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In the current tough economic climate, many small businesses have come under the gun and found that they could not pay their bills on time. Some of these companies choose to slow down payments to suppliers, increasing the time frame for outstanding bills by an additional 15, 30 or more days. Although this decision threatened to negatively affect their credit ratings, the companies thought they had no other choice in order to survive. After all, since their clients were slowing down when it came to covering due bills, what choice did they have? Should they try to force their clients to pay outstanding bills faster? PMF Bancorp knows there is a better solution

This better solution for such a financial problem is invoice factoring and accounts receivable financing. By not burying your company in debts, invoice factoring with PMF Bancorp can provide the support your business needs in this time of economic downturn. It is not just small businesses or corporate America that fails to pay their bills on time. In the Federation of Small Businesses’ Voice of Small Business Survey, published in 2010, it was determined that a number of central Government and Government agencies made one in three of their external payments late.

A debt-free financing strategy is now available with accounts receivable financing. You can raise funds in order to keep your business operational by factoring your invoices. As a result, you can increase cash flow without having to go to the extreme of pressuring customers via a collection staff. Plus it is so much easier than obtaining a bank loan for a small business. Most banks today like to concentrate on large corporate customers. In contrast, PMF Bancorp specializes in helping small and mid-sized businesses with their working capital needs.

The alternative financing method of invoice factoring means your suppliers will not be paid late. You can maintain these good relationships in tough times while still being able to accommodate new customer growth by extending credit. Loosing a supplier in tough times is not easily replaced. Conventional methods of credit with a traditional bank line have a lot of requirements like personal guarantees, assets, credit checks and the like. In most cases, small businesses might have to wait 30, 60, or sometimes even 90 terms for normal invoice(s) before payment is received.

In contrast, Accounts Receivable Financing helps turn accounts receivable into something like a functioning credit line. Even first time applicants can often get cash in 24 hours from PMF Bancorp, and there are usually limited obligations – with no fees up front, no co-signers needed or accounts to open like at a bank. Small businesses that have found it hard to handle conventional funding requirements benefit from PMF Bancorp’s factoring solutions.

If you want to quickest way to improve cash flow using one invoice at a time, then this is it. How many businesses nowadays are left hanging because they remain unpaid after delivering their products and services? The answer as you well know is a multitude. PMF Bancorp will purchase selected invoices at a discount by first looking at the creditworthiness of the client’s customers. The professional rates of PMF Bancorp are extremely competitive and provide a variety of excellent business services. If your business is in a tight financial bind on account of outstanding invoices and a lack of current cash flow, please contact PMF Bancorp. We can help you today.

In modern America where credit is tight and bank loans are harder and harder to obtain, factoring and accounts receivable financing has become one of the key engines of the American dream. What is the American dream? According to Wikipedia, the American Dream is the promise of the possibility of prosperity and the freedom for everyone to achieve success in the United States. James Truslow Adams defined the American dream in 1931 when he wrote that: “life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement.”

Since the end of World War II, the American economy expanded and showed few signs of letting up. The growth in the standard of living in the United States has been fueled by the desire of many to attain the American dream. In the early part of this century, this dream began to crumble as the economy slowed, housing prices tumbled and unemployment invaded all areas of the country. With the bank crisis and the failure of major Wall Street brokerage houses, it became more and more difficult for businesses to borrow money in order to grow and get the economy back on track.

Luckily, factoring companies like PMF Bancorp have stepped up over the last several decades to save the day and help American businesses find alternative means of financing and funding. By providing invoice factoring, asset based financing, and import-export trade financing. PMF also offers extensive credit services to help its clients make the right credit decisions to set credit limits and monitor companies with marginal credit. PMF’s credit services also provide insurance against customers defaulting on their invoice payments. This protective service is referred to as credit insurance.

PMF Bancorp’s credit insurance program can be used to insure repayment on American companies as well as mitigating cross boarder sales with foreign companies. The sales generated by U.S. corporations are derived in majority now by sales to foreign companies.  By offering such a variety of workable credit and financial solutions, PMF Bancorp is an essential part of the ongoing revival of the American dream, especially for the smaller companies that do not have sophisticated credit departments to sell abroad.

