Riviera Finance is an established financing company specializing in invoice factoring for small businesses. The company purchases outstanding invoices from your clients so you can turn your accounts receivable into instant working capital to maintain cash flow.
Since your customers repay borrowed money when paying their invoices, you can get business financing without incurring debt. Like any financing agreement, however, Riviera Finance has some drawbacks to consider.
If you’re considering using Riviera Finance as your factoring company, we can help guide you with this Riviera Finance review. Specifically, we’ll provide answers to these questions:
Riviera Finance is a business financing company offering invoice factoring. Established in 1969, it’s one of the longest-running factoring companies in the country.
The company primarily offers factoring services to business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-government (B2G) companies. Riviera Finance is a national leader in business financing.
According to their website, the company offers “experts in accounts receivable management, cash flow solutions, and invoice factoring solutions.” The Riviera Finance team aims to build lasting relationships with customers.
Riviera Finance brings over 50 years of experience to their B2B and B2G clients. As an older company, it still does business the old-fashioned way and prefers in-person meetings and building relationships with their client.
However, Riviera Finance is successful because the company updates with the times. While they have over 25 offices for in-person meetings, they also offer a convenient online application to provide services anywhere in the US or Canada.
The financial institution offers a robust invoice factoring service. Some businesses wait weeks or months to receive payment on their accounts receivable invoices. Invoice factoring is essentially selling those invoices to a factoring company so that you can liquidate the asset into working capital.
Converting the passive asset into liquid capital allows your business to invest in additional inventory and growth opportunities. Waiting for clients to pay their bills limits what small businesses can do.
When you become a Riviera Finance client, the factor purchases a certain percentage of the invoice, called an advance rate. Riviera Finance’s purchase rate goes up to 95%, but the average is 92%.
When the factor approves the invoice, it purchases the advance rate, and you get the funds within 24 hours. The remaining balance is released to you when the customer pays their invoice.
Riviera Finance receives compensation for their factoring service with the discount rate, which is the percentage the factor withholds. Riviera Finance’s average discount rate is 2%, but it can go higher or lower.
Once Riviera Finance purchases the invoice(s), it becomes responsible for collecting from your clients. You don’t have to do anything additional at this point.
Based on the average rates, you would get 92% of the invoice’s value upfront, 2% goes to Riviera Finance, and you receive the remaining 6% when the client pays their invoice.
Once you’re registered, invoice processing works like this:
Riviera Finance offers custom features that distinguish it from other factoring companies.
Riviera Finance provides non-recourse invoice factoring, which means you don’t have to repurchase an invoice when a customer defaults due to bankruptcy. The added protection is beneficial but tends to cost more than standard factoring.
In notification factoring, the factoring company notifies your customers that the factor took over the invoices. Other factoring companies might not alert your clients.
Since your business is essentially selling your invoices to Riviera Finance, the company bases its decision on your client’s credit rather than yours. You don’t need to meet a minimum credit score for approval.
The factoring company only services businesses in the US and Canada. Additionally, the invoices you put up for factoring must come from clients in the US and Canada.
Riviera Finance factoring services are available for B2B and B2G companies. B2C companies might not be eligible.
Since you’re gaining working capital by selling invoices, you don’t add debt to your business. Most forms of small business financing include taking out debt, which becomes a liability.
When the company acquires your invoices, it essentially becomes your accounts receivable firm. The company collects from your customers. Since it only provides notification factoring, your clients are informed when their accounts payable transfer to Riviera Finance.
One of the factoring company’s services is credit review of your clients. They do this to decide on which invoices it approves for factoring.
The average length of a contract is 6 months, but it can be shorter or longer. Early termination of a long-term contract might incur a late termination fee, but you can stop factoring at any time.
The credit limit Riviera Finance sets means you can’t sell invoices exceeding the limit. You’re also not obligated to sell all of your invoices. You can choose which ones you want to submit to the factoring company.
The non-recourse factoring means you don’t have to buy back invoices when the customer defaults due to going bankrupt. This is a nice level of security to protect you. However, you will need to repurchase invoices if they were inaccurate or the terms were not fulfilled.
The company has 25 locations throughout the country. If you have a physical office nearby, you can apply in person.
If not, you can complete their quick online application for a quote. If you want to proceed with the quote, the Riviera Finance team will help you complete the next steps.
You will work with an account executive to finalize your application. The account executive stays on your account to help you when needed.
You will need to provide some documentation to verify your business. Riviera Finance’s website indicates the application process takes 1-2 days to complete, and the total time from application to funding is between 4-7 days.
