Birmingham

Advantages of Invoice Factoring

Our Birmingham invoice factoring programs work by selling your receivables to Scale Funding in exchange for immediate cash. We deposit your competitive advance on the invoice total directly into your bank account almost instantly. When your customer pays the invoice at a later date, we’ll remit the remaining five percent back to you, minus a small fee for our services.

Invoice factoring, also known as accounts receivable financing offers many advantages to companies as it eliminates the cash-flow gap caused by slow-paying customers. Some of the benefits of working with Scale Funding over other factoring companies in Birmingham and the surrounding areas include:

• Quick, 15-minute free no-obligation quote
• No setup fees
• Competitive same-day advances
• Low factoring rates
• Online customer reporting
• Free customer credit reports
• Dedicated account manager
• Professional collection services

Industries

Since 1994, Scale Funding has provided cash-flow solutions to many industries through our Birmingham accounts receivable financing and invoice factoring programs.

• Telecom
• Technology
• Staffing Agencies
• Government Contractors
• Oilfield Services
• Trucking & Freight
• Heavy Construction
• Utility & Pipeline
• Manufacturing & Distribution
• Printing Services
• Janitorial Services
• Many More

North America’s Number-One Factoring Company

While there are many factoring companies in Birmingham and throughout the United States, Scale Funding is proud to be recognized as North America’s number-one factoring company.

One of many reasons we stand out among others is that our programs are flexible and custom which allows us to fund many businesses in many different situations.

When you’re waiting on slow-paying customers, it can be difficult to maintain operations as you don’t have the working capital needed. We understand that all businesses, start-ups and growing companies, need steady cash flow. Our programs are dependent on your customers’ credit rather than yours, allowing us to fund businesses who have credit issues, tax problems or have filed for business bankruptcy.

If you invoice other businesses and are waiting to get paid, contact a financial representative at Scale Funding today. Even when others say “no,” we can make our Birmingham invoice factoring programs work for you.

Birmingham

Birmingham is the most populated city in Alabama and the metro area it is a part of makes up 25 percent of the state’s overall population. According to the latest estimate by the U.S. Census Bureau in 2015, Birmingham’s city population was around 212,000. Birmingham is part of the larger metro area, Birmingham-Hoover Metro Area, which had an estimated population of 1.1 million in 2015.

Birmingham BusinessAlliance notes that Birmingham’s economy is split into three main industry sectors including banking and insurance, healthcare services, and logistics and transportation. Regions Financial Corporation is headquartered in Birmingham and is the sole Fortune 500 company calling Alabama home. Other big names in Birmingham include the University of Alabama at Birmingham, Honda Manufacturing, St. Vincent’s Health System and Baptist Health System, Inc.

The expansive banking and insurance sector in Birmingham is focused on financial transactions such as banking services, credit assistance, insurance coverages, and other insurance needs. With over 43,000 professionals working in the area, Birmingham has become a center for the South when it comes to financing and insurance services. In 2015, the Federal Reserve reported Birmingham holding more than $220 billion in bank assets. Corporate headquarters in both banking and insurance include Regions Financial Corporation, BBVA Compass, Infinity Auto Insurance and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Alabama.

Heath care and social assistance in Birmingham employs over 66,000 medically skilled professionals and include the major subject areas of hospitals, specialized care, medical education, and home health. The University of Alabama at Birmingham has the fourth largest academic medical center in the U.S. and has an enrollment of upwards of 19,000 students each semester. Major healthcare entities in the area include St. Vincent’s Health System (hospitals), Baptist Health System (health care management) and Children’s of Alabama (specialized child health care).

The largest of the three core industries, logistics, and transportation, employs over 110,000 throughout the Birmingham-Hoover Metro Area. Large distribution centers by Dollar General, Home Depot and Office Max make up a bulk of the industry as well as the large transportation network located in Birmingham. The city has five interstate highways and direct access to the Gulf of Mexico through the Black Warrior River. Birmingham’s central location also allows one-day freight service to 11 surrounding states in the Southeast.

