we have been on 30 days from invoice date but there are rumours we are being moved to 60 days?
What terms are other people on?
work week one, invoice week two, paid week five
work week two, invoice week three, paid week six
and so on
30 days from invoice date. Being moved to 60 days would set alarm bells ringing and I would insure my invoices if you have no choice but to accept as if they go under that’s £■■,■■■.■■ you are out of pocket! Why do they need to go to 60 days, becuase they haven’t got any money in the bank!!
30 days from invoice date, yet as a big multi national company they never actually pay on those terms.
For 2008 I had one weeks invoice paid on the due date, one weeks invoice paid 2 days earlier than due date, evey other invoice was late from 2 days to 14 days. At least the late payments are pretty regular so you can get used to it.
30 days ■■? “You were lucky”
try working for farmers and abattoirs 
abattoirs don’t get paid by supermarkets on 30 days either, some farmers pay when they get the bill, some don’t !!!
Not many shipping lines pay on 30 days, usually 60 days, so the larger container hauliers are usually standing the cost by paying their subbies earlier, if they can push you back to 60 days it will be a big saving for them, especially if they are paying you out of their overdraft.
It doesn’t mean they have financial problems just that they’re getting smarter
The company has just been bought by another company - so they are making lots of changes at the moment in all areas.
I think they are just working smarter and looking after their longivity - which should hopefully keep us working for a long time in the future.
But we are monitoring the situation just in case - and trying to utilise vehicles elsewhere to keep the “cash in pot” to a minimum.
Out of interest if we did decide to go down the factoring route - does anyone have any figures on what this “costs”. In case we need to renegotiate our contract and rates.
Owner Drivers:
The company has just been bought by another company - so they are making lots of changes at the moment in all areas.
I think they are just working smarter and looking after their longivity - which should hopefully keep us working for a long time in the future.
But we are monitoring the situation just in case - and trying to utilise vehicles elsewhere to keep the “cash in pot” to a minimum.Out of interest if we did decide to go down the factoring route - does anyone have any figures on what this “costs”. In case we need to renegotiate our contract and rates.
You arent on for a large multi national in the North West are you who have taken over another large multi national in the North West , Fridge work most of it?
I wouldnt go the factorin route if it was me, they only pay half of the invoice or a percentage of it and the rest when it comes in from your client less their fee, If your client doesnt pay the factor then you will owe the factor…Its not a case of the factoring company paying you your money owed by your client and then the factoring company taking the gamble and chasing the money…doesn’t work like that. When I did it I ended up owing the Factor which I had to pay!!!
You get nowt for nowt and in my experience it only decreases your rate. They are in it to make money out of you. I had no end of problems…
Do your home work, used Dunn & Bradstreet or similar to check your clients out on a regular basis
Agreed. I used a factor years back, they conveniently (for them) tried to “lose” a few loads. I would only recommend using them as a very last resort. When i packedc up in 99, Took months of wrangling to get them to finally admit what was in black & white and cough up.
Jonathan
Thanks for the advice - I have heard there are two ways to use a factoring company - one to get a quick release of money - may be cheaper than a loan !! And the other is to guarantee your payments and they take the risks if the company goes bust. I am sure b) would be a lot more expensive - just wondered if anyone had any experience of b).
Also factoring I have read about seems to be to give payment on invoice immediately (ish). Are there any options to use this as a buffer - i.e. if it moves to 60 days, factoring company would give us money on day 30, rather than day 3, and they would wait until day 60 for payment?
routier:
You arent on for a large multi national in the North West are you who have taken over another large multi national in the North West , Fridge work most of it?
Nope!
Silverburn Finance are quite good. They pay the invoice straight away less their % fee which is 1 or 1.5, I think not sure 
then they wait for the money, they charge more for 60 days. Factoring is not the same as Invoice insurance against non payment although they might offer this service as well. If I worked for anyone other than a huge stable company, I would go this route just so I could sleep at night.
As above factoring can be a nightmare but sometimes it is necessary, I used to use Alex Lawrie years ago but they did lose me two customers saying that invoice had not been paid by the customer - when they had, eventually managed to get rid but it was a real ball ache.
Owner Drivers:
Thanks for the advice - I have heard there are two ways to use a factoring company - one to get a quick release of money - may be cheaper than a loan !! And the other is to guarantee your payments and they take the risks if the company goes bust. I am sure b) would be a lot more expensive - just wondered if anyone had any experience of b).Also factoring I have read about seems to be to give payment on invoice immediately (ish). Are there any options to use this as a buffer - i.e. if it moves to 60 days, factoring company would give us money on day 30, rather than day 3, and they would wait until day 60 for payment?
There are many ways at looking at , you may or may not have an overdraft, it may prevent you from going overdrawn, saves you takin out a loan etc etc, it will not thought safeguard you against monies owed. As mentioned above, this is different.
Yes they will give you a percentage of your invoice and balance on receipt of invoice paid.
If your payment terms move to 60 days, then I assume the factoring company would give you 50 % of the invoice in week 1 of the invoice being submitted to them, the remainder at 60 days when the balance is paid by your client. Really all you are getting is your running costs to keep the wheels in motion. If this works for you then its an option.
You could always look for a suitable credit card that can give you 50 odd days of credit before payment is due ? providing the amount due is paid by the date then this may also be another option ?