“The conference enabled partners and employees to celebrate our anniversary, and to participate in discussing goals for factoring strategies throughout 2012. The participants discussed current issues facing the factoring industry globally,” said George Shapiro, chairman and chief executive officer, The Interface Financial Group (IFG). “And as always, we continue to make progress toward our goals in promoting and expanding our business in the future.”

Along with a celebration of IFG’s success over the past 40 years, participants at this year’s conference also took part in discussions about key issues surrounding the factoring industry globally, which included popular topics such as due diligence for spot factoring transactions, marketing and reviewing case studies.

Alternative financing solutions including invoice factoring can assist small businesses that are facing the challenges due to the current global economic circumstances. In order to sustain and grow, businesses need cash on hand, and factoring has become a popular new alternative form of funding.

IFG offers invoice factoring services solutions that enable an SME to sell its accounts receivable invoices to a third party at a discount in exchange for immediate cash within less than 24 hours. Unlike a loan, IFG factoring services are the purchase of financial assets, or receivables accounts. There are no upfront fees and no co-signers required. IFG has no minimum sales volume requirement, and professional fees are competitive because each client’s circumstances vary, which may have an impact on the fees charged.

About The Interface Financial Group (www.ifgnetwork.com)
The Interface Financial Group (IFG) is North America’s largest alternative funding source for small business, providing short-term financial resources, including invoice factoring (invoice discounting). The company serves clients in more than 30 industries in the United States, Canada, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, UK and Ireland, and offers cross-border transaction facilities. With more than 140 offices across North America and over 39 years of experience, IFG provides innovative accounts receivable factoring services and solutions by offering short-term working capital to growing businesses. Single invoice factoring, or spot factoring, is an extremely fast way to turn receivables into cash.

IFG was founded in 1972 to provide short-term working capital to help small to medium-sized businesses grow. The IFG organization operates on a local level, providing clients with local knowledge and experience and business expertise in numerous diverse areas in addition to accounts receivable factoring, including accounting, finance, law, marketing and banking.

Contacts:
Kristin Gabriel, MarCom New Media
T: 323.650.2838
E: Kgabriel@marcomnewmedia.com
Headquarters: The Interface Financial Group
7910 Woodmont Avenue, Suite 1430
Bethesda, MD 20154
T: Toll Free: USA — 877.210.9748
T: Toll Free: Canada — 877.340.6893

BETHESDA, MD–(Marketwire–April 16, 2012)–According to The Interface Financial Group (IFG), reports that The Ulster Bank Construction Purchasing Managers’ index shows the March construction sector in declining activity levels. The rate of decline in construction activity slowed over the month of March, while new business was broadly unchanged. Cost inflation accelerated markedly last month, mainly due to higher fuel prices. IFG believes that this news reinforces the need for small businesses to engage in construction factoring services to survive and grow.

The index saw activity rising to 46.7 in March from 45.8 in the previous month, and a figure that is above 50 means activity grew, while below 50 means activity fell.

IFG’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer George Shapiro said, “Overall concerns are that this may lead to slower growth in the economy. However, as many small businesses are finding out, factoring is one solution that is a growing source of alternative funding.”
IFG offers invoice factoring services solutions that will enable an SME to sell its accounts receivable invoices to a third party at a discount in exchange for immediate cash within less than 24 hours. Unlike a loan, IFG factoring services are the purchase of financial assets, or receivables accounts. There are no upfront fees and no co-signers required. IFG has no minimum sales volume requirement, and professional fees are competitive because each client’s circumstances vary, which may have an impact on the fees charged.

Private label solutions include export factoring, providing factoring services for companies who export from the United States and Canada; P.O. Funding to finance purchase orders when a company receives a purchase order and needs to purchase supplies to fulfill the order; Construction Factoring; and Inventory Financing, a solution promoting a company’s growth by funding them when they must expand and purchase inventory.

IFG does not expect to buy 100 percent of a company’s receivables and professional rates are competitive. The program allows choices of invoices to be factored, enabling customers to retain most of their money, to spend the minimum fees, plus guarantee adequate cash flow.

