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Commercial finance problems?

Money troubles.

I’ve been there.

I’ve had them.

And they’re not nice.

 

When I had them, I also had problems trying to access people who could help me with those problems.

So, my name is Graeme Shevas and I’m a Commercial Finance Broker, and I’m aware of the issues that some people are facing, having had them myself over the years. And I really can understand, I’ve been where you are.

So, if you are feeling some sort of vulnerability at the moment or you’re a little bit apprehensive about how you are going to trade forward, don’t be embarrassed if you are encountering difficulties. Pride is not going to help you at this stage.

What you need is somebody who is going to help you to win and succeed as you come out of this on the basis of providing you with a facility and a solution that will help you to trade out, and get back to the normal levels of profit and beyond, once we come through this.

Trade Credit Insurance

Something else that you may not have thought of is Trade Credit Insurance.

Normally this is an insurance that you would get if you had an Invoice Finance Facility in place whereby the lender insures, or you insure, the debts effectively, so that the lender takes them on.

You don’t get them back, and have them removed from your credit facility, the lender gets
them back and they are insured.

Now, normally, as I say, it’s part of an Invoice Finance Facility, but it is actually available separately.

So if somebody is in need of securing their selves in terms of bad debts, or the potential of bad debts, going forward, then this policy might be something that is of interest to you.

So, if you have a requirement to mitigate your risk of bad debt, there is an insurance policy,
called a Trade Credit insurance policy, and I have access to one of the major providers of that cover in the UK.

So, don’t bury your head in the sand, would be my advice.

Please get in touch and we will do what we can to help you with a solution that’ll help you to get through.

Let’s work together and bring as many businesses through this situation as we can.

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Are you starting to panic about business cashflow or invoice funding?

I have been wondering whether there are people out there who have businesses who are starting to panic a little bit about their financial situation.

Now, this could be a growing feeling of concern that your cash flow is going to stall, or maybe you have noticed that the cash is not moving around your business as it did before the Coronavirus pandemic. You might have the growing realisation that you are going to run out of cash before you actually start to get money coming back in through the door.

Raising Invoices

Or it could be that you are raising invoices, but you are not getting paid as quickly as you would like to get paid.

So, you are wondering how you are going to pay your own bills, or it just could be that you don’t have any cash reserves?

As a result of not having any cash reserves, you have no confidence in terms of being able to meet your commitments going forward.

If this is the case, then we may have a solution for you, and it is a solution that I have used in the past in previous businesses to ensure that the cash keeps flowing, and that cash flow solution can be a life saver.

 

And if it is a life saver and we can help to save more businesses from going out of business, then that is why I am here.

So, if you do have a requirement to even just talk to somebody about it, because the worst thing you can do really is to bury your head in the sand and think that everything’s going to be fine, and it will go away.

It probably will not go away, and it will need to be addressed.

Review your businesses financial plan

Now, whether it is addressed with reviewing your financial plan and your costs or whether it is by putting a solution in place, something needs to happen.

Contact us today so that we can help you set up a plan and work out a solution to keep the cash flowing through your business.

 

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How has your business health been?

I was just wondering how your health had been throughout the Coronavirus pandemic.

I notice a lot of people in my local area have taken up jogging, and cycling, and myself included, certainly, have taken up walking to a greater degree with steps going through the roof over the last three months.

So, everybody is in a little bit of a better position with regards to their health and whether that has reflected in their mental health, is another matter.

But the area that really concerns me is the financial health of people’s businesses.

So, if you have a business and you are a little bit worried about how you’re going to trade through this period, the questions really to ask yourself are do you have a plan?

Have you got a plan to get through from where you are now to where you want to be?

Have you got cash reserves?

If you find that the invoices that you do start to raise start to take longer to get paid as a result of the knock-on effect from this pandemic, because everybody really has been affected, are you going to be able to meet the commitments that you have in terms of your bills?

And, do you have a budget and a cash flow?

And do the budget and the cash flow match or is there a shortfall there?

If the answer to any of these questions is no, then I would urge you to get in touch with us on the basis that we can probably come up with a solution for you.

Call us today on 01383 624 425 or submit an enquiry and we will contact you.

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How far in advance should you plan your commercial finance solution?

Today I’m going to talk about the timescales involved for Tier 1, Tier 2, and Tier 3 commercial lending and commercial mortgages.

In terms of putting a case together, getting it submitted, getting a decision in principle, getting it credit backed (underwritten), and then the time it takes to go through the legal process in order to draw down the funds.

Timescales for commercial lending

The purpose of this is really just to give you an idea, if you’re looking to buy a commercial property, either as an investment, or for owner operation, or even a trading business, then these are the timescales that you are going to be looking at.

I’m going to break it down into tier 1, tier 2, and tier 3. This is slightly different to some other areas where tier 1 is actually going to be a Business Development Manager (BDM) that you’re talking to, so you are actually talking to a person, whereas tier 2 and 3 tend to be more portal based, particularly tier 2 – where it is either meeting criteria, or it isn’t. Tier 3 depends on the lender, but some lenders will be BDM and some will be portal.

