CRIF, Penny to offer instant invoice payments to U.K. SMEs

This will help small- to midsize enterprises with the benefits including invoices paid instantly, cash flow management and more creditworthiness

International credit bureau CRIF will be working with Penny, an invoice financing provider, to let more U.K. businesses get instant invoice payments, a press release said on Thursday (May 26).

This will help small- to midsize enterprises based in that country, the release said, with the benefits including invoices paid instantly, cash flow management and more creditworthiness.

It will use CRIF’s open banking and credit scoring with Penny’s instant payment solutions.

Penny’s services include invoice financing, letting businesses advance money against what’s due from their customers. The customer will pay Penny directly with terms over 30, 60 or 90 days.

Penny customers will now be able to collect their business bank accounts, which will help with soft credit assessments instantly through open banking, which will create a good picture of a company’s finances.

The data will be refreshed daily. That way, businesses that may have been rejected due to credit issues can get invoices paid instantly.

The release notes that this comes during difficult times, with the economy facing various hurdles and troubles.

And it comes as almost a third of businesses said they’d seen an increase in late invoice payments, with 1 in 10 saying this had threatened their businesses’ viability.

The UK’s small businesses are the backbone of the economy, but many have struggled during the challenging economic climate in recent years, said Sara Costantini, regional director for CRIF in Ireland and the U.K. Compounding this is the fact that some businesses are denied access to financial support when lenders are unable to build a clear, accurate picture of their finances — particularly if they haven’t been trading long.