Factoring Blog News, views and gossip from the world of factoring and invoice discounting

I always viewed Platinum Funding as one of the factoring bottom feeders who took on cases that everyone else had turned down and then charged them a huge amount in fees for the priviledge so when I was told last week that they had gone into Administration I was partly relieved.

I have just been told that the book of existing clients has been bought by Aston Rothbury and to say that I am dumbfounded would be a great understatement.

Posted under Factoring

A whisper has reached my ears that Bibby Factors are deep in negotiations with Davenham which could result very shortly in a take-over of the fledgling factoring operation which has struggled to get away due to Davenham’s well chronicled lack of money.

I’m not sure whether the deal will also include the trade finance division which is probably attractive from Bibby’s point of view but as there isn’t enough competition in this sector from the market’s point of view I hope that it doesn’t.

Posted under Bibby Factors, Davenham, Factoring

I was approached by a company yesterday who had given notice of termination to their factoring company to be told that the factor wished to levy termination fees as the client hadn’t drawn down as much of their funding line as had been anticipated and a figure of £1,500 was what the factor told them would be charged.

The company is turning over £200,000 per annum and was drawing down £20,000 of funding instead of the £30,000 that the factor anticipated and was paying 2% over Libor for the priviledge.

Assuming that the factoring company make a turn of 2% on the funds that they put out that would equate to £200 loss of income on the £10,000 over a whole year so I can’t see how a charge of £1,500 can possibly be justified.

My personal feeling is that the charge is extortionate and trying to squeeze extra fees out of a company that has fulfilled it’s contractual obligations is bringing the whole factoring industry into disrepute.

I won’t name and shame quite yet as the charge hasn’t been finalised but I did suggest that the client might mention as part of his negotiations that the broker charged with finding a replacement factor is the “bloke that writes the factoring blog” as hopefully that may cause them to rethink their policy.

Posted under Factoring