An owner-operator truck driver enjoys a wealth of benefits that others may never see. You’re independent and do not have to answer to a boss. It’s your truck, you’re the driver, and you set and choose the clients you want. While you do need to keep your clients happy, you’re able to set your own hours and choose routes that you know may be out of the way but have proven to be more efficient.
The money you make is yours. You’re not paying for employee benefits. You have tax benefits as a self-employed business owner, and your revenues are yours. Set aside your taxes and business costs. The rest of the money is available as your salary or to invest in the business as you see fit.
There can be downsides to being an owner-operator truck driver. You’re on the road a lot, and that can make it difficult to keep up with the paperwork. This is one of many reasons that a freight factoring arrangement is essential. Explore the benefits you gain by partnering with a factoring company like Saint John Capital.
You Gain Financial Stability
There is nothing worse than being self-employed and having a client fail to pay on time. You’re counting on the income to cover your mortgage, insurance payments, truck loan, fuel top-ups, utilities, and business loans. If your client pays late, you also end up paying late. You’re slapped with late fees that could have been avoided had the client paid on time.
Freight factoring pays you long before some clients will. In many cases, you can get the payment on the same day. If not, you’ll still have it within a few business days. It’s a big improvement over waiting weeks for your client to send a check, and then having to wait additional time for the check to clear.
You no longer face late fees or increased interest rates because of repeated late payments. Invest those savings into carefully growing your business. You can make necessary upgrades and improvements that allow you to take higher-paying jobs. If you had a refrigerated trailer, you could do cross-country trips if you wanted. Or, you could apply and get approved for higher-paying FEMA loads.
You Don’t Have as Much Paperwork
With a freight factoring arrangement, you generate a bill of lading and get the client to sign it when you pick up the load. Head off on your route and make the delivery. You’ll get a signature that the shipment was delivered.
Submit that bill of lading to Saint John Capital. We look it over, submit payment to you (possibly the same day if you have a gas card and submit the bill of lading by noon EST), and take care of invoicing your client. You no longer have to print out and fax, email, or mail invoices and wait for payment. We take care of it.
We’ll take the bills of lading you submit, print out invoices, and bill the client. We pay you in the meantime and wait for your client to pay what’s owed. If a payment is late, we make the calls and chase the payment down. You don’t have to. All of the invoices we generate are available for you to upload to your accounting software.
What happens if your client fails to pay us? It depends on the arrangement you’ve made. A non-recourse arrangement means you never have to pay us back for any advance we sent you. If the client doesn’t pay, it’s our problem. If it’s a recourse arrangement, you’d have to repay us the amount we advanced you. Generally, a non-recourse arrangement is preferred as it removes all risk from you.
Some arrangements are a mix of the two. You’d have to pay us back a certain percentage, and we’re responsible for the rest.
No matter which arrangement you choose, you gain regular payments and more time for loads. You keep making your clients by taking the work they have, making the runs on time, and being a reliable hauler.
The Advantage of Click & Pay API for You and Your Clients
Saint John Capital’s software includes Click & Pay API which makes it easy to provide QuickPay services to your clients. They don’t have to mail you a check. Instead, they can click on the link and pay automatically. The payments you get can be made straight to your business Visa with gas savings to help you lower your business expenses.
Your clients also benefit by having a convenient online service they can use to keep track of the payments they’ve made and those that are pending. There’s no more scouring through dozens or hundreds of emails to find what they need.
Time-Saving Apps Make It Easy to Find Work and Plan Routes
Saint John Capital offers time-saving apps that can help you run and manage your trucking company. Load-finding tools help you search for work on the routes you frequent. Sort by price or size.
When you find work of interest, you can use free business credit reports to make sure the client doesn’t have a lot of unpaid debt. You can also use a free business credit check to make sure that the client doesn’t regularly take 90+ days to pay an invoice.
Track Loads is handy if you want to assign the work you’ve taken to yourself so that the information is in your phone and ready to access. Use maps and GPS tracking to monitor traffic for roadblocks from construction or car accidents.
Save Money on Fuel
When you partner with a freight factoring expert, you often have the chance to get a Visa card that doesn’t require you to have stellar credit. That card offers substantial fuel discounts that help you save money every time you fill up with gasoline or diesel. You may also gain cash-back incentives on restaurant and grocery purchases.
Freight Factoring Fees May Be Legitimate Business Expenses
Saint John Capital’s freight factoring arrangements have some of the lowest rates in the nation. While you do pay us a small percentage for the service, it’s minimal. Plus, you may be able to deduct the fees from your taxable income at the end of the year. Ask your tax professional when they can be deducted and when they can’t.
In exchange for the low factoring fees, you get immediate payments, a host of beneficial services, and a guarantee that money will keep coming in creating a steady revenue flow. Learn more about these benefits by talking to the freight factoring experts at Saint John Capital.
