factor all of their outstanding invoices.
- Contract factoring is an agreement in which all of the outstanding invoices are factored, with the company not being able to choose which invoice they factor and which they do not.
- Recourse factoring is an agreement where the company “buys back” any of the customer invoices that are not paid, this may come with additional fees that are charged by the factoring company.
- Nonrecourse factoring is an agreement where the company is not responsible for the invoices that the company fails to pay. Because of the increased risk to the factoring company, the rates are typically a bit higher.
How freight factoring helps
There are many different ways in which freight factoring can help trucking and freight companies, but there are three basic reasons why so many trucking companies decide to utilize this form of financing. They are as follows:
- Funding is quick! With the vast majority of freight factoring companies, companies are able to receive funds for factored invoices in as quickly as one day, which is much faster than other types of funding and financing.
- It is easy to qualify! Due to the fact that freight factoring relies on the creditworthiness of a company’s customers, the qualification requirements that you and your company have to meet are minimal, making it easy to gain approval.
- Financing is able to grow with your business! Because the amount of the funding that your company can receive is based on your invoices, the amount of financing available to you will grow with your company. The more your business grows, the more money you will be able to access!
