What you need to know about
changing factoring
companies.
Looking for a new factoring company?
Unhappy
with your current factor?
What do I need to know if I want
to change
factoring companies?
Here are the answers to these questions and
more:
What is a UCC and how does it apply
to me wanting to change
factoring companies?
It is standard industry practice for a factoring
company
to file a blanket Uniform Commercial Code (UCC) to
secure the factor’s
first position security interest
on the invoices funded.
The UCC is a way
for factoring companies, banks and
commercial lenders to keep straight who is
lending on what assets. Because receivables change on
daily basis as new
invoices collect and old invoices are paid,
factors must file what is called a
“blanket” UCC filing
collateralizing all of your receivables even though you
may
only be factoring a portion of your sales.
It’s simply impossible for
factors to file a new UCC
for each invoice funded. The UCC is simply a flag for
other lenders who chose to run a search indicating a
Security Agreement exists
between your company
and the factoring company.
The details of your
particular factoring arrangement,
such as rates and which accounts are factored,
are outlined in the Security Agreement itself which is not public not.
A UCC
is similar to a first mortgage on your business.
The Buyout
Process
The lender with the oldest dated UCC filing is said to
be in
“First Position” on the pledged collateral.
For example, a factor has first
rights to collect payments
on your invoices and all the related surrounding
instruments.
Factoring companies do not take a second position
because
the lender in first position could legally take
the check right out of the hands
of the second position factor
at any time and have every legal right to do
so.
It’s a similar concept to ensuring you get the pink slip
when purchasing
a vehicle. You wouldn’t want to have
someone come along one day, unannounced and
take the vehicle you thought you owned and
have every legal right to do
so!
To change factoring companies the old factor
must be paid off
by the new factor.
Simultaneously the old factor’s lien is released
and
the factor’s lien is filed which is
similar to refinancing your
home.
A “buyout” is the practice where the new factoring
company pays
off the old factoring company using
proceeds from your first
funding.
The Buyout Agreement outlines the transition process
and is a
three party agreement signed by the old
factoring company, new factoring company
and your company.
In the Buyout Agreement you approve the “buyout figure”
provided by the old factoring company.
How is the Buyout Figure
Calculated:
The buyout figure is generally calculated by taking the
Gross
Receivables Outstanding subtracting any reserves
and then adding in fees due to
the old factoring company.
If not automatically provided, it’s best to ask for
a breakdown
as to how your figure was calculated. This way you can be
sure you
understand if any early termination fees or other
fees on top of your usual
factoring charges have been included.
It’s important to understand the
buyout figure because
once you authorize that amount the old factor is paid off
you have released any recourse to old factor. From that
point forward you are
only dealing with the new factor.
If you are going from a factoring
agreement with an 80%
advance rate to a 90% advance rate it’s possible
there
will be enough proceeds to payoff the old factor
without your having to come up
with additional invoices.
How much does the buyout
cost?
If you are able to submit brand new invoices to the
new
factoring company which they can use to payoff
the outstanding invoices at your
old factor then there
would be no additional cost to you to make the change.
Then, as the payments come in on the old invoices
outstanding from the old
factor, as part of the buyout agreement,
those payments are forwarded to the new
factor who would
turn around and forward those to you as non-factored at no
cost.
That is an ideal situation however, to come up
with the payoff
figure most companies need to
resubmit at least a portion of invoices already
factored with the old factor to the new factor.
If that is the case, the
invoices part of the “overlap” will
incur factoring fees from both
factors.
Therefore, depending on your fee structure your
factoring fees
the first month of the change could be
higher than normal. If you’ll be getting
a lower rate
from your new factoring company you can calculate
how many months
it will take you to recoup that
expense and run a cost benefit
analysis.
Depending on the size of the transaction,
some factoring
companies offer reduced
fees on invoices part of a buyout. You also want to
make sure you give the proper notice of intent to
terminate to your old factor
(if required) to avoid any
early termination fees to leave their contract early
(refer to the Security Agreement Section titled “termination or early
termination.”
How long does a
buyout take?
When you are changing factoring companies it’s best to plan
on
the first funding taking a two to three more days than the
normal factoring
application setup process.
The added days will be needed at the time of invoice
verification and just before funding as buyout figures
are calculated and sent
to you for your approval.
It’s not uncommon for buyout figures to change
because fees continue to accrue and invoices collect so
it’s sometimes necessary
to get updated buyout figure
at the very last minute. By aligning yourself with
a
factoring company familiar with the buyout process
they can guide you through
timing to minimize any
delays in your funding as a result of the transition.
This is especially critical if you have weekly payroll
to meet and cannot spare
a few days delay in funding.
What if my situation is not that
easy?
Although it is not common industry practice,
it’s possible the
old factoring company and the
new factoring company can work together via
an
Intercreditor or Subordination Agreement
until the old factor is paid off.
Depending on the circumstances, factors have
been able to “draw a line
in the sand” where the old factor
has rights to invoices up to a certain date
and the
new factor has rights to all invoices after that date.
Questions you wish you had asked
before you
signed up with your current factor:
How many factoring
companies can I use at one time?
By the way, the universal
answer is one (per
the Uniform Commercial Code/UCC).
If I decide I want to change factoring companies
how
much notice will I need to give?
What is the penalty if I want to leave without giving
the required
notice and please provide an
example of how the fees would be calculated.
Caution: be on the look out for 12 month f
actoring contracts where requiring a
certain
factoring volume per month.
For example, a 12 month contract
where you’ve
agreed to factor $100,000 per month at a rate of 2% means
you
promise to pay them $2,000 per month in
factoring fees or $24,000 in total
factoring fees over the next year.
If you want to leave after 6 months
they will charge
you the fees you would owe them for the remaining 6 months
in
the contract which in this example equals $12,000.
That is cost prohibitive for
most companies especially
trucking companies working on very low profit
margins.
You’re stuck!
Even worse, the trucking industry in specific is
very volatile and it’s hard to know how many trucks
you will have running for
you over the course of the next year.
Can you imagine committing to factor
$100,000 per month
and then having some unexpected circumstance require
you to
let go half of your owner operators yet you still
have to pay the factor $2,000
per month regardless of
how many trucks you are running?
Do
you use a bank lock box to post my customer payments?
If so, how many days does
it take for one of my customer’s
payments to post to my account from the date
the
bank receives my customers check? This
process has
been known to artificially inflate the invoice turn
and therefore
increase your factoring fees.
How many days do you hold my original invoices
before
mailing them out to my customers? The answer
should be same day. Invoices are cash and should not be
left sitting around. Not
to mention, this is another
way to artificially inflate the invoice turn and
increase the factors fees.
How many different people will I work with at your
company?
Some factoring companies
have either a lot of turnover
or operate call centers where you start with a new
representative
every time you call in. Other factors offer dedicated account
administrators to be your point of contact.
Do
I need to pay for postage for you to mail my invoices?
That
should be included in the factoring fees.
Do you charge me every time I have a new customer to credit check?
Do you charge me every time I setup a new customer?
Do you “batch” my invoices and make me pay fees on all the invoices submitted in a particular batch until the very last invoice in that batch has collected?
Do you start holding reserves once a customer hits
60 days even
though I have 90 day recourse?
Contact our account receivable factoring specialists at:
Toll Free: 888-266-0197
On-Line
Factoring Request Form