In a perfect world, small business owners would collect on unpaid invoices the moment they sent them out. But as any one of them will tell you, it’s never that easy.
Prompt payments are more uncommon than you might think. According to our analysis of 20 million invoices, 64% of small businesses are routinely affected by late payments. It’s not only the mom-and-pop shops that can’t afford to settle their bills in a timely manner either: Our research revealed large corporations—like McDonalds and Walmart—take the longest to pay small businesses.
It’s great to complete a project or ship an order to a customer and send out an invoice right away. While sending out bills might help pad your accounts receivables, however, it doesn’t exactly help your bank account until the checks start to come in.
What to Do When Unpaid Invoices Pile Up
Late payments are one of the major causes of cash flow problems for small businesses. When cash flow problems materialize, companies struggle to pay their bills, buy new equipment and supplies, make payroll, target new customers, open additional locations, remodel existing ones, and develop new products, among other things.
In order to grow your small business, you need access to cash—it’s as simple as that. Are you facing cash flow problems while waiting for payments for outstanding invoices to come in? If so, instead of foregoing a significant chunk of your profits by using factoring services or paying hefty fees for loans that require you to take on debt, you can use an invoice financing service like Fundbox to advance payments on unpaid bills.
Fundbox is incredibly easy to use. You can set up a free account in a few minutes and connect your accounting software with a click. Once approved, you can start clearing invoices. Select the invoices you want to advance, and money will be deposited in your business bank account in as soon as one business day.
Your accounts receivables are assets; you just can’t spend them at the store or pay your bills with them. When you need money to cover your day-to-day expenses and grow your business, instead of taking a loan from someone else, why not use your own receivables?
For a small fee, Fundbox allows you to liquidate your unpaid invoices. If you choose the 12-week repayment terms (you can also choose the 24-week one), you then have 12 weeks to repay the advance, plus the fee. If you repay the advance before the 12 weeks are up, the remaining fees are waived.
Unpaid invoices give a lot of small business owners headaches when cash is tight, but that doesn’t mean you have to suffer a similar fate. Use Fundbox to clear your outstanding invoices and start growing your business today. You won’t regret it.