Dispatch and factoring services: loads booked by our desk, paid fast by your factor

The paperwork handoff

Each document passes from one hand to the next. Here is the relay for one load:

1. Our desk finds the load, negotiates the rate and calls you with the details.
2. You say yes, or no with no penalty.
3. The broker sends the rate confirmation directly to you. You read it and sign it.
4. Our desk checks the rate con matches what was agreed: rate, stops, times and extras.
5. You pick up; the shipper signs the bill of lading.
6. Our desk handles check calls and tracks detention against the free time on the rate con.
7. You deliver; the receiver signs. You photograph every page.
8. You submit the rate con, bill of lading and invoice to your factor.
9. The factor advances most of the invoice, then collects from the broker.
10. Our desk files any detention or layover claim with the broker, with your times.

Notice who holds the documents: you. We never sign a rate confirmation for you, and we never handle your payments. That keeps your relationship with your factor clean and keeps you in control of your money.

What the driver still does

• Sign the rate con after reading it.
• Get signatures on the bill of lading at pickup and delivery, with times written in for detention.
• Note exceptions such as shortages or damage on the paperwork, with photos.
• Photograph every page clearly, flat and well lit.
• Submit to the factor the day of delivery.

RTS Financial states carriers can upload invoices in its app and get paid the same day. Source A clean packet submitted at the dock is the fastest way to get there.

What stays your choice

• Every load. You approve each one before it is booked.
• Whether to factor at all. Factoring is optional and never a condition of our dispatch.
• Which factor. We partner with RTS Financial, but you can use any factoring company, or none.
• Which loads to factor, if your factoring agreement lets you choose.
• Leaving. Our dispatch is month-to-month with 30 days notice; your factoring terms are set by your factor.

Pricing: the two fees on one load

Our dispatch fee is a percentage of each load's gross: 5% for one truck with authority over 6 months, 4% for fleets of two or more for a limited time, and 7% while your MC is under 6 months old and for 26 ft box trucks and hotshots. No setup fee, no minimums. The factoring fee is set by your factor; RTS Financial quotes each carrier and describes its fee as a small fee taken when the broker pays. Source

Worked example: a car hauler load EXAMPLE

A car hauler with two-year-old authority hauls a $3,600 load we booked. Our 5% dispatch fee is $180. If the carrier factors at a 3% fee, that is $108 more. The load leaves $3,312 before fuel and other costs, and most of it arrives the day after delivery instead of five weeks later. Industry factoring rates vary; one industry article puts recourse factoring at about 1.5% to 3% per invoice. Source

How the two help each other

Good dispatch makes factoring smoother. We look for brokers with sound payment records, so fewer invoices are slow or declined. We check the rate con against what was agreed, so the invoice matches and funds without questions. We track detention and file claims with your times, so the extras get approved and paid.

Good factoring makes dispatch more useful. With cash a day after delivery, you can accept the next good load instead of waiting for money to fuel it, and the truck stays moving. For specialty runs with up-front costs, such as permits and escorts on a heavy haul move, that difference can decide whether a load is possible at all.

Detention, layover and pass-through costs

Extras need their own paperwork to be paid. Detention needs in and out times on the bill of lading and broker approval. Permits and escorts on oversize loads need receipts attached to the invoice. Lumper fees need the receipt. We file detention and layover claims with the broker; you include the approved amounts and receipts in what you submit to your factor. Ask your factor how it treats reimbursed lines, because some charge the same percentage on them as on the linehaul.

For new authorities

A new MC has two problems at once: brokers who hesitate to load it, and no cash cushion while waiting to be paid. Dispatch addresses the first by setting up carrier packets with brokers that work with new authorities and negotiating every load. Factoring addresses the second by turning those first invoices into cash. Our new authority rate is 7% while the MC is under 6 months old. See dispatch for new authorities and factoring for new authorities.

For small fleets

With several trucks, dispatch keeps every unit loaded and planned around the others, and factoring keeps payroll on time while brokers take their 30 days or more. Agree one routine for the whole fleet: drivers send paperwork from the dock, one person submits to the factor daily, and the dispatcher knows which brokers the factor approves. See small fleet factoring.

For specialty rigs

Specialty freight has specialty paperwork, and both the dispatcher and the factor need to understand it. A car hauler's vehicle inspection reports, a heavy hauler's permits and escort invoices, a tanker's wash tickets, a livestock hauler's weights and head counts: each can decide whether an invoice funds smoothly. We book specialty loads with those details settled before you accept; your factor funds them when the documents prove the job was done. See car hauler factoring for one example.

Questions to ask both

• Ask your dispatcher: do you ever sign rate cons for me, and do you ever touch my payments?
• Ask your factor: which of my dispatcher's usual brokers do you approve, and how fast do you fund after delivery?
• Ask both: how are detention and other extras documented so they get paid?

When you don't need both

Plenty of carriers use dispatch without factoring: they have a reserve, or their brokers pay fast, or they use quick pay where it is cheap. Others factor and find their own loads. Use one, both or neither based on what each costs you and what it buys. See is factoring worth it and our dispatch ROI calculator.

When something goes wrong

Problems on a load touch both sides. If a broker disputes a delivery, we gather the facts with you: check-call notes, times, photos and the signed paperwork. Your factor needs the same evidence to fund or defend the invoice. If a broker pays late, your factor chases the payment, and we stop booking that broker until it is resolved. If a load cancels after you were dispatched, we claim truck order not used pay where the rate con allows it, and you invoice it like any other line. Keeping one shared set of facts, in writing, is what gets these cases settled quickly and keeps the next payment on schedule.

Getting started with both

1. Request a factoring quote, and set up the account before your first dispatched load delivers.
2. Send your dispatch application with your rig, lanes and floor rate.
3. Tell your dispatcher which brokers your factor approves, so we focus on them.
4. Agree a paperwork routine: photos at delivery, submission the same day.

Read about dispatch for owner-operators, the mechanics in how factoring works, or the full guide to freight factoring.