About The Interface Financial Group (www.ifgnetwork.com)
The Interface Financial Group (IFG) is North America’s largest alternative funding source for small business, providing short-term financial resources, including invoice factoring (invoice discounting). The company serves clients in more than 30 industries in the United States, Canada, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, UK and Ireland, and offers cross-border transaction facilities. With more than 140 offices across North America and over 39 years of experience, IFG provides innovative accounts receivable factoring services and solutions by offering short-term working capital to growing businesses. Single invoice factoring, or spot factoring, is an extremely fast way to turn receivables into cash.

IFG was founded in 1972 to provide short-term working capital to help small to medium-sized businesses grow. The IFG organization operates on a local level, providing clients with local knowledge and experience and business expertise in numerous diverse areas in addition to accounts receivable factoring, including accounting, finance, law, marketing and banking.

Kristin Gabriel, MarCom New Media
T: 323.650.2838
E: Kgabriel@marcomnewmedia.com
Headquarters: The Interface Financial Group
7910 Woodmont Avenue, Suite 1430
Bethesda, MD 20154
T: Toll Free: USA — 877.210.9748
T: Toll Free: Canada — 877.340.6893

Plus, there comes a time in every small to medium-sized business where something breaks, and it usually happens during your biggest job and under a very tight deadline. So where will you turn when you need $10 thousand dollars to buy a new piece of equipment. You know you need it or you could risk losing a job that is worth thousands more? You turn to your accountant and ask: “Do we have money coming in? When is it due? How long can we wait?” The answer is always the same – you can’t wait. Some of those invoices may not be paid for 60 to 90 days, but if you don’t finish the job on time, you might lose your biggest job and also ruin your reputation. The good news is that this is a challenge that can be solved by factoring via IFG.

So what is in it for the factor? The factor receives the full value of the account receivable. The factor is also responsible for collecting any payments on the amount and any fees associated with such debt collection. There’s risk and reward – typical of most investments. The credit of your business is not at risk, you remain debt-free and no longer have an obligation to collect on the invoice. Your client will now be paying a third party – the new owner of the debt – the factor.

Can a small business afford factoring? The discount rate on factoring is usually between 2.5 and 3.5 percent per 30 days or 1 percent per day that the invoice remains unpaid. This in reality is a very small price to pay when your small business may have reached a point where it just cannot operate without much needed cash. The real question is whether or not you can afford not to factor? It is much faster than taking a loan from a bank and will not impact your credit as much as a bank loan might impact things.

The act has a few different sections that legislates various small business concern. Title II, for example, removes regulation prohibiting small businesses that are offering securities from using advertisements to solicit investors. Because “advertisements” previously had a broad definition, this is a good step considering how information and advertisements are exchanged now – over social networks.

Title III allows entrepreneurs to raise equity from groups of non-accredited investors, known as “crowd funding”, while Title VI increases the number of shareholders that can invest in a community bank without having to comply with extra regulation. With more capital available for community banks, there may be some trickle down to the small business economy.

Other sections deal with reclassifying companies and their shareholders, like Title I, which creates a new class of companies with revenue under $1 billion as “emerging growth companies”, or Title V, which increases the number of shareholders a company can have to 1,000 before being forced to register as a public company.

Overall, these are positive steps intended to increase access to capital and decrease regulations. But the JOBS Act ignores the reality of most small business in America – their size and revenue simply aren’t large enough for this act to have much impact. Many small businesses struggle with cash flow issues month to month, and larger legislation won’t help them. One simple solution to cash flow issues that businesses can employ right away is commercial factoring.

Commercial factoring is a practice wherein a business sells its accounts receivable invoices to a third party at a discount in exchange for immediate cash. It is a method used by businesses to cover financial needs during periods when cash on hand isn’t enough to meet your needs. It’s not the business’ credit that’s up for inspection but rather the debtor’s (i.e., the party named on the invoice) and there’s nothing to repay – commercial factoring isn’t a bank loan. Loans are based on your assets and the ability to pay it back. But when you factor, the funds available are based on your credit-worthy customers and are virtually unlimited. The more invoices you have, the higher your credit line is.

