If the invoice goes unpaid past the due date, one of Leff's dozen former bank credit analysts may talk with the business owner about ways to collect the money. Any bill that isn't paid after 90 days will be spit out of the computer and the money deducted from the store's reserve account. When customers are slower paying than Leff expected, he may charge the store a greater discount than 3%; if the bills are paid more quickly, the store can get a better deal.
The bills the customers receive at the end of the month are generated not at the store (even though it may look exactly that way because the bills feature each store's logo) but in the CDS offices in Lynbrook. The P.O. box to which the payments are sent is classic "lockboxes" emptied by CDS, not by the store the customer thinks has sent the bill.
Leff also offers his clients a credit card, which looks like a charge account from the customer's point of view but feeds directly into CDS. Though his billing business is now ancillary to the financial business, Leff still attracts many customers strictly for the CDS billing service.
The CDS computers keep track of the aging of invoices from every client, plus information from other sources, and produce an internal report Leff calls the "Daily Flash." This starts with a snapshot of the firm's position at the close of business the day before, adds some generally available economic statistics, and analyzes changes that might impact on credit. Based on the Daily Flash, Leff and his credit officers may impose credit freezes on a store's customers, increase or reduce a customer's credit line, or take other action.
The seal of approval of his product, Leff feels, was the recent decision by Staples to make CDS the exclusive provider of credit to its online customers. This recognition has fed Leff's ambition. "In the future," he says, "I want the small-business community to think, I get my payroll from ADP, I get my insurance from Hartford, and I get my billing and accounts-receivable analysis from CDS."
The factors listed below are all members of the Commercial Finance Association, the major trade group for the industry. It doesn't include every local factor or specialized factors, such as UPS.
Access Business
Finance LLC
Bellevue, Wash.
(425) 747-9090
Access Capital Inc.
New York City
(212) 644-9300
Accord Financial Corp.
Montreal
(514) 866-2711
Action Capital Corp.
Atlanta
(404) 524-3181
Advantage Funding Corp.
Atlanta
(770) 955-2274
AeroFund Financial Inc.
San Jose, Calif.
(408) 360-2898
Alliance Bank
Culver City, Calif.
(310) 410-9281 ext. 310
Allied Financial Corp.
Atlanta
(770) 730-0101
American Commercial Finance Corp.
W. Hartford, Conn.
(800) 970-9997 ext. 11
AmeriSource Funding Inc.
Houston
(713) 863-8300
Bank of America Commercial Finance
Chicago
(312) 974-2401
Bay Business Credit
Walnut Creek, Calif.
(925) 256-9003
Bay View Funding
San Mateo, Calif.
(650) 294-6620
BB&T Factors Corp.
High Point, N.C.
(336) 889-3355 ext. 200
BeneFactor Funding Corp.
Denver
(303) 333-6111
Boston Financial & Equity Corp.
Boston
(617) 267-2900
The Bradley Factor Inc.
Cleveland, Tenn.
(423) 479-1899
Briar Capital LP
Houston
(832) 251-1500 ext. 223
Brookridge Funding Corp.
Danbury, Conn.
(203) 790-7301
Business Alliance Capital Corp.
Princeton, N.J.
(609) 514-1140
Capital Factors Inc.
Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
(561) 368-5011 ext. 2009
Capitol Resource Funding, Inc.
Alexandria, Va.
(888) 273-2424
CDS Capital LLC
Lynbrook, N.Y.
(516) 379-1053
CIB Marine Commercial Finance, LLC
Hillside, Ill.
(708) 449-8705
CIT Group
New York City
(212) 382-6829
Commerce Funding Corp.
Vienna, Va.
(703) 893-2150 ext. 233
Commercial Capital Lending, LLC
Baton Rouge, La.
(225) 293-0711
The Commercial Finance Group
Atlanta
(404) 459-8005
Community Business Finance Inc.
Southaven, Miss.
(662) 342-2927
Congress Financial Corp.
New York City
(212) 545-4201
Continental Business Credit Inc.
Woodland Hills, Calif.
(818) 737-3700
Creative Capital Corp.
Paramus, N.J.
(201) 845-7020
Crestmark Bank
Troy, Mich.
(248) 740-0700 ext. 600
DCD Capital LLC
New York City
(212) 849-9210
Dimmitt & Owens Financial Inc.
Troy, Mich.
(248) 524-2323
Diversified Lenders Inc.
Lubbock, Texas
(806) 795-7782
