How long does it take to put in place an invoice finance, invoice factoring or invoice discounting facility?

Well the flippant answer is ‘how long is a piece of string?’ However, that helps nobody. On average I would say it takes 3 weeks but I have seen it done in 2 days. While the broker and factoring company plays a very big part in the process it does rely heavily on the requirement and the information that the prospect can provide.

I remember looking at an ‘urgent requirement’ last May and advising we could have a facility in place for the ‘following friday’. While we had everything in place the prospect simply let everyone down by not being able to supply simple information – such as a copy of his passport. This rumbled on until October!!

The flip side of this is a prospect that phoned me on a Saturday evening advising he needed a £1.7m facility in place by the Wednesday. I advised him everything I would need and I had it on Sunday morning. The facility was in place to meet his deadline.

The other key things to achieving a quick turnaround is a) knowing which invoice finance company can meet your needs and b) knowing which person within that company to speak to.