CIT Commercial Services, one of the US’s leading providers of factoring, accounts receivable management, credit protection, and lending services, has entered into a strategic alliance with financial supply chain services provider TradeCard to provide CIT’s credit protection on the TradeCard platform. This gives TradeCard vendors the option to obtain credit protection from CIT instead of bank letters of credit.

Companies that use the TradeCard platform can manage their credit-protected receivables online while taking full advantage of the rest of TradeCard’s suite of online financial supply chain services, including electronic documents, automated workflow/messaging, compliance, settlement and financing. Under the terms of a factoring agreement between CIT and each vendor, vendors may elect, on a transaction-by-transaction basis, to purchase credit protection from CIT. Payment for the receivable will be made by the buyer, or failing that, CIT, subject to the terms and conditions of the factoring agreement. TradeCard manages this entire process – from PO to payment.

TradeCard enables companies to obtain credit protection via an automated web-based platform that is able to operate in companies with disparate technologies and infrastructures. As well as providing the flexibility of transaction-by-transaction factoring, TradeCard’s financial supply chain platform greatly reduces the risk of human error, eliminating re-keying of numbers and communication by paper – two major causes of financial errors in trade.

“This alliance is yet another way in which forward-thinking companies can get more value out of their financial supply chain,” says Kurt Cavano, CEO of TradeCard. “By combining the efficiencies and visibility of the TradeCard platform with the financial strength and global reach of CIT, we have made credit-enhanced trade exponentially easier, more efficient and more accurate. We believe this will be welcome news for the many thousands of suppliers who rely on letters of credit today.”

“We are delighted to provide our factoring and credit protection services via the TradeCard platform,” says John Daly, president of CIT Commercial Services. “We are committed to continually finding ways to streamline the credit process enabling business to be conducted in a more efficient manner. Our alliance with TradeCard will allow us to utilise our factoring product to expand CIT’s global presence.”