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What is Factoring Legal Clients Products & Pricing Flexfin Other
What is factoring?

In a nutshell, factoring is a way for businesses to address short-term cash flow issues by assigning their outstanding invoices or other receivables to a third party (financial institution) in exchange for financing.

Factoring can be done in various ways, with the most common distinction being either with recourse (the risk of default remains with the borrower) or without recourse (the risk of default is undertaken by the lender).

In addition to financing, services typically offered within a factoring relationship include receivables management, collection of receivables and under certain conditions credit risk coverage of receivables.

What are the advantages of factoring?
There are many advantages in using factoring including indicatively the below:
  1. Allows companies to bridge the gap between the time they deliver the goods or accept an order and the time of payment by their clients.
  2. Given that factoring relies on the receivable it is often a more efficient financing tool for companies than traditional unsecured lending products.
  3. Centralizes collection and offers cashflow management tools.
What kind of resources do I need to dedicate in order to engage into a factoring agreement/transaction?
Since all relevant information is available online through our user friendly platform, factoring can be managed easily from the comfort of your place of business.
What documents are required to become a customer?
In order to comply with the legal and regulatory framework regarding the prevention and detection of money laundering and of financing terrorist activities, Flexfin applies “Know Your Customer” identification procedures before entering into a new business relationship. Any prospective customer will need to submit appropriate documentation, such as constitutional documents and resolutions, identification documents, as well as financial data.
Do I need to sign a contract with you?
Yes, a factoring contract between Flexfin and the client is required to be signed before we can offer our services.
Who is liable if a buyer refuses payment or defaults?
Depends on the type of factoring services provided. In recourse contract agreements, the supplier retains the liability against the financial institution for the settlement of any debt, if the buyer does not pay for any reason. In non-recourse contract agreements, the financial institution, under certain conventions and up to a degree, retains the liability against the supplier for the settlement of the receivable.
How do you assess potential/prospective clients? Do I have to go through a credit check?
Our approach differs significantly from that of a traditional bank or bank subsidiary. While taking into account your credit history, working with us gives you the edge to leverage the creditworthiness of your customers which makes it a lot easier for us to provide you with a fast credit approval based on the quality of your customers.
What do you mean by large and creditworthy debtors?

Considering our approach to credit approval is heavily based on your receivables, it is key for us to assess the quality of the receivables themselves. We will undertake our own credit assessment for each prospective debtor in order to ensure that we have an expectation of being repaid before providing financing.

We have internal credit assessment tools that take into account the debtor’s financial strength, the overall market conditions and business sector dynamics amongst other factors.

How is my relationship to my clients/debtors affected by the use of factoring?

Flexfin’s services are designed to help your company by offering you financing and other related services. FlexFin does not alter or affect the commercial relationship between you and your client in any other way.

The terms of your existing commercial agreements continue to apply and are not modified in any way. You only need to inform your clients through the assignment process that from now on any payments will be made to Flexfin’s bank account.

In case you have chosen to receive financing against any receivable, Flexfin will repay you the residual upon payment of that receivable by your client/the debtor (after deducting any fees, charges or past dues), otherwise the entire payment (excluding any fees, charges or past dues) will be credited to your account.

Is the invoicing process affected in any way?
The overall process of invoicing your client remains the same. However, every invoice issued following the initial assignment should include a short text indicating that it is assigned and payable to Flexfin.
How does the assignment process work?

We will provide you with the relevant template of the assignment letter that you need to send to your customers (approved by Flexfin), notifying them that you have adopted our services, and that within that context any payments in relation to your products or services going forward should be made to Flexfin.

Flexfin will also send a similar notification of assignment to your customers to inform them that payment for those receivables can only be made to Flexfin.

Typically, your customers should return the assignment letter duly signed and stamped. Most large purchasers are familiar with factoring so in most cases no objections willbe raised. The assignment process is often smoother if the intention is communicated to the buyer in advance of sending the assignment letter.

Are my buyers going to be skeptical?
Factoring is a well-established and widely accepted financing tool. Your clients are likely to be used to their suppliers factoring invoices and have often taken advantage of factoring services themselves.
Should I assign all my buyers’ invoices?
In order to achieve and maintain a solid monitoring of your account receivables and transactions between you and the clients whose receivables you have assigned to us, as well as to minimize the hassle for your clients, assignment of all your invoices to those clients/debtors that you have selected is required (however, you can choose to finance only a subset of these invoices).
Which buyers can I do factoring for?
At the start of our customer relationship and at any point thereafter you can request for any client/debtor to be added to the approved list of debtors for which we can offer factoring services. Flexfin will provide factoring services in relation to approved debtors only, on the basis of its own credit assessment policy. Larger and more creditworthy debtors/buyers are more likely to be approved.
What kind of transactions can be funded?
Flexfin currently accepts invoices where:

  • Products or services have been completed or delivered and accepted by your customer.
  • The customer is based in Greece or Cyprus.
  • The customer is a business entity and not an individual.
In the future Flexfin will also provide financing for purchase orders, but that product has not been rolled out yet.
Are you funding invoices only from specific market sectors?
We focus on the financial strength of the buyer, regardless of their sector, so we consider all sectors.
How much do your services cost?
Each financing proposal is priced individually, and costs will be clearly communicated to you prior to committing to a transaction. There are a number of factors affecting the total cost of each transaction such as, but not limited to, your creditworthiness as well as that of the debtor, your historical relationship, the amount, size and terms of the invoice, the overall market conditions and Flexfin’s funding costs at the time.

