Abolishing Loan Exit Fees to Benefit Small Businesses

Sydney, NSW (PR Wire – 28 March 2011)–The Interface Financial Group (IFG), a growing source of alternative funding for Australian small businesses, announced that the company welcomes the Federal Government's focus on abolishing exit fees from lending facilities because it places additional value on financiers who differentiate based on offering great client service. IFG provides short-term financial resources including single invoice factoring to companies in Australia, New Zealand, the UK, Ireland, the United States, Canada, and Singapore

Earlier this month, the Gillard Government's legislation to ban exit fees on mortgages was passed into law with the primary focus on benefiting consumers who own residential properties. The ban applies to all new home loans from 01 July 2011 and has already prompted some of the major banks to eliminate their exit fees for their mortgage customers. These exit fees have been a critical area of focus for the Federal Government in an attempt to increase competition in the banking industry. Not surprisingly, the ban has been contained to mortgage products which are the most politically sensitive financial service amongst Australia's property-conscious consumers.

David Hechter, Chief Operating Officer for IFG in Australia welcomed the focus on exit fees across additional credit products in the small business finance market because it forces finance companies to continually provide clients with excellent customer service. "It is extremely challenging for smallbusinesses to forecast what will happen to their companies over even a short-term period yet entrepreneurs can find themselves locked into business loans with minimum monthly fees and high exit fees should circumstances change. Finance companies who are confident in their ability to retain their small business clients based on consistently providing great customer service will not have to rely on exit fees to achieve customer retention. Especially in the area of debtor finance - where the finance is for invoices that revolve every 30-60 days - financiers will have to fight to keep their clients every month. Small businesses can really benefit from this sort of competition from factoring companieswho are not afraid to operate without exit fees in place."

Invoice factoring andinvoice discounting are financial services targeted specifically to SME's who need working capital cash flow, but cannot access conventional bank products such as commercial loans and overdrafts.These products involve selling invoices to a third party, either a specialist provider or a bank. There are specialist funders in this sector that will still consider offering facilities to businesses who may not meet the traditional banks' lending criteria. This can even include sectors that the banks typically avoid such as construction sub-contracting, however SMEs in this industry can turn to specialist funders who offer facilities throughconstruction factoringarrangements.

Factoring belongs to the family of debtor finance products where a company can use one of its most valuable assets – its strong customer base – as a source of cash flow by selling these invoices to a factoring company. With invoice factoring, there are no minimums, no maximums, no long-term commitments and no lengthy application process.

About The Interface Financial Group (www.ifgnetwork.com.au)

The Interface Financial Group (IFG) provides short-term financial resources including invoice factoring (invoice discounting). IFG launched the Australia operation in 2006 following the success of its New Zealand businesses which commenced in 2004. IFG's innovative products also includes spot factoring – the purchase of a single invoice or number of invoices. IFG does not require the whole debtor book.

The IFG Network is the funding arm of The Interface Financial Group providing capital and transactional support to IFG's international office network. IFG has grown to over (150) international offices in Australia, UK, the United States, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, and Singapore. Each IFG office is managed on a local level, providing immediate service to clients with local knowledge and experience.This makes IFG unique to all otherfactoring companies in Australia. The IFG team has substantial business experience and expertise in numerous diverse areas, including accounting, finance, law, marketing, and banking.