TradeCard Launches First Automated Early Payment Program

NEW YORK – TradeCard Inc., the leading provider of on-demand financial supply chain solutions, today announced the launch of its automated Early Payment Program. After piloting the program with a number of customers over the past six months, it is now available to any eligible supplier on the TradeCard system. Buyers can either fund an early payment program with their own cash or TradeCard’s partner financial institutions finance the early payment in lieu of traditional factoring or financing agreements.

With the new program, suppliers can get paid as early as two days after the buyer submits an electronic payment approval document. The world’s number one snowboard company and one of the world’s largest outerwear brands have already adopted the TradeCard Early Payment Program with their suppliers.

The new funding option is available at rates that are likely to be better than those offered by financial institutions for traditional early payment programs. This is possible because the discount rate for suppliers is based upon the buyer’s credit rather than that of the supplier. In addition, the web-enabled automation of transactions provides real-time visibility for TradeCard’s financial institution partners. It is also one of the first early payment programs that automate payments on a non-recourse basis.

The program supported by TradeCard’s partnering financial institutions is available either for a predetermined period or on an invoice-by-invoice basis. This is in contrast to traditional early payment programs that usually require minimum volume commitments by customers. This flexibility allows the funding to automatically increase if more cash is required to support a fast-growing business. Suppliers can select early payment at the click of a mouse – without any paperwork after registration.

Early Payment Program Creates Mutual Gain for Buyers and Suppliers

The TradeCard Early Payment Program improves the financial positions of both buyers and sellers:

• Buyers using their own cash benefit from early payment discounts or, when using the new third-party funding option, from improved free cash flow through the ability to increase their Days Payable Outstanding.
• Suppliers benefit from a new source of operating cash flow that can be easily accessed on an optional basis in an automated fashion without having to utilize their existing credit lines.
• Suppliers can mitigate credit and foreign exchange exposure.

In the trend to strategic sourcing and closer relationships between buyers and suppliers, collaborative financing methods such as early payment are key to leverage cash or credit terms across the transaction process and ensure suppliers can support their own and their customer’s business growth.

Automation Reduces the Risk in Early Payment
Buyers in the past have had difficulty offering early payment programs without incurring a significant amount of additional paperwork. This has made it too costly to apply an early payment program, particularly for small invoices with shorter payment terms. Since smaller invoices are an industry trend in international merchandise trade, these costs pose a real obstacle to the wider use of traditional early payment programs in the future. By combining an integrated early payment funding option with transaction automation, TradeCard has eliminated these obstacles. Risk is reduced because on TradeCard’s web-based platform, trade partners and financial service providers get extended visibility into procurement and financial data, to better assess risk and fine-tune credit requirements.

For suppliers, the TradeCard Early Payment Program also significantly reduces the risk associated with foreign exchange transactions because it shortens the period that receivables are outstanding and reduces the risk of exchange rate exposure.

Says Kurt Cavano, chairman and CEO, TradeCard Inc. “Because we connect buyers and sellers online, we can provide unique and differentiated financial services that are not possible if all processes are paper-based. Through making use of the buyer’s own cash and in cooperation with our financial institution partners, we have opened up opportunities for viable alternatives to traditional factoring and financing arrangements.”