Your factor's fine print decides what you keep.

01 / The rate you see is not the rate you pay

Where most of a factor's real cut hides.

A stated "2%" is usually per 30 days and the front fee only. The bigger lever is what you're actually paid after the broker pays — the gap between the advance and the settlement, applied to invoices that came in at 90%. If a quote sheet doesn't show your effective cost on a full month's book, ask them to run one. Ten minutes of math on your real broker mix beats any sales claim.

02 / "Same day" has a cutoff, and cutoffs are contractual

Advance promises come with a clock.

Funding speed is usually gated by an upload cutoff — a time of day plus a gap of 24 to 72 hours before money moves. Miss it by an hour on Friday afternoon and funds land Tuesday. Get the exact cutoff, the listed exceptions, and where weekend hassles factor in — in hours, not adjectives.

03 / Non-recourse usually doesn't cover what busts

Reads like insurance, works like a carve-out list.

The clause excludes more than it promises. Typical carve-outs: slow-paid invoices, "disputed" invoices (brokers dispute to stall), any broker not on the factor's internal approved list. If the exclusions paragraph is longer than the non-recourse promise, the non-recourse is decoration. Priced accordingly.

04 / The broker's slowness is billed to you

Aging tiers priced in the fine print.

Many contracts climb the rate when an invoice ages ahead of the debtor — 2% at purchase becomes 3% or 4% once an invoice passes a window. You signed at 2%; you get billed at 4% because a broker barked at a payment schedule. Find the aging table in the contract and price a realistic book against it — the fine set at 30, the worst set at 60-plus.

05 / Getting out is priced, counted, and slugged by the UCC

Exit terms decide how free "free to switch" really is.

Look for the notice period (30 to 90 days), early-termination fees, minimum-volume penalties, and the UCC-1 statement of assignment — the filing that stays against your company until the factor releases it. Three questions: how much to leave, how much notice, how fast the UCC releases after your last invoice. A slow UCC release is how on-paper freedom becomes 90 days of paper.

What a contract that respects you looks like

• Flat fee, or the tiers in the contract itself — not in a glossy sheet you were shown, not in an appendix nobody can find.
• Advance stated as a number, with the remainder release pinned to broker payment and stated in days.
• Cutoff in hours, with exceptions listed. "Fast" is not a term.
• Recourse carve-outs readable in 30 seconds. If it takes a lawyer, the pricing already knows.
• Termination at 30-day notice or less, no volume penalty, UCC released within a stated number of days.

The five questions to ask before you sign

One phone call; the answers write your margin.

1. What do I net per thousand dollars after the broker pays — including the aging tiers?
2. What is the exact cutoff for same-day or next-day funding?
3. What does your non-recourse exclude? Show me the list.
4. What happens to my advance when a broker pays slow?
5. How much notice, what fee, and how fast does the UCC release if I leave?