If an American business owner wants to grow a successful business, shouldn’t they be given the opportunity to achieve a new level of prosperity? Credit scores and ratings have come to dominate the American business market to the point that viable and worthy businesses are unable to find financing because of a past mistake or a bad year during the recent crisis. It does not seem right that an economic downturn should result in handcuffs being placed on the ongoing innovation and realization of the American dream.

By offering ways of financing that focus on what is happening with a company in the present (actual inventory and invoices and accounts), PMF Bancorp breathes essential life into the heart of the American dream. If your company needs help through access to alternative forms of financing, contact PMF Bancorp. We know that we can help take your business to the next plateau of achievable profit and productivity.

In this ongoing series on the revitalization of the American dream, every month we will tell a true story of an American company that PMF Bancorp has helped to finance. Since PMF Bancorp always respects the privacy of our clients, all of these stories will be told anonymously. By becoming a one-stop shop for a variety of beneficial financial and management services, PMF Bancorp helps our clients to realize their true potential. By relaying these success stories that reflect the best of the American dream, PMF Bancorp is able to express the pride in what we do both in terms of intrinsic value and real financial sense.

As businesses grow these days, it becomes necessary not to just to compete on a local and national level, but on a global level as well. As the Internet revolutionizes global commerce, expansion worldwide suddenly has become a viable option for small to mid-sized product and service businesses. PMF Bancorp has helped several companies expand their business to a global platform through a variety of financial services, including accounts receivable financing, trade financing, letters of credit, and business consulting.

Before making the decision to expand to a global platform, several pertinent questions need to be asked:
1. Do your services or products apply to a worldwide platform? Is there potential demand beyond your local and national base?
2. Does your business generate repeat customers and referrals?
3. How long does it usually take clients to pay (immediate, 30, 60, or 90 days)? If this timeline is extended by the requirements of a global platform, will your business remain profitable?

If you were able to answer in the affirmative to a majority of these questions and you have strong revenues, then you may be ready for international expansion. Often, it is best to start small as you investigate new markets and the new strategies needed to succeed on an international basis. Do you plan to target specific countries or regions? The positive feeling of succeeding in the first market will give you the confidence to expand to more. By taking on one market at a time with a consistent business strategy, you will learn how to grow and succeed. Naturally, each new market will require a certain amount of customization. You can prosper by adapting the resources found in each new market in order to cultivate a worldwide corporate culture.

When you begin the transition process of expanding, both on the Internet and often with an actual presence in foreign territories, there are certain guidelines that need to be followed, including:
1. Hire Consultants and Employees with International Experience
2. Research International Laws and Import/Export Requirements
3. Through Internet research, learn about global differences and business pitfalls that have been experienced previously.
4. Most importantly, keep your expenditures under control. If you experience financial challenges, consider the benefit of the services of PMF Bancorp. Through invoice factoring and trade financing, we can keep your company moving forward.

PMF Bancorp offers a vast array of positive advantages for American companies considering a global platform. Beyond our Los Angeles base, we have business offices in China, Hong Kong, and England with extensive international experience and knowledge across the global platform. We offer international Letters of Credit while our credit departments have the ability to do international credit checks on vendors, suppliers and customers. With business consulting services when it comes to both sides of the international financial coin (import and export, producing and selling), PMF Bancorp is a one-stop shop that can truly help take your company to the next level of productivity and profitability.

PMF Bancorp & ChinaMartUSA.com attended the 4th China Hangzhou International Outdoor & Lifestyle Show 2011, in Hangzhou, China. Stephen Perl, of PMFBancorp.com & ChinaMartUSA.com, was there to to give a speech entitled “Understanding the Basic Sales Channels in the U.S.”

The team from PMF Bancorp also had the opportunity to discuss Supplier Pass and how it can streamline process of getting new business.

While there Stephen Perl and the ChinaMartUSA.com team had a chance to meet with the Hangzhou government regarding increasing Chinese businesses access to the U.S. market.

Read more about Stephen Perl’s speech at the Hangzhou Outdoor Funiture Show 2011 web site.

“Stephen Perl, CEO PMF Bancorp discusses Sales and Finance Channels
used in the USA in his presentation at the 2011 Hangzhou Furniture
Fair in Hangzhou on March 14th.  The Canton Fair and China General
Chamber of Commerce from the Ministry of Commerce in Beijing managed
the event.” (see slides below)

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The QingDao government appointed Mr. Stephen Perl, as QingDao’s Official City Business Consultant with the rights to represent QingDao in their new infrastructure projects for a Major Regional Hospital, a high end Shopping Plaza for multi-national brands, and their new American Mart dedicated to US retailers.  QingDao has authorized Stephen Perl to grant various subsidies and to provide business plans to future project developments to foreign companies interested.