Once you’re registered, you can begin submitting invoices to factor. The company guarantees funding on approved invoices within 24 hours.
You don’t need to do much once you receive the funds. Riviera Finance takes care of collecting payment from purchased invoices.
Users can submit invoices daily. Once Riviera Finance approves the invoice, you’ll receive the funds via a wire transfer to your business bank account. You are not required to submit all invoices and only submit the invoices you want.
You can cancel your contract to stop factoring. Most contracts are six months but can go higher or lower. The company might charge an early termination fee if you cancel a more extended contract early into the term.
Applicants do not need to meet a minimum credit score requirement for approval. Any business, from established companies to startups, can qualify with verifiable accounts receivable.
Riviera Finance’s non-recourse invoice factoring offers bankruptcy protection. Your business isn’t liable when a client doesn’t pay an invoice because they went bankrupt.
The factoring company brings a wealth of experience and knowledge in invoice factoring. With their 50-year history, you can build a dependable relationship and leverage their expertise to maximize your working capital. The factoring company’s great customer service is one of its primary advantages.
Customers can access and monitor their accounts 24/7 with the Riviera Online Account Management (ROAM) system. ROAM lets you create and send invoices, track payments and payment history, and access the help center.
While Riviera Finance provides an online prequalification form and an online account manager, it still does certain things old-school. The company prefers in-person applications, and the process takes several days to complete. For comparison, some online lenders offer same-day funding on invoice factoring with an entirely online process.
The tradeoff on the bankruptcy protection of non-recourse factoring is that it tends to be more expensive than standard factoring. The increased cost might be worth it, though; you can think of it as a sort of insurance.
While Riviera Finance doesn’t check your credit score, the company does perform a credit check on the clients whose invoices you submit for factoring. Your clients need to have established credit.
In most cases, Riviera Finance only performs invoice factoring for B2B and B2G companies, as your clients need to be creditworthy. Most business-to-consumer (B2C) companies aren’t eligible.
We prepared a pro and con list for a quick summary.
Pros:
Cons:
Yes, Riviera Finance is a legitimate company and a nationally recognized leader in business financing. The factoring company launched in 1969 and is still going strong.
Yes, Riviera Finance is one of the leading factoring companies in the country, and some reviewers consider it the best factoring company available.
Positive reviews talk about the ease of approval. Since there are no credit score requirements, the threshold for approval is much lower than other forms of small business financing.
The company’s clients also commented on the friendly and knowledgeable customer service. Riviera Finance brings over five decades of experience and still centers its business around maintaining solid customer relationships. Customers found the service extremely helpful and feel it is a great company.
While the Better Business Bureau doesn’t accredit Riviera Finance, it has an A+ rating with zero negative reviews. We couldn’t locate any negative reviews about the company on other websites or platforms either. It has 3.7 on Trust Pilot, but no negative reviews were listed.
Riviera Finance is best for B2B and B2G businesses, but the only restricted industries are specific companies in the construction and medical sectors.
The company does specify the industries it works with most often. Those include:
Qualifying for Riviera Finance is more accessible than many small business financing options, and the company is great for startups and businesses without established credit. However, the clients whose invoices you’re submitting must pass the company’s credit check.
Riviera Finance believes in building relationships with its customers. If you are not approved, the company should inform you why. If not, you can always call or write to them asking for more qualifications.
If Riviera Finance doesn’t work out for you, there are other lenders you may want to consider. There are many options for invoice factoring and other forms of small business financing to help you grow your company.
Riviera Finance is best for growing companies needing to turn outstanding invoices and accounts receivable into liquid capital for cash flow solutions. Most customers are small or medium-sized businesses. The full-service factoring company offers a strong working relationship to help you maximize your invoice factoring opportunities.
Riviera Finance’s non-recourse factoring service provides protection in case a client defaults on an invoice due to bankruptcy. The excellent customer service also provides an advantage over other factoring companies.
B2C companies and businesses that don’t need to turn invoices into cash would benefit from other forms of business financing and need to look at another company. In addition, a business needing immediate funding will likely benefit from an alternative lender offering same-day or next-day factoring services.
Based on our research, we rate Riviera Finance at a 4.5 out of 5. The company has outstanding customer reviews, offers a solid product, and has over 50 years of experience. It only loses points for the limited products – only offering invoice factoring – and because it’s not suitable for B2C companies.
Disclaimer: The Riviera Finance trademark is owned by Riviera Finance of Texas, Inc. and its use herein is for reference purposes only and it does not indicate sponsorship or endorsement from Riviera Finance of Texas, Inc.
