Do I Lose Control of My Sales Ledger With Factoring?
With factoring, yes - partially. The provider manages credit control and contacts your customers for payment. You give up day-to-day control of collections. With invoice discounting, no - you keep full control of your sales ledger, chase your own customers, and the provider operates invisibly. Keeping control is a big reason why, by value, most UK invoice finance is discounting rather than factoring.
With factoring, you partially lose sales ledger control as the provider handles credit control and customer contact. With invoice discounting, you retain full control - the provider is invisible to customers. Keeping control is a big reason most UK invoice finance by value is discounting. More detail + scope
This page covers
Whether invoice finance means losing control of your sales ledger and customer relationships
Not covered here
Customer perception (see /questions/will-customers-think-im-failing/), aggressive chasing (see /questions/will-factoring-company-chase-aggressively/)
What "Losing Control" Actually Means
With factoring, the provider sends statements and reminders to your customers. They decide when to escalate. They handle queries about invoices and payments. You still raise the invoices and deliver the work - but the collections process is theirs. For some businesses, this is a benefit (no more chasing), but for others it feels like losing a relationship.
When Factoring Makes Sense
If you do not have a dedicated credit controller. If chasing customers takes time you would rather spend on operations. If your customers are used to dealing with third parties. If you are a smaller business without the resources for professional credit control. In these cases, the provider's credit control team may actually do a better job than you are doing now.
When Discounting Makes Sense
If you have established customer relationships you want to protect. If you already have a credit control function. If your customers might react negatively to third-party contact. If you want funding without changing anything about how you run your business. Discounting gives you the cash without giving up the control.
Founder & Managing Director, Muswell Rose, founder and PSC of Best Business Loans Ltd
Adam is the founder and managing director of Muswell Rose and a founder of Best Business Loans Ltd, the company behind Market Invoice. He spent over three years as managing director of Penny, a UK invoice finance business, and his career runs through insurance, mortgages, commercial finance and fintech lending. He writes the Market Invoice library.
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