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Trucking and Transportation factoring in Canada

Guest post by: Stan Prokop

Article Overview: The article focuses on trucking and freight factoring in Canada , as many transportation, freight and trucking firms choose accounts receivable financing as their option of choice for working capital financing .

Trucking and Transportation factoring in Canada

Trucking , Freight and Factoring in Canada have become somewhat synonymous terms. Let's look at some of the reasons for that.

Canadian Trucking and Transport firms have historically been significantly challenged in financing their company through traditional working capital methods - i.e. bank loans, bank lines of credit, working capital term loans, etc. When these are not available (for a variety of reasons!) Your trucking and transport firm, no matter what size, should consider receivable financing, also known as freight factoring .

In the past we have spoken of the 'working capital gap '. Nowhere is this 'gap 'more evident in the trucking industry. Will it require rocket science to understand the gap? Not really, it's as simple as this - your drivers, fuel suppliers and other want to be paid weekly, or within 30 days, whatever their terms are with your firm. You have receivable, but these tend to be collected in 60 days, sometimes more, sometimes less, mostly more!

That's the working capital gap.

As a trucker or truck firm owner you are looking for a better way to finance your business. Truck factoring / freight factoring in essence give you an unlimited amount of credit line based on the receivables as collateral. As your business grows, so does your factoring facility.

This type of accounts receivable or invoice discounting facility allows you to pay suppliers and employees, and further allows you to focus on growing your business. What you are doing in essence is capitalizing your business with the proper amount of working capital. That's common business sense, and allows you not to tap into either personal financial resources or enter into long term loans, assuming you qualify for those loans - many don't in the somewhat challenging current financial and banking environment.

So it all sounds kind of easy, do it not. There are of course issues you have to both understand and address. One if of course fees, which range in Canada from 1-3% per month. As a business owner of financial manager of a truck or transport firm there are numerous ways in which you can offset part, or in some cases all of your financing charges. One of these very obvious ways is to use the new cash and working capital that you generate from your factoring and accounts receivable discounting facility to pay suppliers on time and take their discounts.

When we talk to Canadian business firms, including truck or transport firms more and more of their time is focused on looking for cash flow solutions and not on running and growing their business. With a proper accounts receivable and factoring facility you can focus on growing your firm's sales and profits.

In Canada factor solutions for truck and transport firms, how they work on a day to day basis, and their costs differ greatly, and we mean greatly. We recommend you talk to a trusted and experienced advisor in this area to maximize the solution that's best for your firm in terms of rate, structure, and day to day paperwork.

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Article Tags: accounts receivable financing, freight factoring, trucking factoring, trucking firms



Related Forum Posts
Re: Using factoring companies - [quote="BigJim22":3e4n6n63]I haven't used it myself but can see how it would be valuable for some entrepreneurs. It's hard when you get an order but don't get paid until 30, 60, or 90 days later. But it's also hard to give up $ to the factoring companies![/quote:3e4n6n63] ..."But it's also hard to give up $ to the factoring companies!" Great comment, Jim! However, it's not as hard as it may appear from the outside. Unfortunately, there is no free meal ticket with any financing option (other than gov. grants). The real question regarding the financial viability of factoring is this: I have 2 checks for you; one is for $100 and you can have that one in a month; the other one pays you $80 now plus another $15 in a month. Yes, you net 5 cents less on the dollar with option 2, but if you can take the first $80 now and turn them into $90 or $100 (e.g. more sales!) in a month, then you've not only off-set the loss but actually grown your top and bottom line. Factoring is really much more like running a price promotion. Just look at all the sales events that are happening daily. Companies discount their goods by 10% - 75% only to sell more volume. What are the costs of these programs? Another good example are credit cards! If you as a merchant accept credit card payments from your customer, you're already paying 2% - 5% of each sale to the credit card company. That's the same principle as factoring! Or how many businesses offer a 2% net 10 days discount to their customers, only for them to pay within 10 days? By the way, I can beat those 2% net 10 hands down with our factoring rate! And then there are traditional loans.... you always have to pay back the principal AND interest periodically, no mattter how the business is doing. With our factoring programs there is no principal or interest to be paid back, and the "cost of factoring" is tied to sales and cash flow (i.e., when an invoice actually gets paid and after you have already received the money). The objective truth is that factoring is not the right solution for everybody. Used wrongly or irresponsibly, it can do a lot of damage to a company. But used for the right reason and under the right circumstances, a good factor and factoring program will do miracles for a company's growth (or survival). And in these situations, the $ that go to the factoring company become totally moot. It will truly be the famous win-win. Best, Ralf
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