While the Obama administration is making good strides to streamline laws that govern small business finance, sometimes immediate cash needs determine whether a business will succeed or fail. Invoice factoring can be the in between measure to satisfy those needs.

BETHESDA, MD–(Marketwire–March 13, 2011)–According to The Interface Financial Group (IFG), the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) reported today that United States small business confidence rose to a one year high in February. The latest optimism index increased to 94.3, from 93.9 in January.

There was also government data on Friday showing that job growth exceeded 200,000. According to the NFIB, 14 percent of its 350,000 members reported an increase in inventories, up three points from January, and the share of businesses that are still reducing stocks fell four points to 20 percent in February.

This news adds to other business indicators, including the unemployment rate holding steady at a three year low of 8.3 percent, to suggest that the economy is now in a self-sustaining growth phase. What’s more, the recently announced Jumpstart Our Business Startups (JOBS) Act, a package of six bills is intended to create more access to capital for entrepreneurs and small business owners.

“Overall this is positive news for small businesses and economic growth, however, solutions such as the JOBS Act do not take into account the reality for many of our country’s small businesses, in that they are simply too small and their revenue is not large enough for the act to have much of any impact,” said George Shapiro, chairman and chief executive officer of The Interface Financial Group (IFG). “However, factoring is one solution that works, and is a growing source of alternative funding for small to medium sized enterprises (SMEs).”

IFG offers spot factoring solutions that will enable an SME to sell its accounts receivable invoices to a third party at a discount in exchange for immediate cash within less than 24 hours. Unlike a loan, factoring services are the purchase of financial assets, or receivables accounts. There are no upfront fees and no co-signers required. IFG has no minimum sales volume requirement, and professional fees are competitive because each client’s circumstances vary, which may have an impact on the fees charged.

Private label solutions include export factoring, providing factoring services for companies who export from the United States and Canada; P.O. Funding to finance purchase orders when a company receives a purchase order and needs to purchase supplies to fulfill the order; Construction Factoring; and Inventory Financing, a solution promoting a company’s growth by funding them when they must expand and purchase inventory.

IFG does not expect to buy 100 percent of a company’s receivables and professional rates are competitive. The program allows choices of invoices to be factored, enabling customers to retain most of their money, to spend the minimum fees, plus guarantee adequate cash flow.

About The Interface Financial Group (www.ifgnetwork.com)

The Interface Financial Group (IFG) is North America’s largest alternative funding source for small business, providing short-term financial resources, including invoice factoring (invoice discounting). The company serves clients in more than 30 industries in the United States, Canada, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, UK and Ireland, and offers cross-border transaction facilities. With more than 140 offices across North America and over 39 years of experience, IFG provides innovative accounts receivable factoring services and solutions by offering short-term working capital to growing businesses. Single invoice factoring, or spot factoring, is an extremely fast way to turn receivables into cash.

IFG was founded in 1972 to provide short-term working capital to help small to medium-sized businesses grow. The IFG organization operates on a local level, providing clients with local knowledge and experience and business expertise in numerous diverse areas in addition to accounts receivable factoring, including accounting, finance, law, marketing and banking.

Kristin Gabriel, MarCom New Media
T: 323.650.2838
E: Kgabriel@marcomnewmedia.com
Headquarters: The Interface Financial Group
7910 Woodmont Avenue, Suite 1430
Bethesda, MD 20154
T: Toll Free: USA — 877.210.9748
T: Toll Free: Canada — 877.340.6893

The SBA asks you many questions in their questionnaire if you need to find financing for your small business. Once answered, the form will provide a guide to programs for which you could be eligible. What’s more, the SBA Loan Application Checklist includes all of the documents and options needed to apply for an SBA loan. There are some great ideas if you are seeking financing to help start a new business or venture, but also if you want financing to expand a business. There is even some info on exporting any of your products or services. Standard questions include whether or not you’re in the military community or if you are a minority business owner with disabilities or if you are a woman in business, or if you have suffered a disaster.

