Eagle Capital has its roots in the transportation industry where factoring invoices is commonplace. Truckers need positive cash flow in order  to cover daily expenses of keeping trucks on the road to compensate for outstanding invoices which tie up the much needed cash. Now the home furnishings industry will benefit from the same program as Eagle Capital advances cash to the manufacturer while awaiting payment from customers. Eagle Capital actually collects the payments and even provides credit checks on prospective customers for their clients to see if they are a worthwhile credit risk.

Typically, receivables factoring requires the factoring agent to advance anywhere from 70-90% of the face value of invoices presented by the manufacturer right up front. When the balance of the invoice is collected by the factoring agent, the client then receives the balance less a fee for services typically running in the range of 1-5% of the total invoice value. In many cases, the infusion of cash allows the manufacturer to meet immediate expenses such as payroll and in some cases may even provide the capital for expansion projects.

One motivation cited by Eagle Capital for offering the factoring service to the home furnishings industry was to level the playing field with foreign manufacturers who already have the benefit of cheap labor.

You can read the entire article about home furnishings receivables factoring here.

The division is being staffed by a team of seasoned freight factoring veterans and will service trucking firms and independent truckers nationwide. While the focus is esclusively on factoring freight invoices at the moment, the group will likely expand into servicing other industries in the future.

When a bank introduces a receivables factoring division, it is another clear indication that the mainstream financial sector is realizing that invoice factoring is a truly legitimate financial service and not just some shady financial scheme targeting poor credit risks and desperate business owners.

I am reminded of a similar relationship within another industry. I liken it to the way the healthcare industry has viewed massage therapy for a very long time. Massage has been practiced since ancient times, not just as a method of stress reduction but as a serious healing practice. But as modern medicine evolved, massage became just another one of those alternative medical practices that was offered in gyms, spas and chiropractic offices. It was the poor man’s physical therapy.

But nowadays, there is more acceptance of massage therapy as a valuable healing tool and more and more therapists are being employed in what is now termed medical massage. Many a doctor’s office will now have a therapist on staff and will prescribe their services a s part of a treatment program along with medications. Massage has moved out of the realm of healthcare voodoo and into the limelight of the medical community.

As evidenced in Madison, SD, receivables factoring is also edging into that type of limelight. I predict that more and more banks will begin offering factoring services. And banks do need all the help that they can get.

One thing that amazes me about YouTube is how much other information there is on there besides music videos and silly people trying to become famous doing silly things. For example, I looked up the term “freight factoring” and found dozens of promotional videos for factoring companies. What I was hoping to find was some sort of straightforward information on the do’s and don’ts of freight factoring but I found a lot of slick sales videos instead.

But I wanted to post a video and I figured I’d give a plug to a guy with an entrepreneurial spirit by the name of Jack Martin. Jack runs a business called A1 Freight Broker Training and is aggressively using vehicles like YouTube to promote his business. Below is Jack’s brief video referring to freight factoring. Keep on truckin’, Jack!