49% of invoices produced in the U.S. go on to become overdue. Overdue invoices can put businesses in a cash crunch, but you can finance your invoices with Crowdz to use the cash until your customer pays the invoice. Crowdz helps you cash in your receivables before they’re due, but funders will only discount invoices if the return justifies the risk. That’s where the SuRF Score comes in.
Crowdz SuRF (Sustainability, Risk, & Financial) Score represents the probability of a company (the one wanting to finance the invoice) paying the invoice amount to the invoice’s Buyer (the one funding the invoice) when it's due. Think of it like a bond rating assigned by a credit rating agency. The SuRF Score differs from a bond rating because it also factors in a company’s commitment to sustainability.
Below, we explain everything you need to know about the SuRF Score.
What is the SuRF Score?
SuRF Score is our proprietary metric that represents the probability of receiving the payment from an invoice from the Seller in full and on time.
A Funder (the person or company financing the invoice) needs to assess a company’s financial capabilities and the risk involved before buying its invoice. The SuRF Score helps do just that, but faster and easier.
For example, say you’d like to buy two invoices worth $50,000 each and a SuRF Score of 80 and 95, respectively. You’ll want a higher annualized return on the first invoice with a SuRF Score of 80, while you might accept a lower return on the second invoice with a SuRF Score of 95 because of lower risk.
We use the following factors to come up with a company’s SuRF Score:
- Conventional business risk data
- Financial data from companies
- Historical transactions data
- Transactional data from Crowdz
We refine the role and contribution of these factors over time using AI based on the relevant factor’s predictive accuracy.
The SuRF Score updates in real-time. If your score takes a hit because of late payment, Sellers can improve it just by being more regular with repayments. However, in some cases, the score might take a while to improve. For example, if you’ve taken a large amount of external debt and overleveraged, your score might improve once you’ve paid off a significant portion of the debt.
How the SuRF Score Helps Buyers and Sellers
SuRF Score benefits both Buyers and Sellers of invoices, so every transaction is a win-win.
How SuRF Score Helps Sellers Finance Invoices with Low Discount Rates
Sellers want to get paid faster. 82% of businesses fail because of cash flow problems — getting cash faster might just be your key to keeping the company afloat.
Approval times for companies with an excellent SuRF Score are shorter than those with a relatively poorer score. As a Seller, you also want the lowest discount rate. When Buyers see a high SuRF Score on your invoice, you can quickly get cash and pay a low discount rate.
Translation?
The SuRF Score can help you get invoices approved in the marketplace and turn your receivables into cash immediately and at a low discount rate.
How SuRF Score Helps Buyers Assess the Seller’s Repayment Capability
Funders need to understand the risks of buying a particular invoice. The risk of buying an invoice from a company with a strong balance sheet, repayment history, and business health is lower than a company that misses payments frequently.
The SuRF Score enables Funders to get a quick overview of a company’s risk profile and make buying decisions faster. Since Sellers won’t have to examine every company’s financial metrics or repayment history individually, they save time. They’ll also have the information needed to maximize their risk-adjusted return.
How to Improve the SuRF Score
You can improve your SuRF Score by fixing whatever caused the score to drop in the first place. Some things are easy to fix, while others take time.
Here are the best practices to follow for improving your SuRF Score:
- Manage cash flows: Managing your cash flows allows you to meet your payment obligations to external lenders and Crowdz as they become due. If customers aren’t paying invoices on time, introduce finance charges to discourage non-payment past the due date and make your cash flows more predictable. Not missing a payment is the fastest way to drive your SuRF score upwards, provided your score dropped because of a missed payment.
- Keep debt in check: Buyers view companies with high external debt (borrowings not from Crowdz) as high-risk. If you have a lot of debt, consider reducing it. Ideally, your debt-to-equity ratio should be lower than 2 (though the standard varies by industry).
- Monitor your financial metrics: Your financial metrics are a crucial factor influencing your SuRF Score. Scan your financial performance by monitoring profitability, solvency, and liquidity metrics and your business’s general financial health.
Simplify Invoice Discounting With SuRF Score
The SuRF Score simplifies invoice discounting for both Buyers and Sellers.
Risk assessment is difficult and time-consuming, but buyers also want to minimize the risk to their capital. SuRF Score unifies the risk assessment factors into a single metric, saving Buyers time and providing complete clarity about their risk-adjusted returns.
On the other hand, Sellers want a minimal discount rate when financing an invoice. SuRF Score helps Sellers get quick access to cash for the best rate based on their risk profile. If you’re interested in buying or selling invoices, visit our website or contact us now.