It seems what is missing is the information on how you as a business owner can take advantage of invoice factoring services. And if you have never heard about factoring services, you should know that this financial tactic is also known as accounts receivable factoring, and invoice financing. A factoring company can provide many small businesses with a bailout plan to survive the recent tough economic times. Factoring services can help provide cash within 24 to 48 hours.

If you own a small businesses with fewer than 50 employees, you can take advantage of a factoring services company lkike the Interface Financial Group (IFG.) The reality is today, a small business owner must be very competent in keeping the business on track when it hits the inevitable difficult times.

Most businesses don’t get paid right away for their delivered products and or services, which seriously can negatively impact cash flow. Ultimately a factoring services company benefits businesses that do not get paid for 30, 60 or 90 days. How? By advancing almost 90 percent of the invoice total, at the time of order fulfillment.

Construction spending jumped 1.5 percent in December, over triple the consensus estimate. This is an indicator that a recovery may have started in the hard hit construction industry. This is good news for the economy as improved construction activity will lead to higher employment and increased supplier activity.

Many sub-contractors will need access to funds to help pay for labor and materials but there continues to be reluctance in the financial industry to lend for construction.

Invoice factoring can play a major role in providing funding for construction activities. Small construction businesses can benefit along with larger businesses from receivables factoring. It is a “use it as you need it” service that can provide fast funding to assist in paying costs during the duration of a project. The Interface Financial Group can provide that funding today!

Housing Starts Are Up: Time for Construction Factoring

According to the U.S. Commerce Department, U.S. housing starts are up 1.5 percent, the result of a seasonally adjusted annual rate of nearly 700,000 units in January. This figure has increased for nine consecutive months — the second-best pace of overall housing production since October of 2008. This report means that builders are getting back to work, and it adds to the evidence that the overall housing market is gradually but consistently moving in the right direction. This means construction factoring will go into full swing. -more-

Only 40 Percent of Businesses Have Funds to Grow

A recent study by the Pepperdine University Private Markets Capital Projects surveyed hundreds of privately held businesses as well as thousands of lenders and investors nationwide and found that only 40 percent of businesses had access to the funds they needed to grow. Though these businesses had solid growth plans, they were still denied funding from traditional lenders. Author, John Paglia, found that instead of the projected 10 percent revenue growth most businesses could expect, with access to additional capital revenue growth could be as high as 25 percent. -more-

NEWS

Construction Factoring Supports Recovery as Private Construction Accelerates

-The Bureau of Labor reports the construction industry’s unemployment rate increased in January to 17.7%, from 16 percent in December 2011–

BETHESDA, MD–(Marketwire–February 8, 2012)–According to the Interface Financial Group (IFG), as the private construction sector recovers economically; construction factoring is an ideal alternative funding solution to support the industry and its growth. The latest statistics from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) indicates that the construction industry’s unemployment rate increased in January to 17.7 percent, from 16 percent in December 2011. January was also the 16th-consecutive month in which the construction industry’s jobless rate was lower than its prior year figure. -more-

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The Interface Financial Group

The three-month moving average for housing starts has now increased for nine consecutive months, an indication of a solid recovery in housing activity. This stems from recent firming in employment and consumer confidence.

“Housing production is still far from normal, based on a healthy market,” said George Shapiro, IFG’s chairman and chief executive officer. “Alternative funding strategies like invoice factoring could help SMEs finance their continued business and grow as the economy continues to improve during 2012. IFG’s spot factoring solution enables an SME to sell their accounts receivable invoices to a third party at a discount in exchange for immediate cash within less than 24 hours.”

Home builders are still facing tight credit conditions, continued foreclosures of properties on the market and challenging appraisals. This points towards a slower pace of improvement in housing, even as recent builder surveys indicate a steady and increasing optimism regarding current market conditions. Overall the number of improving housing markets nationwide has grown substantially over the past six months.

