“Back in January I received an email from Loide Costa, Account Executive at the Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce.

Loide was emailing me to see if I would be happy for an introduction to another GMCC member, John Blackmore of Fifo Capital.

Without hesitation I replied positively and said I would love to meet John for a coffee. Within a week John and I had met in the Chamber Space Members Lounge.

As a Broker I meet a lot of lenders throughout the course of the year, some good, some bad, but John really came across as a knowledgable, passionate and proactive bloke.

When I met John I was having difficulty in sourcing a selective invoice finance facility for a Plant Hire business. It was great to hear John say the client sounded perfect for Fifo and that he was keen on writing the business.

Most of the other invoice finance lenders were unhappy to lend against the debt because of reputational risk (activities of debtor), problems getting bad debt protection limits and through to the right people for verification of invoice. John applied common sense, came to visit the client with me and was happy to work with their invoice process.

In summary, I find Fifo really easy to deal with, John runs his own book meaning my clients will ever only have to deal with him. He is Manchester based meaning he is local to me, most of my clients and their debtors.

Once the facility is in place there are no costs unless the client sells him invoices. He will arrange Bad Debt Protection for invoices whether Fifo purchase them or not. Invoices are generally purchased on the same day as offered dependent on debt verification timing and invoices can be offered for sale at any point during the invoice cycle, thus offering reduced costs, so long as they are not past due.

So pick the phone up to John and see if Fifo can help your business today. They certainly helped mine.”

Martin Howe
Commercial Finance Broker