Should You Choose Barclays Trade & Working Capital?

Barclays Bank is recognised as one of the UKs largest banks and providers of business banking to SMEs. Barclays Bank asset based lending/sales finance/invoice finance products are found in the all-encompassing title of Barclays Trade and Working Capital UK & Ireland. Barclays product set provides a comprehensive range of products and protection to improve cash-flow whilst ensuring maximum protection for directors.

Barclays Trade & Working Capital Overview

Barclays invoice finance has a variety of financial products for SMEs including but not limited to; Barclays Sales Finance, Barclays Cash-low finance, Barclays Invoice Discounting and Barclays Asset Finance. When cash receipts are lagging behind the company sales/invoiced work then one of these products may be the answer. Essentially this commercial product set has over 250 support specialists working in it across the UK & Ireland.

Provided you have a turnover of as little as £75,000 you can use Barclays Sales Finance to improve your company cash-flow in most major currencies.

Barclays support services such as the Pingit software can also help you cut administration costs and speed up those invoice payments.

Why Choose Barclays Trade & Working Capital as Your Invoice Finance Provider?

Barclays Trade & Working Finance is a division of Barclays bank so you have the security of a big bank utilising 250 local SME specialists knowledge in the UK or Ireland.

You can trade internationally in a variety of currencies with all the expertise you will ever need. Of course if you are looking to trade solely internationally you may want to consider HSBC as they ranked in the top 20 world banks.

Provided you have a Barclays Business Account, Barclays provides free Pingit software enabling you to manage, create and send invoices trading in international currencies.

There are other banks which provide similar facility such as Royal Bank of Scotland’s FacFlow but Barclay’s Pingit does seem more user friendly and well put together.

 Barclays Pingit Invoice Software allows you to:

• Create and manage invoices flexibly and adding VAT
• Status views of your invoices
• Invoice reminders and customer communications and copies
• Send and receive payments for invoice communications (email, SMS, WhatsApp, Bank Transfer)

Barclays can also help protect your business against the risk of bad debt.

Barclays Invoice Discounting switching and Barclays Factoring switching

Barclays are members of the Asset Based Finance Association (ABFA) which is now part of UK Finance. As a member of ABFA, Barclays Trade & Working Capital have signed up to a set of agreed standards including cooperating with competitors when a client wants to switch.

Typically you may have a minimum contract term. This contract term can be 12 months with Barclays if you terminate earlier you may suffer penalties. Provided the minimum contract term has run its course and appropriate notice is given then you will be allowed to switch provider.

The contract term and notice period will be provided at the outset of any agreement as part of the Contract Terms so always read these before agreeing and signing.

No one size fits all

Each company is different. Barclays sales and invoice finance has a range of products which allows scalability so the products can be tailored to your company needs. As your company grows so does the finance so you are not bound by overdraft limits for example.

Equally when an invoice finance facility has been agreed the funding will keep pace with the company turnover so no need to keep reapplying.

You can select whether to let your customers know you are using invoice finance or not or whether you want to maintain the customer collections or not.

You can get an advance up to 95% of the invoice face value often within hours once the facility has been agreed. Using the Pingit software invoicing becomes easier and obtaining payments faster and accurate. You have online visibility of your sales ledger 24 hours a day.

You have 24 hour a day support with a promise to provide a response within three hours.

Export Expertise

Barclays international reputation means you can trade in most major currencies allowing you to trade abroad with confidence. Of course you have Barclays’ international expertise on hand if needed too allowing you to consider regions possibly not considered previously.

Of course you have access 24 hours a day so time zones become less of an issue when it comes to invoice payment. The online transparency not only provides a high degree of comfort but allows more accurate information and subsequent planning.

Alternative Options

All contract terms vary widely between invoice finance providers for example a minimum term may be as little 30 days or even no minimum term.

If you bank with the same company you are considering invoicing finance with you may want to reconsider. Having all your eggs in one basket can have serious consequences if the bank’s underwriter changes direction. Your business risk profile will increase and you are very likely to lose your overdraft so please bear this in mind.

Rather than other banks Like Santander, HSBC or RBS why not consider an invoice finance provider who specialises in your business sector.

Bibbys and Ultimate Finance have great products designed for the construction sector whilst Outsauce is great for Recruitment companies.

Checking not just minimum contract terms which vary greatly but also checking other areas can be very time costly you will be pleased to know Business Expert allows you to view:

• Company minimum turnover required by the funder
• Is there a personal guarantee required?
• Best funder for your sector
• Maximum and minimum advances allowed
• Maximum debtor and export concentration?
• Where is your company registered Scotland, England or Norther Ireland as not all companies deal outside of England?
• Is there a service fee and discounted rate – if so what are they?
  • ….and much, much, more all absolutely free.

Let Business Expert do the legwork as it can be very difficult to make the right choice as there are so many variables. Simply go to our website and compare over 53 potential invoice finance providers T&Cs at a glance upfront absolutely free with no fuss. If you get confused don’t worry just pick up the phone to speak to someone who will speak to you in terms you can understand.