INVOICE DISCOUNTING GUIDE

Your customers who pay “direct”
One of the most common problems encountered in the early part of any discounting relationship is that customers continue to pay funds direct into your bank account.
Should this occur, you will need to ensure that these funds are transferred onto us immediately, as any delay could lead to a reduction of the funds available to you.

You will be supplied with a trust account paying in book. Please ensure that all of your customers who wish to pay electronically are supplied with these bank details.

Cheques received from your customers
Any cheques received from your customers are to be paid immediately into the trust account, using the paying in books provided by us.

Assignment of Invoice / Credit Note Schedules
When sending your assignments to us, please complete a covering Invoice Schedule, attaching a copy of your day book listing for the invoices or credit notes assigned.

If you intend to send invoice schedules to us by post and require payment against those invoices on the following working day then we recommend you consider the use of special delivery postal services to ensure timely delivery. Regrettably, we are unable to accept schedule assignments by fax or responsibility for postal delays or other delays which are beyond our control.

Payment Requests
If you have the benefit of our on-line viewing facility, then day to day availability may be accessed via your secure client access screen on our web site at www.smeif.com.

If you would like to draw down funds, please telephone our Guildford office on 01483 531100 to request your availability and draw-down as required. In order to action your requests on the same day, we require your instructions before 1.00pm. Payment of available funds may be transmitted by either BACS or CHAPS and you should advise us which method you require at the time of your call.

BACS payments will be in your bank account 2 working days following the day of your request.

Payments requested by CHAPS will be in you bank account the same day as your request

Disapprovals
Disapproved invoices are excluded from the availability calculation and funds cannot be drawn against them. These are the main reasons why invoices may be disapproved:

• The invoice is disputed or in query (e.g. non delivery or faulty goods)
• The customer is not in a position to pay and the debt is deemed uncollectible
• The invoice is “aged” and has remained unpaid beyond its recourse period (typically 60 days beyond the end of the month in which it was raised)
• The customer’s balance exceeds the credit limit or concentration limit agreed by SME Invoice Finance
• The invoice is in a category which may have been made specifically ineligible for funding under the agreement

Month End Reconciliation
It is important that all items posted to your sales ledger are notified to us at the same time. At the end of each month, we will require you to complete a reconciliation to ensure that our ledger corresponds to yours and to account for any differences. A separate aide memoir to assist you with this process is available from your account manager.

Please note that your reconciliation must be received by the 15th of the following month. If these are not received, it may be necessary to apply an appropriate reserve to your facility until the process is completed.

Credit Limits
We will normally apply a “blanket” credit limit to the whole of your ledger unless adverse credit information on specific debtors is notified to us. This blanket limit will be agreed by your account manager at commencement of your facility. Where individual debtors require larger credit limits, specific limits may be agreed for these customers following more detailed individual analysis and after reference to one or more of the major credit reference agencies

Whilst Credit Limits are often used as a guide as to the credit worthiness of your debtors, no representation or warranty (express or implied) is given on the part of SME Invoice Finance Ltd as to the accuracy of this information. Limits are agreed in good faith and on the basis of information available to us at that time. However, it should be remembered that individual circumstances are often subject to change and may be affected by a variety of issues.

There are a variety of sources which we may be able to make available to you to help you evaluate your customer’s credit worthiness. Please feel free to request further information from your account manager or visit the “Clients” section of our web site.

Client Statement
We will provide you with a detailed statement of your account each month to include all movements and charges for the period.

Problems? – we want to help!
We recognise that business life may be full of ups and downs and is rarely likely to follow the smoothest path. Our desire to help is genuine and if there’s a problem that we can help you solve, we’d be delighted to try.

We also value your feedback so if you want to let us know what we do well or maybe what we could do even better, please feel free to telephone any of the team or our Directors if you feel the need!