 

So, on to the timescales. For a decision in principle for a tier 1 loan, using a BDM, you will most likely be looking at one to two days. For a tier 2, even though you would apply through a portal, you would still be looking at one to two days. If you were processing a tier 3 loan, you could have a decision in principle back in as little as four hours, though this could go up to two days. So, for all three tiers, it is best to err on the side of caution and plan for the process to take up to two days.

If you then want to get that decision in principle credit backed, because you are happy with the deal that’s offered, then that process can take up to 4-5 days, depending on how quickly an evaluation can happen, and then from evaluation and credit backing, the timescale to actually draw down the funds varies.

For tier 1, you can look at drawdown taking ten to twelve weeks, tier 2 can be eight to twelve weeks and for tier 3, you can expect it to take eight to ten weeks.

If you are thinking of going through this process, ideally, you should attempt to plan anywhere between three and a half to four months ahead of the time that you want the process to be completed. There is, of course, an option if you want to do it quicker.

You can look at Bridging Finance (which will be the topic of next week’s blog), so if you are unable to secure it within the time scale of the three and a half to four months, as long as the ability to refinance was there, you would be able to secure the asset quickly.

A lender for a bridge would want to know what your exit strategy for the finance was, and your exit would be to refinance. As long as you are able to show that you are able to refinance, then the bridge should be forthcoming.

If you want to discuss these or other business finance options, get in touch by filling out the contact form on this website and we can work out what solutions will fit your needs.

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The land owner, developer and financier relationship

Hi, it’s Graeme from Playfair Finance here.

Are you a land owner, a developer, or have some money put aside that you want to do something with but are uncertain of what to do with it? If you fit into any of those categories, then read on.

 

In the course of my work, I come across projects where people have got a bit of land and they’re looking for a developer. Or, I come across developers who are looking for a bit of land, so I can be a bit of a ‘dating agency’.

One of the things I certainly would like to do is talk to people who may be private individuals, or have got funds that they wish to invest in this type of arrangement.

Obviously, I can put you in touch with people and make your money turn into more money.

There are a lot of people getting into that market which kind of makes a bit of a mockery, sometimes, of the broker who says ‘I’m whole of market’. We really can only say that you are ‘representative of market’ because there are so many new lenders coming into the market nowadays, it’s hard to keep track of them all.

But it gives you plenty of opportunity for developers to increase the housing stock, which is effectively what I’m here for. So if that sounds of interest, then please get in touch by filling out the contact form on this website.

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Scottish Contract Cleaning Company with cash flow problems?

We help Scottish Contract Cleaning Companies to improve their cash flow by releasing cash that they’ve got tied up in their sales invoices.

I’ve been in business for over 30 years, but one of the questions I’m getting asked at the moment is ‘How do I improve my cash flow when my customers are struggling to pay their bills?’

 

So here’s my best advice. If you’re in the Scottish business-to-business sector you will be raising invoices for your goods or services and normally you’ll be waiting 45 to 60 days to be paid for those invoices.

Now, with the Coronavirus you may have seen a drop-off in trade. If that’s the case you won’t be raising as many sales invoices so the amount of money that you’re going to have coming in over the next
six months or so will be significantly reduced.

Now you may well have enough money to get you through to the point where we can get started again, back up to normal levels, or start to ramp things up again. But, when we actually get to that point, you’re going to have to wait 45 to 60 days again on the new invoices that you’re raising.

So you’re going to have a bit of a funding gap between raising the invoice, getting the cash, and being able to thrive when we come out of this time. So, if you want to release some money in your invoices, this is where Invoice Finance can come in.

So, Invoice Finance will allow you to have 85 to 90 percent of that invoice in your bank account to assist your cash flow within 24 hours. At the moment the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme can be used on certain facilities if you qualify to provide a guarantee to the lender.

Now, this is something that we specialise in here at Playfair Finance and it’s really easy for us to do the legwork for you to save you from having to go to every provider, for there are many in the marketplace.

We take the application from you, and we then go out to the market to find the best provider for you based on your sector, your turnover, and how your business has been trading.

So, we save you the time, but we can also find you the best deal.

Now, the best part of that is that actually, there is no charge for our services to do that. The charges are actually paid by the lender so you don’t have to pay anything at all.

So, if you’re a Scottish Contract Cleaning company and you would like some help with Invoice Financing, please get in touch.

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Security Guard Companies and their funding gap – how are they going to fill it?

Some of my Security Guard company clients have been asking me how they can bridge the financial gap between the downturn of trade and when things return to normal.

 

Hi, my name is Graeme Shevas.

I help Scottish Security Guard Companies who are having problems with their cash flow, to release cash from their sales invoices.

