Unlock cash tied up in unpaid invoices. Compare factoring, discounting, and selective invoice finance from specialist UK providers.
Invoice finance releases cash tied up in unpaid invoices, typically advancing 80% to 90% of an invoice value within about forty-eight hours, with the balance paid over when your customer settles. There are two costs: a discount charge, applied to the advanced amount for as long as the invoice is outstanding, and a service fee charged on invoice value. It only works for businesses that invoice other businesses on credit terms, so it is no use to a business paid at the point of sale.
| Invoice factoring | Invoice discounting | |
|---|---|---|
| Who chases your customers | The provider | You do |
| Do your customers know? | Yes | No, it is confidential |
| Relative cost | Higher, includes credit control | Lower |
| Usually suits | Smaller businesses without a credit control function | Established ledgers with proven collections |
Invoice finance providers on the Lendus panel. Charges are quoted as a percentage of invoice value per month, which is not an APR.
| Lender | Facility size | Published rate | Decision |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aldermore Bank | £2k–£10m | 4.5%–20% | Same-day decisions on asset finance up to £250,000; 3–5 days for larger deals |
| Bibby Financial Services | £50k–£15m | 1%–3% | Facility setup typically 1–2 weeks; initial funding within 24 hours of facility agreement |
| Close Brothers | £10k–£5m | 5%–18% | Within 3–5 working days |
| Cynergy Business Finance | £200k–£40m | Not published | Cynergy Business Finance describes its decision-making as fast, positive and assured, but does not publish a specific turnaround time (such as a number of hours or days) on its website as of August 2026. |
| Kriya | £50k–£1m | Not published | Invoice finance: once approved, funds are advanced within 24 hours of uploading an invoice. Working capital loans: Kriya's own site states a member of the team will respond with an initial terms and pricing offer within 1 week of enquiry. |
| Ultimate Finance | £20k–£5m | 0.8%–2.5% | Facility setup 5–10 working days; initial funding within 24 hours of activation |
| White Oak UK | £5k–£500k | Not published | White Oak UK states an average loan decision turnaround of around 4 hours, though this is not a guaranteed timescale for every deal. |
Figures as published by each lender and dated on its own page. Indicative, not offers.
With factoring, the provider takes over your sales ledger and chases your customers directly, so your customers know you are using a facility. With discounting you keep control of collections and the arrangement stays confidential. Factoring costs more because it includes a credit control service; discounting is usually reserved for larger, well-run ledgers where the provider is comfortable you will collect effectively yourself.
It looks cheap per invoice and adds up across a year. A discount charge of 1.5% a month on a sixty-day invoice is roughly 3% of the advance, around 18% annualised, before the service fee. Whether that is expensive depends on what the cash unlocks: an early settlement discount from a supplier, or a contract you could not otherwise take on, can easily outweigh it.
On a recourse facility you repay the advance and the debt returns to you. On a non-recourse facility the provider carries the bad-debt risk within agreed limits, in exchange for a higher fee. Read carefully which one you are being offered, because the difference matters most at exactly the moment things go wrong.
Businesses invoicing other businesses on credit terms with a working capital gap between doing the work and being paid. Recruitment, construction, haulage, manufacturing and wholesale are the most common users, because payroll and materials are paid long before the invoice settles.
Advance
Up to 90%
of invoice value
Speed
24 hours
from submission
Rates From
0.5%
of invoice value
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