Introducing Instant Pay

Instant Pay is a new service offered by Express Freight Finance that allows owner-operators and other trucking companies that factor freight to get paid instantly, and we mean instantly. Traditional invoice payment can take between 30-45 days. Express Freight Financing freight factoring cuts the wait down to 3-4 days. Instant Pay means you get paid, well, instantly.

Breakdowns and unexpected expenses happen. With Instant Pay, you can get the money you need to deal with them and get back on the road.

How Does Instant Pay Work?

It’s so easy. Send invoices through our mobile app or client portal, then once the invoice is approved funds are immediately transferred to your card. From there, you can do what you want with your money.

Setting up Instant Pay is super easy, especially if you’re already an Express Freight Finance customer. Reach out to one of our representatives to get set up started, activate your account, receive card(s) in the mail, and start submitting your invoices for easy access to fast cash.

How Does Instant Pay Benefit Drivers and Trucking Companies that Factor?

There are several clear-cut benefits to getting paid instantly for each load.

Instant Pay Offers Instant Cash Flow

Cash flow is critical for small trucking companies and owner-operators since there’s not typically a huge cash reserve to draw from if something goes wrong.

Getting paid instantly means cash flow is no longer an issue. You get paid for each load that gets run as you submit the invoice, no waiting and no wondering when that money will hit your account.

Instantly have the money you need to deal with repairs, fuel up, pay drivers and dispatchers, or pay bills.

It’s A Quick and Easy to Get Paid

Instant Pay makes it fast and simple to get paid. It only requires three steps, and you don’t even have to take one of them:

1. Submit your invoice via the Express Freight Financing app or client portal.
2. Your invoice is processed and approved.
3. Use your money how you want.

Instant Pay is Affordable with No Transaction Fees

With Instant Pay, it won’t cost you an arm and a leg to get paid early. As a part of Instant Pay subscription, you don’t pay transfer fees. With those transfer fees costing up to $30 each, Instant Pay makes perfect sense as a business investment that offers ROI almost immediately.

You Can Do What You Want with Your Money

Instant Pay goes beyond simple freight factoring, giving you control of your money instantly. You can use your money directly from the Instant Pay card anywhere you use a regular debit or credit card, transfer funds to another account, get cash out of the ATM, link your card to leading payment services like Google Pay or Apple Pay and spend from there, or pay people using just a phone number. You can also instantly transfer funds to your fuel card directly from the app.

Your Money is Safe with Instant Pay

We work with Stripe, a leading payment processing company to securely process each Instant Pay payment. Because we chose our payment partner well, every transaction is FDIC insured.

Want Instant Pay? Here’s How You Can Get It.

If you want to learn more or get signed up for Instant Pay today, simply reach out to an Express Freight Finance representative here.

The post Get Your Money Right When You Need It with Instant Pay appeared first on Express Freight Finance.

Hiring and Retaining Drivers

Driver turnover and churn are constant challenges in the trucking industry. It seems like there will always be a driver shortage that will vary by degree according to demand. Retaining quality employees starts with the hiring process.

Excellent employees are more likely to be serious about their careers, whereas drivers with spotty records are likely to change jobs frequently. By using the national Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse, trucking companies can hire quality drivers with clean records who are more likely to get shipments to their destinations on time.

Retaining good employees requires a bit of creativity. Some trucking companies offer unbeatable wages and benefits. Others create regular contests around things like compliance reports or spending on fuel to reward drivers. Whatever a trucking company can do to offer recognition will go a long way toward retaining drivers, which will pay off in higher productivity and profitability.

Managing Cash Flow

Maintaining a profitable trucking company can get even more challenging when we look at cash flow. Since payments from clients and brokers are typically staggered on 30, 60, and 90-day payment schedules, trucking companies can experience gaps in revenue. At the same time, bills, payroll, vehicle maintenance, and other expenses need to be paid, which can result in a cash flow deficit.

Trucking companies need to maintain positive cash flow to become profitable. To do this, trucking companies use factoring services. Factoring allows trucking companies to get fast access to revenue by converting unpaid invoices to cash.

By using freight factoring services, trucking companies eliminate gaps in revenue, build up reserves to cover payroll and expenses, and are able to maintain positive cash flow.

At Express Freight Finance, we help trucking companies stay profitable by offering fast and comprehensive factoring services. If you want to eliminate the wait caused by staggered payment schedules and boost your cash flow, contact Express Freight Finance today.

The post Two Big Tips for Maintaining a Profitable Trucking Company appeared first on Express Freight Finance.

The reality may not be as frightening as the news makes it out to be, but having a source of recession-resistant financing is essential, no matter what the economic outlook is.

Financing for the Trucking Industry Is Getting Tougher

Lenders are usually the first ones to flinch in an uncertain economic climate. If the word “recession” is thrown around too many times, suddenly even the most stable and lucrative industries pose a risk. Lenders are currently tightening credit standards in the trucking industry and raising requirements, thus making it more challenging to get loans.

Looming tariffs, long lines for border inspections for truckers, and more are placing downward pressures on the trucking industry. However, relaxed regulations are also increasing revenue in the spot rate and LTL markets.

Erring on the side of caution, lenders will reduce their own risk in financial transactions by shifting more of the burden to the borrower. Trucking companies and independent owner-operators need accessible and affordable financing without struggling to pay off debt and high interest rates.

