The term factoring includes entire trade debts of a client. On the other hand, bill discounting includes only those trade debts which are supported by account receivables. In short, bill discounting, implies the advance against the bill, whereas factoring can be understood as the outright purchase of trade debt.
Factoring Forfaiting And Bill Discounting Pdf Download
First of all the bank satisfies himself regarding the credibility of the drawer, before advancing money. Having satisfied with the creditworthiness of the drawer, the bank will grant money after deducting the discounting charges or interest. When the bank purchases the bill for the customer, it becomes the owner of the respective bills. If the customer delays the payment, then he has to pay interest as per prescribed rates.
In bill discounting, bills are traded while in the case of factoring accounts receivable are sold. There is a big difference between these two topics. In bill discounting the bank provides a particular service of financing, but if we talk about factoring additional services are also provided by the financier.
There are three parties directly involved: the factor who purchases the receivable, the one who sells the receivable, and the debtor who has a financial liability that requires him or her to make a payment to the owner of the invoice.[1][2] The receivable, usually associated with an invoice for work performed or goods sold, is essentially a financial asset that gives the owner of the receivable the legal right to collect money from the debtor whose financial liability directly corresponds to the receivable asset.[4][2] The seller sells the receivables at a discount to the third party, the specialized financial organization (aka the factor) to obtain cash.[1][4][2] This process is sometimes used in manufacturing industries when the immediate need for raw material outstrips their available cash and ability to purchase "on account".[12] Both invoice discounting and factoring are used by B2B companies to ensure they have the immediate cash flow necessary to meet their current and immediate obligations.[5][2] Invoice factoring is not a relevant financing option for retail or B2C companies because they generally do not have business or commercial clients, a necessary condition for factoring.
The sale of the receivable transfers ownership of the receivable to the factor, indicating the factor obtains all of the rights associated with the receivables.[1][2] Accordingly, the receivable becomes the factor's asset, and the factor obtains the right to receive the payments made by the debtor for the invoice amount, and is free to pledge or exchange the receivable asset without unreasonable constraints or restrictions.[1][2] Usually, the account debtor is notified of the sale of the receivable, and the factor bills the debtor and makes all collections; however, non-notification factoring, where the client (seller) collects the accounts sold to the factor, as agent of the factor, also occurs. The arrangement is usually confidential in that the debtor is not notified of the assignment of the receivable and the seller of the receivable collects the debt on behalf of the factor.[10] If the factoring transfers the receivable "without recourse", the factor (purchaser of the receivable) must bear the loss if the account debtor does not pay the invoice amount.[1] If the factoring transfers the receivable "with recourse", the factor has the right to collect the unpaid invoice amount from the transferor (seller).[1] However, any merchandise returns that may diminish the invoice amount that is collectible from the accounts receivable are typically the responsibility of the seller,[1] and the factor will typically hold back paying the seller for a portion of the receivable being sold (the "factor's holdback receivable") in order to cover the merchandise returns associated with the factored receivables until the privilege to return the merchandise expires.
Non-recourse factoring should not be confused with making a loan.[13][1] When a lender decides to extend credit to a company based on assets, cash flows, and credit history, the borrower must recognize a liability to the lender, and the lender recognizes the borrower's promise to repay the loan as an asset.[13][1] Factoring without recourse is a sale of a financial asset (the receivable), in which the factor assumes ownership of the asset and all of the risks associated with it, and the seller relinquishes any title to the asset sold.[13][1] An example of factoring is the credit card. Factoring is like a credit card where the bank (factor) is buying the debt of the customer without recourse to the seller; if the buyer doesn't pay the amount to the seller the bank cannot claim the money from the seller or the merchant, just as the bank in this case can only claim the money from the debt issuer.[18] Factoring is different from invoice discounting, which usually doesn't imply informing the debt issuer about the assignment of debt, whereas in the case of factoring the debt issuer is usually notified in what is known as notification factoring. One more difference between the factoring and invoice discounting is that in case of factoring the seller assigns all receivables of a certain buyer(s) to the factor whereas in invoice discounting the borrower (the seller) assigns a receivable balance, not specific invoices. A factor is therefore more concerned with the credit-worthiness of the company's customers.[4][2] The factoring transaction is often structured as a purchase of a financial asset, namely the accounts receivable. A non-recourse factor assumes the "credit risk" that an account will not collect due solely to the financial inability of account debtor to pay. In the United States, if the factor does not assume the credit risk on the purchased accounts, in most cases a court will recharacterize the transaction as a secured loan.
Spot factoring, or single invoice discounting, is an alternative to "whole ledger" and allows a company to factor a single invoice. The added flexibility for the business, and lack of predictable volume and monthly minimums for factoring providers means that spot factoring transactions usually carry a cost premium.
Factoring is commonplace in the construction industry because of the long payment cycles that can stretch to 120 days and beyond. However, the construction industry has features that are risky for factoring companies. Because of the risks and exposure from mechanics' liens, danger of "paid-when-paid" terms, existence of progress billing, use of withholding, and exposure to economic cycles most "generalist" factoring companies avoid construction receivables entirely. That has created another niche of factoring companies that specialize in construction receivables.[35]
The New Law governs "Assignments", which is defined to cover an arrangement where "contractual rights to settle a cash sum owed by the Debtor are transferred to the Assignee, and the Assignment constitutes the agreement to create a security right on the Debtor's debt, transfer it as a security, and sell it in a final sale". One possible interpretation of this particular definition would be that the New Law only governs arrangements which not only assign a debt but which also create a security interest over that debt. However, many factoring arrangements and debt assignments simply involve a debt being assigned absolutely and do not necessarily involve a security right being created over that debt. The New Law also does not elaborate on the different types of factoring arrangements that can exist, such as the purchase or sale of receivables, discounting and reverse factoring. 2ff7e9595c
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