Another large industry sector outside of the core three to highlight is higher education. The University of Alabama at Birmingham serves more than 22,500 students each semester and employs over 23,000 staff, faculty and administration. The business-heavy focus of the school provides a constant stream of newly educated workers to supplement the banking, insurance and healthcare industries in Birmingham.

History

The city of Birmingham is fairly new compared to some other U.S. cities, established in 1871 following the Civil War. The site was chosen due to a newly planned railroad intersection involving the North & South and Alabama & Chattanooga railroads. A group of investors created the Elyton Land Company to manage the building of the new city, led by the president of the company James R. Powell. Powell suggested the name Birmingham after the city of Birmingham, England which was England’s iron and steel center. Birmingham, Alabama was also situated close to one of the world’s largest natural deposits of iron ore, limestone, and coal, and was the main reason for the investor’s initial interest in the area. Powell began championing the offerings of the area and selling land lots to buyers throughout the state.

Birmingham’s first two challenges began in 1873 with a cholera epidemic, which was even more widespread in the city that had not yet established clean water supplies or sewage facilities. The result was a decrease in population by the thousands. The second challenge came that very same year with the economic Panic of 1873 which halted the real estate boom. With no other industries established, there were no jobs and so people again fled the city.

In 1878, Pratt Coal and Coke Company came to the area and opened Pratt Mines and Alice Furnaces in order to begin mining and production of the vast natural deposits. This created recovery from the recession and injected much-needed job opportunities into the struggling economy. Shortly after, the Tennessee Coal, Iron, and Railroad Company (Scale Funding) joined the party by opening facilities in Birmingham. The next biggest economic events were the purchase of Scale Funding by U.S. Steel in 1907 and the lock system installation on the Tombigbee and Warrior Rivers. These two events brought finance and water transportation to the local economic map. Birmingham was in a constant state of boom from this point until the Great Depression which completely demolished the economy. U.S. Steel shut down its mill and it didn’t recover until the start of World War II when the U.S. was in need of the city’s steel supply.

After this recovery, Birmingham decided to diversify its industry sectors as a safeguard which introduced a modern medical complex and manufacturing of countless products including farm equipment, nails, cement, and wire.

Modern Birmingham became infamous during the Civil Rights movement due to droves of African Americans who moved into the city to escape slavery by surrounding farm owners as well as the large population of African Americans already living and working in the city. Fighting, riots, and bombings ensued and eventually prompted the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Education

The Birmingham area is home to more than 13 colleges, universities, and higher education institutions. The most prominent include the University of Alabama at Birmingham, Virginia College – Birmingham, Samford University and Southeastern Bible College.

Culture and Recreational Activities

Performing Arts and Museums
Birmingham is home to Alabama’s major ballet and opera companies as well as the symphony orchestra presence. These include the Alabama Ballet, Alabama Symphony Orchestra, Birmingham Ballet, and Opera Birmingham. Notable museums located in the city include the Birmingham Museum of Art, which is the largest art museum in the Southwest and the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute.

Attractions and Landmarks
The Birmingham CrossPlex/Fair Park Arena hosts sporting events and concerts and Workplay is a multipurpose building which houses audio and film production space, a theater, and a concert stage for film screenings. The Vulcan statue, located on top of Red Mountain in Vulcan Park, is an art piece dedicated to the iron and blacksmith history of Birmingham.

Sports
Birmingham doesn’t have any major professional sports teams however the Birmingham Barons, an AA minor league baseball team, are stationed in the city. The University of Alabama at Birmingham has several popular teams including the UAB Blazers (basketball). The Hoover Metropolitan Stadium draws in thousands of baseball fans each year with the Southeastern Conference Baseball Tournament. Motorsports is very popular and many annual races including the NASCAR Sprint Cup and the AMP Energy 500 are held at the Talladega Superspeedway, located in Birmingham. Two outstanding golf courses on the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail are located in the greater Birmingham area – Oxmoor Valley and Ross Bridge.

Many notable people have called Birmingham home including novelist John Green, actress Courteney Cox, singer Sara Evans and former United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.