invoice discounting uk

Invoice discounting and factoring are the biggest growth areas in the financing of small and medium companies with the biggest growth coming from the confidential invoice discounting sector. The 45,000 plus companies using these facilities are generating a combined turnover in excess of £148 billion according to the factoring and invoice discounting trade association and these figures are constantly on the increase.

Prior to 2001 banks happily lent on overdraft, safe in the knowledge that their fixed and floating charge placed them near the top of the pile in the event of the failure of their client but a Privy Council ruling in 2001 changed all that by pushing the banks too far down the security pecking order for their liking. The banks responded by transferring their banking clients over to their invoice discounting subsidiaries where not only was the security better but the rewards were also higher too.

Unlike overdraft funding which hardly varies between bank to bank there is a great deal of difference between the invoice discounting facilities on offer, whether by high street banks or independent providers, although these differences may not immediately apparent.

It appears that the majority of companies using confidential invoice discounting have just gone along with their bank manager’s suggestion and signed on the dotted line without first establishing whether or not there are more suitable options available which is unfortunate as invariably there are.

Invoice discounting should be straightforward but in reality it isn't and we have very real concerns with the way that some discounting companies operate which is why we have set out details of the possible pitfalls in the following pages. The poor level of sales ledger and credit control service offered by some factors is well known but unfortunately opting for the confidential invoice discounting route can still leave a company open to problems with hidden costs and contrived excuses to keep the funding levels as low as possible.

Invoice Discounting UK do not charge any fees to their clients at all so for an informal chat on the various options available please telephone us for an informal chat without any obligation whatsoever or else you may wish to read our brief sections on hidden fees and how invoice discounting companies artificially reduce their funding by unapproving debts by clicking the relevant links.