QingDao’s Foreign Investment board also provided strategic assistance in promoting investment and expansion into the US via ChinaMart USA and its platform.  QingDao government organized a large seminar to support ChinaMart’s efforts in order to strengthen cooperation and business between China and the US.

Originally published in the Manufacturer.com magazine. Republished with permission

Factoring has been a form of finance that many businesses have shied away from in the past when really not knowing the benefits… this article will present the clear advantages of factoring.

Factoring is defined as a financial service that provides cash-flow acceleration through the purchase of invoices.  For example, a leading factoring bank like 1st PMF Bancorp provides this service by advancing funds on a weekly basis against a borrowing base or list of invoices that a business provides on a weekly basis.  It’s simple… the lender buys a business’ invoices for cash so the business does not have to wait 30 to 90 days for payment from its customers.

Factoring has been used for 1000s of years and even the Romans had their own form of factoring to help businesses with cash-flow… Solving cash-flow problems is not a new problem.

Top 10 Reasons to be Factoring:

1. It’s a simple product.  For example, PMF Bancorp can start an account where there is no need for profitability or years of financials… just a bright future along with a 1 page application and a list of receivables.
2. Funding is Quick.  Funding on a factoring transaction can happen as quickly as 1 to 2 days whereas traditional bank loans take months to close.
3. Increased liquidity…factoring is a powerful financial tool and can provide more cash than a traditional bank line many times over.  For example, banks provide artificial credit limits on loans based on equity whereas factoring lines of credit can keep increasing regardless of the company’s equity, sales or financial profits.
4. Industry friendly:  Factoring is well suited for many industries.  For example, PMF Bancorp has grown many companies successfully to multi-million dollar companies in the following industries:
   Staffing, Furniture, Wholesale/Distribution, Manufacturing, Apparel, IT, and other Service Industries.
5. No audits:  Many banks for even the smaller loans require expensive audits.
6. No long-term history: Unlike traditional banks, factoring does not require years of tax returns and financials.
7. No credit limits:  Factoring has no credit limits whereas traditional banks always provide maximum amount the client can borrow.
8. Personal Credit is not necessary:  Principal(s) do not have to have perfect credit whereas traditional banks require this standard.
9. Extra collateral guarantees:  Factoring does not require second trust deeds on homes or other properties whereas many bank loans require this.
10. Credit Insurance.   Last, but definitely not least, Factoring is an excellent way for your business to also protect its invoice repayment by using a factors credit insurance service.  For example, PMF Bancorp credit insures many of its clients’ invoices which reduce their risk greatly when selling.  If their customer invoice does not pay due to bankruptcy or financial stress, then PMF will cover the repayment risk.

Even though there are many myths, the truth is that a lot of very large and sophisticated companies use factoring and will continue to use factoring to grow their companies.

The question is:  “Can your company not afford to use factoring?”

With the shifting economic climate to use more outsourced labor, PMF Bancorp has noticed that Staffing Agencies have found their services to be more and more in demand in recent years. Companies have found that hiring temporary employees can help them avoid numerous pitfalls in terms of payroll taxes, human resources administration, and expensive health care costs. Nevertheless, although such demand appears to be a win-win situation for these agencies, it has raised a number of serious financial issues. Invoice factoring from PMF bancorp has helped to grow many of our staffing clients, and even one from zero to over $40 million in sales.  PMF Bancorp is a lender that delivers the goods that you are looking for in terms of both service and reliability. PMF Bancorp provides the solution that a Staffing Agency needs by solving cash flow problems through Accounts Receivable Financing while providing the best in ongoing service.

The hidden cost to a majority of businesses is the non-productive administration of human resources. As a percentage of the average gross payroll, the U.S. Department of Labor and the Small Business Administration have estimated that employee administration expenses are upwards of 11% for small to mid-sized companies of 25 employees or less. For larger companies, the estimated cost is upwards of 7%. These figures take into account the cost and time involved in basic administration, payroll processing, workers? compensation and unemployment administration while keeping in compliance with the current plethora of employment regulations.