I’ve been in business for over 30 years and one of the questions that my customers have been asking me lately is ‘how do I get my cashflow moving now that other businesses are having trouble paying their bills?’.

Here’s my best advice:

If you’re a Scottish firm operating in the business-to-business sector, you’ll be raising invoices for your products or services. At the moment, your normal payment terms for those invoices will most likely be 45 to 60 days. You may have seen a drop-off in trade and the amount of money that you’re going to have over the coming months will be significantly reduced.

You may well have enough to get you through until the point where you can begin trading at normal levels again, but when you need cash to pay the bills as you return to normal trading levels, you’re going to have to wait another 45-60 days for payment. Therefore, the actual funding gap is going to be longer
than the business interruption.

How are you going to plug that gap?

This is where Invoice Finance and the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS) guarantee may be able to help. As soon as you raise an invoice you could have access to 85-90% of its value within 24 hours instead of having to wait the 45-60 days to get paid.

This will give you ready cash flow to allow you to meet your costs and thrive as we get back to normal.

This is something that I specialise in and my role is to make sure that you don’t need to go to lots of different providers. You only need to provide your information once and we will access the most suitable providers based on the sector that you’re in, your turnover, and how your business is doing.

It is a straightforward process to apply and it doesn’t cost you anything, my fee is covered by the provider.

For more information and to see how a flexible Invoice Finance orFactoring Solution can benefit your business, please call us today or submit an enquiry and we will contact you.

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Recruitment companies have options available to release cash from their sales invoices.

Hi, my name is Graeme Shevas.

I help Recruitment Companies who are having problems with their cash flow, to release cash from their sales invoices.I’ve been in business for over 30 years and one of the questions that my customers have been asking me lately is ‘how do I get my cashflow moving now that other businesses are having trouble paying their bills?’.

Here’s my best advice: If you’re operating in the Business to Business sector, you’ll be raising invoices for your products or services. At the moment, your normal payment terms for those invoices will most likely be 45 to 60 days. You may have seen a drop-off in trade and the amount of money that you’re going to have over the coming months will be significantly
reduced.

You may well have enough to get you through until the point where you can begin trading at normal levels again, but when you need cash to pay the bills as you return to normal trading levels, you’re going to have to wait another 45-60 days for payment. Therefore, the actual funding gap is going to be longer than the business interruption.

How are you going to plug that gap? This is where Invoice Finance and the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS) guarantee may be able to help.

As soon as you raise an invoice you could have access to 85-90% of its value within 24 hours instead of having to wait the 45-60 days to get paid. This will give you ready cash flow to allow you to meet your costs and thrive as we get back to normal.

This is something that I specialise in and my role is to make sure that you don’t need to go to lots of different providers. You only need to provide your information once and we will access the most suitable providers based on the sector that you’re in, your turnover, and how your business is doing.

It is a straightforward process to apply and it doesn’t cost you anything, my fee is covered by the provider.

If you think this may work for you, or have any questions, fill out the ‘Contact Us‘ page on this website and we can have a discussion about how we can help.

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Invoice Finance facilities for the Scottish Transport and Haulage industry

Hi, my name is Graeme Shevas and I help Scottish Transport and Haulage companies to improve their cash flow by releasing monies from their sales invoices.

I’ve been in business for over 30 years and the question I’m getting asked most often at the moment is ‘How do I improve my cash flow now that my customers are finding it harder to pay their bills?’

So, here is my best advice. If you are in the Scottish business to business sector you will be raising invoices for your goods or services and you’ll probably be waiting 45-60 days to be paid for those invoices. As a result of the Coronavirus you may well have seen a downturn in trade. It’s not always the case with transport but certain sectors and companies certainly have, so
that will mean that you’re raising less invoices and as a result, the amount of money that you will have coming into your bank account over the next few months will be significantly reduced.

Now, you may well have enough money to get you through to when you return to normal levels of trade again, but when you get back to normal levels of trade you will have dwindled away your cash reserves and you will still have to wait 45 to 60 days to get paid for your new sales invoices.

So you’re going to have a funding gap, potentially, so how do you plug that funding gap?

This is where an Invoice Finance facility will be useful because if you have an Invoice Finance facility, as soon as you raise a sales invoice you can receive 85-90 percent of the value of that sales invoice into your bank account within 24 hours.

Now, with the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme you may well qualify for a guarantee to be provided, by the government, to the lender in order to put that facility into place.

This is something that we specialise in and my role is to make sure that you do not have to go to lots of different providers in order to find the best deal.

You apply solely to us and then we then take your application to the market and find the most suitable lender based on your sector, your turnover, and how your business has been trading. Once we find the most suitable lender, we then get
the best deal possible for you.

The best part of it is that this service does not actually cost you anything. The fee that we receive for doing this is paid for by the lender.

So, if you are a Scottish Transport or Haulage company and you are wanting to put into place an Invoice Financing facility then please fill out the Contact Us’ page on this website and we will work out what we can do to improve your cashflow.