Factoring is an ideal alternative funding solution for small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) at this point in the United States’ economic recovery. Building on significant upward revisions to numbers for the previous two months, nationwide production of new single-family homes and apartments increased 1.5 percent according to newly released figures from the U.S. Commerce Department. This marks the second-best pace of overall housing production since October of 2008.

Accounts receivable factoring involves the purchase of financial assets, or receivables accounts. There are no upfront fees and no co-signers required. IFG has no minimum sales volume requirement, and professional fees are competitive because each client’s circumstances vary, which may have an impact on the fees charged.

IFG private label solutions include export factoring, providing services for companies who export from the United States and Canada; P.O. Funding to finance purchase orders when a company receives a purchase order and needs to purchase supplies to fulfill the order; Construction Factoring; and Inventory Financing, a solution promoting a company’s growth by funding them when they need to purchase inventory or must expand.

IFG does not expect to buy 100 percent of a company’s receivables and professional rates are competitive. The program allows choices of invoices to be factored, enabling customers to retain most of their money, to spend the minimum fees, plus guarantee adequate cash flow.

About The Interface Financial Group (www.ifgnetwork.com)

The Interface Financial Group (IFG) is North America’s largest alternative funding source for small business, providing short-term financial resources, including invoice factoring (invoice discounting). The company serves clients in more than 30 industries in the United States, Canada, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, UK and Ireland, and offers cross-border transaction facilities. With more than 140 offices across North America and over 39 years of experience, IFG provides innovative accounts receivable factoring services and solutions by offering short-term working capital to growing businesses. Single invoice factoring, or spot factoring, is an extremely fast way to turn receivables into cash.

IFG was founded in 1972 to provide short-term working capital to help small to medium-sized businesses grow. The IFG organization operates on a local level, providing clients with local knowledge and experience and business expertise in numerous diverse areas in addition to accounts receivable factoring, including accounting, finance, law, marketing and banking.

Contacts:
Kristin Gabriel, MarCom New Media
T: 323.650.2838
E: Kgabriel@marcomnewmedia.com
Headquarters: The Interface Financial Group
7910 Woodmont Avenue, Suite 1430
Bethesda, MD 20154
T: Toll Free: USA — 877.210.9748
T: Toll Free: Canada — 877.340.6893

Author John Paglia found that instead of the projected 10 percent revenue growth most of these businesses could expect, with access to additional capital revenue growth as high as 25 percent. So what is going on? He also found that lenders and investors rejected about 90 percent of loan applications or investment proposals secured by real estate holdings, as well as rejecting 73 percent of those applications that are based on a business’ cash flow. Therefore businesses determined to pursue expansion plans are forced to turn to other funding sources.

What’s more, this study also found that about 50 percent of business owners turned to friends and family for money and only 10 percent took advantage of financing from alternative lenders. yet we all know that even funding from some alternative sources can be a challenge to obtain. Venture capitalists and angel investors tend to look at a business’ cash flow and can be hesitant to invest if those numbers aren’t healthy.

There is, however, one alternative source of funding kn own as factoring receivables which doesn’t rely on current cash flow – it relies only on the accounts receivable invoices that a company has on hand. Many aren’t familiar with factoring receivables. So what is it?

Invoice factoring is a practice wherein a business sells its accounts receivable invoices to a third party at a discount in exchange for immediate cash. This method has always been used by businesses to cover financial needs during periods in which these needs exceed cash flow. It’s not the business’ credit that’s up for inspection but rather the debtor’s (i.e., the party named on the invoice) and there’s nothing to repay – factoring isn’t a bank loan. Loans are based on your assets and the ability to pay it back. But when you factor, the funds available are based on your credit-worthy customers and are virtually unlimited. The more invoices you have, the higher your credit line is.

If you feel limited by a lack of capital from traditional funding sources, take a look at alternative funding, like factoring receivables. Don’t take unnecessary risks with your business, like prioritizing certain bills or payments over others so as to have cash on hand. The financial climate is tough, but it’s not impossible to navigate. Factoring receivables can be a quick and easy way to obtain additional capital to keep your business growing and expanding.