For Staffing Agencies, this cost becomes an overwhelming hurdle to overcome as they outsource more and more temporary and even permanent employees. With an average human resources cost of $832 per employee that comes out to $320 each business day per 100 employees, how is a Staffing Agency supposed to cover the costs when their Accounts Receivable tend to be paid at the end of each month at best. With temps, payroll has to be processed on a weekly basis, and the cash flow gap between money coming in and money going out can quickly become overwhelming.

PMF Bancorp understands the tough problems facing the staffing industry and can provide the invoice factoring and financial support needed to help manage growth, take advantage of opportunities, and help fund payroll. PMF Bancorp usually can perform all of the critical compliance requirements for about half of what the U.S. Small Business Administration requires due to economy of scale. In such situations, human resources help and factoring accounts receivable becomes the best possible solution.

The following testimonial from a Staffing Agency President is anonymous because PMF Bancorp always protects the privacy and confidentiality of our clients. The President of Industrial Staffing Agency described how working with PMF Bancorp truly helped his company improve and their bottom line improve. Industrial Staffing’s President expressed this perspective when he said: “We needed to get an expanded workforce mobilized immediately and PMF provided us with financing that helped us expand quickly to capture sales opportunities. PMF came through with the invoice factoring and financial support when we needed it most.”

The past 20 years have witnessed an unprecedented rise in employment litigation, labor regulations, and tax laws. Effectively managing human resources has become a daunting and expensive task for small to mid-market business owners like Staffing Agencies. The complicated system of employment laws has become a laundry list of unfriendly policies, including laws governing payroll processing, unemployment administration, and workers? compensation. PMF Bancorp can provide both the necessary funds and the experienced needed for a Staffing Agency to turn the positive shift in the economy into a truly win-win scenario across the board.

ASD General Merchandise Show 2011 in Las Vegas was a spectacular show with a 20% increase in buyer attendance over last year.  PMF Bancorp discussed the benefit of increasing working capital through factoring while also discussing the merits of strong credit and risk management when selling new and existing clients.  “Using factoring to increase working capital for growing businesses along with credit insurance can assure a company’s ability to increase sales with confidence while also mitigating possible losses to a large degree,” states Stephen Perl, CEO 1st PMF Bancorp.  PMF Bancorp is a leading commercial bank lender in the U.S. specializing in invoice factoring, credit insurance, and trade financing.  PMF Bancorp provides factoring to wholesalers at the ASD Show in Vegas with the necessary working capital and credit services that the traditional banks are not providing to the middle market businesses that so desperately need capital for growth.

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By: Stephen Perl, MBA, MS

Often businesses grow and mature and do not even realize that their growth is being inhibited from the lack of understanding Supply Chain Financing. Simply put, Supply Chain Financing is the efficient use of working capital to finance goods as a part of a larger process.

Working capital is crucial or another way to state it, “Cash is King!” in the Supply Chain. Business like people are creatures of habit and the initial way of conducting business is often kept as long as possible because it’s comfortable, but placing cash to purchase critical inventory from your overseas buyers is often not the best use of working capital. Invoice Factoring or Accounts Receivable Financing and Trade Finance are more efficient methods of leveraging existing assets to increase cash-flow and thereby sales.

Invoice Factoring in your Supply Chain Financing process is often performed by businesses that understand the importance of a company’s value. “Increasing sales by proper use of financing allows a management team to execute its most important task… to increase shareholders’ value,” states Mr. Stephen Perl, CEO 1^st PMF Bancorp. By utilizing invoice factoring, a company can leverage existing receivables to facilitate additional sales cycles without waiting for the receivables to pay in the normal NET 30 to 60 day terms. The additional working capital can be placed by into the Supply Chain to finance additional inventory and/or services to generate additional sales.

Trade financing is also an important element in the Supply Chain Financing process. It is often ignored by companies looking to increase cash-flow. Letters of credit (aka LCs) provide financing that does not even create debt on the balance sheet (this is often called “Off balance sheet financing.”). LCs are very useful but unfortunately, difficult to obtain without cash and strong credit from the large traditional banks. On the other hand, Letters of Credit are essential to the supply chain as a business grows. LCs from many respects are very necessary when business becomes large as it secures payment, quality and timing of goods with limited risk to the buyer(s).