Typically, the total charges that you will incur will include an interest charge related to any financed invoices and commission on the total value of the invoices.

The interest for invoices that are available for financing is fixed for the whole credit period and is calculated on the financed amount of the invoice, on a 360 day year basisand is payable on the day that the invoice is due. The commission relates to Flexfin’s administration cost and depends on the specific services being offered.

During the term of our contract you may incur expense such as notice expenses, transfer charges, cheque bounce charges or any other third party charges that our company may incur as a result of our business with you.

An indication of the cost of our services can be found on our website’s home page via our indicative cost calculator.

Do I have to pay VAT on charges?
Yes, both interest and commission charges are subject to VAT, which currently is equal to 19%. However, this can be netted off against any VAT received from your commercial activities.
Is there an additional charge if a financed invoice is not paid on time?
The cost of financing each invoice is calculated at the onset based on the invoice’s expected payment date. However, should the invoice payment be delayed by more than fifteen (15) business days an additional 2.0% will be added to the annual interest rate for each day the invoice remains unpaid.
Do you provide financing against the gross amount of the invoice including VAT or the net amount?
We provide financing against the gross amount of the invoice which includes the VAT.
Do I need to finance all my assigned invoices?
No. Through our user-friendly platform you can see eligibility and cost for each invoice, and request financing for the invoices of your choice at any point during the invoice’s life cycle and the duration of our offer.
Do you fund purchase orders and/or trade contracts?
Not currently but we plan to do so in the future. Keep an eye on our website for relevant notifications.
Do you offer export/import factoring services?
At the moment we can offer export/import factoring services only if those are between Greece and Cyprus where we are currently present.
Do you offer confidential/disclosed invoice discounting?
Confidential factoring is not our key business focus, however under specific requirements we could assess your request. Please contact us for additional information.
Do you finance post dated cheques (PDCs)?
Yes we do from selected pre-approved debtors. Checks issued by large and creditworthy buyers are more likely to be approved. Please contact us for additional information.
Is Flexfin regulated?

Flexfin group includes Flexfin SA that serves mainly clients in Greece and Flexfin Ltd that serves clients in Cyprus.
Flexfin SA is the only independent factoring company in Greece, licensed and regulated by the Bank of Greece (Central Bank) under law 1905/1990 and Governor’s Act 2622/21.12.2009

In Cyprus factoring is not a regulated business so Flexfin Ltd is not regulated, however it adopts the similar best practices in corporate governance, due diligence and risk management.

Is Flexfin safe?
Flexfin has adopted at group level, a robust framework of operational procedures and rules, in line with the requirements and best practices required of regulated institutions, as Flexfin SA is licensed and regulated by the Bank of Greece. Flexfin Ltd’s shareholder base, which is the sole shareholder of Flexfin SA includes high quality professional investors as well as one of Greece’s systemic banks, and the group is underpinned by a very strong capital base. In addition, our website and platform have been built specifically to run on Microsoft Azure Cloud Services which is an enterprise class cloud services platform that has been approved for use by the Bank of Greece. As such, the most advanced best in class security features such as encryption, identity and access management, and network security are applied across the whole Flexfin platform from the holding of data, application access, web communications and back office operations.
Is my data secure?
Security is one of our top priorities. Flexfin uses industry best practice security protocols, and is compliant with the current legal and regulatory framework on data protection and security. The information you provide and your data are stored in accordance with our strict Privacy Policy and encrypted where appropriate to make sure that they are always safe and secure.
What is Flexfin’s complaint procedure?
If you feel you are not satisfied with certain aspects of our services, you are encouraged to email our Customer Service Specialists at cy.complaints@flexfin.eu and you will receive our written response as soon as possible and in any case no later than 45 days after receipt of your request.
I have been denied a loan from a bank, can I still get funding from Flexfin?
Yes, it is possible. While taking your credit history into consideration, our approach is more focused on the quality of your customers allowing usto be more flexible with respect to many of the minimum client criteria that banks have.
How is Flexfin different from traditional factoring services providers like bank subsidiaries and banks?

Our aim is to offer a new way for companies to manage their receivables. We allow our clients to manage their own accounts online, we are fully transparent on costs, and provide the tools to be able to take actions quickly and easily from the comfort of your place of business and according to your needs. We approach our client acquisition with flexibility driven predominantly by the quality of your own customers. We allow our clients to choose when and what they would like to finance, and we do not require minimum assigned volumes.

Our goal is to offer an absolutely fresh customer experience. We do trade finance, but we do it in a new way.

How long will it take to get approved for funding?
Once you have completed the onboarding process and provide us with all the necessary documentation, we will review your data and perform a business health assessment. Within a maximum of 15 business days you will know if you are approved for Flexfin credit, and if so, what your credit limit is.
How long will it take me to receive funding?
When all necessary procedures are completed (approval, contract agreement, notification of assignment) and you upload invoices onto our platform you can receive funding within five business days.
Can I pay off funding early?
Yes. You can pay off any funded amount prior to its maturity with no extra cost and you will pay interest on the funding received only for the days until repayment.
Are there any fees/penalties for termination?
No. If you have no current account balances outstanding you can stop using Flexfin at any time with no penalties or fees.
Does my business need to be based in Greece / Cyprus?
Yes. At the moment we do not offer factoring services outside of these jurisdictions.
How do I interact with Flexfin? Does everything have to be done online?
We aim to make the use of our products easier for you and have created a user-friendly online tool to save you time and hassle. However, our experienced professionals are on your side to guide you through it on the phone.

Trade Finance. Transformed.


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