Recession-Resistant Financing

There is recession-resistant financing designed specifically for the trucking industry. Freight factoring works very differently from loans in that there is no debt, no balance to repay, no scheduled payments, and no credit minimums for trucking companies.

Freight factoring is a transparent exchange of receivables for cash, designed to eliminate the lag imposed by 30-, 60-, and 90-day payment schedules. This gives trucking companies quick access to capital without any of the restrictions or high requirements of traditional lending channels.

Because freight factoring is structured around receivables, cash is made available within 24 hours, and there are no long processing times or arbitrary loan board decisions.

Express Freight Finance is a national leader in freight factoring services. Our team works with trucking companies of all sizes to provide a recession-resistant alternative to traditional loans, and our financing is a perfect fit for economic booms, downturns, and everything in between. Contact our offices today to get started.

The post Recession-Resistant Financing for the Trucking Industry appeared first on Express Freight Finance.

What is Invoice Factoring?

Invoice factoring allows a business to sell its accounts receivables (invoices) to a third party.  When a company enters into a factoring agreement, they receive immediate payment for their outstanding approved invoices from the factoring company in exchange for a small percentage of each invoice.  The factoring company will then collect the payment for those invoices from the client.

How Invoice Factoring Can Help Your Business

Here are several benefits to invoice factoring that can contribute to making your business recession-proof and help it through difficult times.

• Access to Working Capital. When the last recession hit, many small businesses were unable to access working capital due to tighter controls from banks.  However, invoice factoring remains a stable access to cash because it is backed by accounts receivable.  Funding for invoice factoring is also fast, with approvals often coming through in 24 hours or less.
• Pay Your Monthly Expenses. Companies that use invoice factoring no longer need to wait for clients to pay their bills so that they can meet payroll or cover other key expenses.
• Eliminate Collections Worries. If you have some vendors that are slow to pay, you can turn over collection concerns to the invoice factoring company.
• Avoid Penalties. Late fees and penalties can pile up when you don’t have the capital on hand to pay your bills on time.  This can also cause strained relationships with suppliers.  Fast access to working capital can eliminate these issues.

In tight economic times, a growing business may need a little extra help to survive, and most would like to avoid taking on additional debt.  Invoice factoring is the ideal solution for many businesses to gain fast access to working capital.

The post How Can You Make Your Business Recession-Proof? Invoice Factoring appeared first on Express Freight Finance.

What is a Merchant Cash Advance?

A merchant cash advance may also be termed a merchant card advance, or “MCA.”  This alternative financing agreement can deliver a specified amount of capital to your company for the promise of future sales.  The business repays the loan through monthly payments, which are a percentage of the company’s credit and debit card revenue. This type of financing usually has extremely high interest rates, and should rarely be a first choice for business capital.

Merchant Cash Advance vs. Invoice Factoring

Similar to a MCA, invoice factoring provides businesses with easy access to cash. However, here are several reasons why invoice factoring could beat out a MCA as the better cash solution.

• Faster Approval. While merchant cash advances promise quick approval, they may have some road blocks that can leave you out in the cold.  Invoice factoring offers both fast approvals and quick funding without strict credit requirements.
• Less Risky. MCA’s charge you based on anticipated sales, while invoice factoring is based on invoices that you already have on hand.  Clearly, your risk is less with factoring.
• Better Loan Terms.  The terms are generally better with factoring arrangements.  Not only can you select a solution that matches your need, but the overall cost of financing is much less with factoring than with a merchant cash advance.
• Additional Services.  Often, when you use a factoring service, the company will take over the billing and collections functions for those outstanding invoices.  This is one less function that your business needs to worry about.

There are several ways to raise fast capital for your business. Before you make a choice that you might regret, be sure to weigh the pros and cons, taking a close look at the advantages of invoice factoring options.

The post The differences between Invoice Factoring and Merchant Cash Advance appeared first on Express Freight Finance.

After a big contract with the largest steel mill in the area, rapid growth soon followed as a result.

Check out Finding a Niche: Freight that fits – an article recently published on the American Trucker.

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Eliminating Collection Services

When faced with a backlog of unpaid customer invoices, many trucking companies feel the need to bring on collection services. What they do not tell you is that collections can extend the waiting period on payment out to 50 days. That can cause an even greater strain on cash flow. By using factoring services, you can receive guaranteed payment on open invoices without having to resort to collection services, or sending out those awkward “friendly reminders” to customers, in the hope of receiving payment before the aging period closes.

Zero Debt

Most trucking company owners are all too familiar with the process of taking out a loan, and then spending years paying down the interest, before being able to zero out the remaining balance. Traditional loans place debt on the books which can hinder chances of financing new equipment, expanding facilities, or securing additional funds. Unlike bank loans and similar financing programs, freight factoring does not place any debt on the balance sheets. At its heart, freight factoring is a simple sale on receivables, allowing trucking companies and drivers to get paid much faster than waiting on remittance from customer invoices with aging periods of 30 days or longer.

Get Started Now

If you would like to get debt-free financing from your open invoices, get in touch with the experts at Express Freight Finance. At Express Freight Finance, we will work with you directly to tailor a customized solution to fit your needs and help you reach your goals. Call our offices at 877-807-3006 for a no-obligation quote to get started.

The post Freight Factoring: The Debt-Free Solution For Working Capital appeared first on Express Freight Finance.