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Factoring a single invoice: spot deals versus a whole-ledger facility
Spot factoring exists. It is priced for what it is, and the reason a factor prefers your whole ledger is not greed.
Drafted with AI assistance. Not yet independently checked. Nobody has verified the claims on this page against a source, so treat the figures and legal points as a starting point rather than as settled, and confirm anything you are about to act on. How we check things.
Can I factor just one invoice?
Yes — spot factoring, where you sell one invoice or a small batch with no ongoing commitment, is a real product, though fewer providers offer it and it usually costs more per invoice than a committed facility. The reason is that the factor does the same underwriting, documentation and verification work for one transaction that it would spread across a year of volume. A whole-ledger facility is cheaper per invoice but comes with minimums, a term, notice periods and a requirement that you sell all eligible invoices from covered customers.
Two different products, and the choice depends far more on how often you will need it than on the price of the first deal.
Spot factoring
You sell one invoice, or a handful, as a one-off. No minimum volume, no term commitment, no obligation to come back.
Whole-ledger facilities
You commit to selling all eligible invoices from covered customers, usually with a minimum volume and a term.
That last point is worth pausing on. If you could cherry-pick, you would send the factor the slow payers and collect the fast ones yourself, and the factor's portfolio would be the worst part of your ledger. Whole-turnover requirements are how factors avoid buying adverse selection.
Selective facilities in between
Some providers offer selective or customer-specific arrangements: you nominate certain customers and factor all invoices to those customers, keeping the rest of the ledger to yourself. That can be a sensible middle position if one or two large accounts drive your cash cycle. Ask whether it is available before assuming the choice is binary.
Run the crossover on your own volume
The choice is arithmetic once you know how many invoices a year you will actually sell.
Sell 18 invoices a year and spot costs $25,200. The facility costs $15,120 of discount plus $540 of wire fees plus $3,000 of platform charges, or $18,660. The facility saves $6,540.
Sell five invoices a year and spot costs $7,000. The facility costs $4,200 plus $150 plus the same $3,000 of platform charges, or $7,350 — and that is before any minimum-volume shortfall fee, which on five invoices you would certainly be paying. Spot wins.
The crossover on these figures sits at about six invoices a year. Yours will sit somewhere else, because the platform charge and the minimum are the variables that move it. Get both numbers in dollars and do the division yourself; it takes ten minutes and it is the only version of the comparison that applies to you.
The edge cases that decide it for you
What a one-off actually requires
Even a single-invoice deal is a full onboarding. Expect to provide entity documents and photo ID, the customer's full legal name and accounts payable contact, the invoice with its purchase order and signed proof of delivery, a signed assignment for that invoice, and consent to a UCC search on your business. Expect the factor to telephone your customer to verify before it funds.
That work is why a first spot transaction takes days rather than hours, and why a second one with the same provider is quick. If there is any chance you will come back, ask at the outset whether the onboarding carries over and whether a repeat deal prices lower. Some providers will say yes in writing, which gets you part of a facility's pricing without a facility's minimums.
Which to choose
Where this applies
Related questions
Can I factor just one invoice?
Yes — spot factoring, where you sell one invoice or a small batch with no ongoing commitment, is a real product, though fewer providers offer it and it usually costs more per invoice than a committed facility. The reason is that the factor does the same underwriting, documentation and verification work for one transaction that it would spread across a year of volume. A whole-ledger facility is cheaper per invoice but comes with minimums, a term, notice periods and a requirement that you sell all eligible invoices from covered customers.
Which funding products does this apply to?
Working Capital, Invoice Financing. Each has its own page listing the funders in this directory that offer it and what each one publishes about its terms.
Is this specific to construction?
It is written around how a construction business actually generates and collects cash, which is what makes its funding problem different. The mechanics transfer; the arithmetic may not.
Who writes this?
The Find Me Funders research desk. Some drafting is AI-assisted, and every page that is says so at the top, including whether a person has checked its claims yet.
How do I know a figure here is right?
Where a page carries the green notice, its claims were checked against the sources listed at the end and a reviewer is named. Where it carries the amber one, nobody has verified it yet and you should confirm anything you plan to act on.
Are the examples real deals?
No. Every worked example is labelled illustrative and exists to show the arithmetic. What any particular lender charges is on that lender's page, where it publishes it.
Why do you never say what a typical rate is?
Because we cannot source it. A market average assembled from lenders who do not publish prices is a guess with a decimal point on it. Where a lender publishes a figure, we show that figure and say where it came from.
Is this financial or legal advice?
No. It is general information about how these products work. Outcomes depend on your contract and your state, and a lawyer or accountant licensed where you are is the person to ask about your situation.
Can I reuse this content?
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