Invoice Factoring
Selling unpaid invoices to a factor at a discount for immediate cash, with the factor often collecting from your customer.
Invoice factoring turns unpaid invoices into cash now. You sell specific outstanding invoices to a factoring company at a discount; the factor advances most of the face value up front, then collects directly from your customer when the invoice comes due and remits the rest minus its fee.
Two features define it. First, pricing depends heavily on your customer’s credit, not just yours, because the factor is betting on that customer paying. Second, factoring often involves the customer — in notification factoring, they are told to pay the factor directly — which some operators dislike for relationship reasons.
Factoring fits B2B businesses with large, slow-paying net-30 or net-60 invoices. It differs from a general working capital advance, which is a lump sum against your overall cash flow rather than tied to specific invoices, and from accounts receivable financing, where you usually keep collecting from your customers yourself.
Frequently asked
Is invoice factoring a loan?
No. It is the sale of your invoices at a discount for immediate cash, not a loan with accruing interest. The factor is buying the receivable.
Will my customers know I am factoring?
Often, yes. In notification factoring, customers are told to pay the factor directly. Some arrangements are confidential, so ask which type an offer is.
How is factoring different from a working-capital advance?
Factoring is tied to specific invoices and your customer’s credit; a working-capital advance is a lump sum against your overall cash flow that you control end to end.
Related terms
Borrowing against your outstanding invoices while you keep ownership and continue collecting from customers yourself.
Payment terms that give a customer 30 days from the invoice date to pay the balance in full.
Payment terms that give a customer 60 days from the invoice date to pay — roughly double the cash-flow gap of net-30.
The cash a business uses to cover day-to-day operations — payroll, inventory, and the timing gaps in between.
A financing structure where a funder buys a set amount of your future sales at a discount today — a sale, not a loan.
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