Los Angeles, CA – New U.S.-China trade door opened by China Mart® Group (USA) for Chinese companies at the same time President Hu opens the door politically in the U.S. China Mart® Group (USA) today signed an agreement with Qingdao government “Joint Marketing, Investment and Trade Promotion Exchange” at the Jiaozhou Government Building to create a business bridge to bring Chinese companies to the U.S. successfully.

China central government is paying high importance to its “Go Abroad Policy” and the China Mart® Group (USA) is the future NGO to play a large role with its support from U.S. government and government organizations such as the World Trade Center Association Los Angeles-Long Beach.

“The China Mart Group plays an important role in the international trade between Los Angeles and China. They have facilitated Chinese companies entering the US market successfully. This is beneficial to the development of our economy,” said Vance Baugham, the President of World Trade Center Association Los Angeles-Long Beach, and the representative of Los Angeles County foreign investment and trade development.

China Mart® Group (USA) CEO Jason Prescott and CEO Stephen Perl, 1^st PMF Bancorp were awarded Trade Ambassador of the Investment Promotion Bureau of Jiaozhuo Qingdao China at the meeting.

“Overseas expansion and maintaining a global business view are paramount for succeeding in today’s economy. I am deeply honored to accept my nomination from the city of Jiaozhou on behalf of China Mart and Manufacturer.com . Small and Medium size business in the USA need the knowledge transfer of these great opportunities. This new trade initiative between Jiaozhou and USA will create that.” ,” said Jason Prescott.

“President Hu’s visit was designed to create new business and cultural bridges between the two world super powers. Politics needs to follow trade. Trade should not follow politics, because trade is the underlying engine for our economies. The politics have set the stage for us, and now we should further develop trade through unique business platforms like the China Mart” said Stephen Perl.

Los Angeles China Mar® Group (USA) is the largest and most comprehensive U.S.-China trade platform in the U.S. It offers online and offline marketing services to assist Chinese manufacturers in opening the U.S. market and establishing U.S. branches. Its subsidiaries include China Mart ®Los Angeles (the largest offline Chinese sales platform which includes showrooms, sales force, and immigration services), Manufacturer.com ™ and TopTenWholesale.com ™ (the leading B2B Wholesale, Manufacturer Product Sourcing Websites owner in the USA), and 1st PMF Bancorp (the largest privately owned factoring and trade finance platform based in the U.S. with dedicated programs to financing Chinese manufacturers). PMF Bancorp has provided Invoice Factoring for over 30 years along with other working capital services to assist fast growth companies in meeting their sales potential.

“Los Angeles is not only the manufacturing capital of America. But it has the largest Chinese population in the U.S. 56% of all imports of the U.S. come from the ports at Los Angeles. California’s economy is the largest of any state in the U.S., and is the eighth largest economy in the world. It makes perfect sense for Chinese companies set up their US branches in Los Angeles. BYD, Air China and many other Chinese big corporations have all successfully established their headquarters here in Los Angeles,” said Stephen Perl.

About China Mart® Group and Affiliates:

China Mart® is the largest offline sales, service, and immigration platform in North America currently operating, dedicated to opening the North American market to Chinese manufacturers (www.ChinaMartUSA.com).

1^st PMF Bancorp is one of the largest private commercial bank lenders in the U.S. for the last 30 years that specializes in invoice factoring, trade financing, credit insurance and credit management services to high growth companies that are not able to access the working capital from a traditional bank (www.PMFbancorp.com )

Manufacturer.com® (www.Manufacturer.com) helps buyers quickly source products, finding the right suppliers for profitable business transactions. Suppliers can use Manufacturer.com to easily list their companies and will be found by millions of buyers. Importers, exporters, wholesalers, retailers, independents, flea marketers, convenience stores, charities, discounters, auctioneers, dropshippers and entrepreneurs all use Manufacturer.com to find and establish valuable trade partners.

TopTenWholesale® (www.TopTenWholesale.com) is the leading online wholesale directory and search engine for connecting resellers and buyers of general merchandise in the global and domestic trade directly with wholesalers, manufacturers, distributors, drop shippers, importers, exporters, and other types of suppliers. Use TopTenWholesale.com to search from over 100 wholesale product categories, and over 3,000 wholesalers and manufacturers. Find the hottest wholesale products online, including: wholesale jewelry, general merchandise, closeouts, handbags, apparel, gifts, electronics, novelties, toys, and much more. Connect with domestic and global wholesale companies and products today!