Touch FAQs

Established in 2008, Touch Financial is an award-winning finance brokerage.

Firstly, we deal with a significant proportion of the providers in the marketplace. We are FCA regulated and are constantly striving to refine our systems and procedures to further improve our customer’s journey. We are also a very proud award-winning brokerage having been awarded the Asset Based Finance Broker of the Year by Moneyfacts on 6 separate occasions. Additionally we have our own unique in house training programme as well as ensuring that our consultants take appropriate external UK Finance exams.

We subscribe to Feefo, an independent rating service, which allows customers to provide honest and open feedback concerning their experience of the work undertaken by Touch in securing their business finance. To see what our customers think about us, check out our Trustpilot reviews.

We are keen to assist you with compare offering you have received and give our recommendations on the right facility for you as well as help negotiate terms with lender.

Yes, we act for you, our customer, at all times.

Whilst the group does however have strong relationships with our Panel and provides other services directly to them, we will not act for any of the funders where Touch has in the first instance successfully assisted you obtain an invoice finance facility.

Our main role is to introduce you to a number of invoice finance funders on our approved panel who we believe have the appetite and the ability to offer you a facility.

Although we do specialise in invoice finance, we may also be able to help you consider certain alternative options and have a separate panel of providers who may suit your needs.

Our policy is that all our consultants complete the UK Finance’s Invoice Finance and Asset Based Lending Foundation Course. For more information about UK Finance, please visit www.ukfinance.org.uk

In addition to this we also have our own in house training programme ensuring our consultants are trained to handle customer enquiries.

Yes. Touch is proud to be part of the award-winning SFP Group which provides a wide range of other services to businesses, accountants and lenders. For more information about the group, please visit www.sfpgroup.com.

Yes, we are independent and impartial. We have more than 35 lenders on our approved panel (which represents a significant proportion of the marketplace) and by normally recommending 2 to 3 suitable funders, we ensure that our customers have the ultimate choice on who to select. There is no hard sell and we have no objections to comparing offers from our funders against other funders you may have sourced yourself or through other brokers.

Touch Financial Support Ltd is a trading name of SFP Brokers Limited, Authorised and Regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FRN: 727220).

The average advance rates are usually between 80-95%. Advance rates do depend, however, on the individual circumstances of the business especially in sectors such as construction where a business owner or contractor may only enjoy a 60-70% advance.

We believe that Invoice finance is now recognised and considered as a viable and effective alternative to a bank overdraft or loan. Where it particularly wins is that it facilitates business growth without the need for large amounts of assets to act as security. This often means that invoice finance – in the right circumstances and with the right funding partner – could provide multiple times as much cash for a business compared to a more ‘traditional’ funding line such as a bank overdraft.

We have assisted thousands of businesses obtain an asset based finance facility since 2008.

Yes of course – that’s part of our job. Our free service is designed to assist you at every step of the journey with funders, to compare, and make recommendations about which facility will suit your business.

This is a common misconception and a tired argument. Invoice Finance was originally delivered via the High Street banks but never as a mainstream commercial finance product. The lack of exposure given to the product, coupled with a poor understanding of its use and effectiveness, meant that it was often only recommended once all other funding options had been explored. Businesses therefore could have been recommended Invoice Finance that were wholly unsuitable to the product, or who were already in financial difficulties.

There are over 50 banks and independent providers of invoice finance. This number is constantly growing and we are always happy to open a dialogue with any new entrants to the market.

We have relationships with a significant proportion of the market to offer our customers a wide choice. We select our panel of funders carefully and value the importance of the broker/funder relationship but not all funders are the same and some do not want to work via a third party introduction. New funders are coming to the market on a regular basis, and we constantly review and refresh our panel as well as monitor the service levels of our longer-term partners to ensure they are meeting our customers’ needs.

No, but a significant proportion are regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and/or are members of UK Finance (previously known as ABFA).
UK Finance members are subject to maintaining a satisfactory code of conduct when dealing with their clients. The Code of Conduct is subject to the Independent Complaints procedure which is monitored by the Professional Standards Council. The Council is charged with keeping the code up to date and applying sanctions on UK Finance members who do not meet the minimum standards required.

For more information please visit www.ukfinance.org.uk/membership/find-a-member and www.fca.org.uk/register.

We do always recommend before proceeding with any funder that you:

• carry out your own checks on the funder
• seek independent professional guidance (for example, your accountant, lawyer or IFA) on the facility being offered
• ensure you feel completely comfortable before accepting any proposed offer

The process is simple. Our consultants are all trained in invoice finance, business loans, and certain related products. They will spend a short period of time consulting with you on the phone to obtain all of the relevant information required for us to make an introduction to any relevant funder. Their main focus will always be on finding an appropriate facility for your business, although the information you provide or your particular requirements may lead to them to recommend alternative finance products.

Invoice finance is not a one-size-fits-all product. Over time, funders have evolved different products, often to match the demands of different industries. One of our particular USPs is in constantly monitoring and assessing certain new products, and in matching those products (and by definition the funder) to the business need.

Again this is about choice, being impartial and ensuring that the customer always has the final say in which funder to choose. Giving customers an opportunity to compare and contrast service levels and prices is very important, and our consultants are always on hand to discuss any of the quotes provided.

We know because we have spent a considerable amount of time and resource in developing our own in-house matrix tailored specifically to enable us to identify which funders, based on various formulas, fit with your business requirements.

We also meet with a significant proportion of our approved Funder panel on a quarterly basis which does enable us to stay up-to-date with the latest products and innovations in services. These meetings also help ensure our matrix can be regularly reviewed and updated.