American Finance Solutions Official Media Sponsor Of WSAA

American Finance Solutions is proud to announce that it is the Official Media Sponsor of the 2011 Western States Acquirers Association. This year's conference will be held at the San Francisco Hyatt Regency in Burlingame, California on September 21st and 22nd.

The two day event features the Field Guide for ISO's Seminar and tons of breakout session focusing on the future of the payments industry. Marketing with Social Media, Mobile Payments and International Markets will all be highlighted. In addition, there will be plenty of time to visit with vendors and sponsors during breakfast, lunch and cocktail sessions.

AFS will be using the venue to launch its new Agent Portal, enhanced Fast Cash funding program offering $20,000 in 48 hours for merchants without personal credit pulls and an industry first equipment-secured Merchant Cash Advance with low factor rates starting at 1.15.

Make sure you stop by and see us if attending.

Welcome To New North American Merchant Advance Association Members

American Finance Solutions welcomes the addition of five new members to the North American Merchant Advance Association (NAMAA). The recent addition increases the amount of total companies by almost 50 percent and now NAMAA includes almost all reputable players in the industry. The one lone dissident continues to be Advanceme.

Now if you're selling or marketing merchant cash advance or work for a funding company, you may be asking yourself, "What's the big deal?" There are quite a few reasons why this is significant step for the whole industry:

1. Robust "bad merchant" database - If you sell the product, the first thing NAMAA members do when receiving an application is check it against the database. This saves you and your staff from wasting time and resources on known fraud and defaulted merchants.

2. Unbiased communication lines between funding companies - All NAMAA members have made a pledge to exchange true information on merchants and play fair. So often when American Finance Solutions calls a little player for a payoff amount confirmation, we get the run around. Mean while the small funder is desperately trying renew the client immediately. NAMAA members all have a designate contact that gives the real scoop on a client (weather they were even in collections, slow pay, etc) and don't compromise the payoff process. This means if you're selling for one of the companies, you don't have to worry about losing a deal at the 11th hour.

3. Best practices are adhered to - Knowing that you represent or work for a NAMAA member company, you can confidentially market this to your clientele and assure them that you represent a reputable industry player that conducts business ethically.

I believe this marks a turning point for the MCA industry. We've have officially started to move out of the early growth stage and are also quickly beginning to move into the mainstream financial marketplace.

Again, welcome to Strategic Funding, Genesis, Merchant Advance Funding, Merchant Capital Source and Swift Capital.

Let The Second Selling Season Of 2011 Begin!

Now that the kids are back in school and Summer vacations are over, it time to gear up for the Merchant Cash Advances second selling season of the year! Historically the Spring and Fall have turned out to be the prime sales seasons and we are expecting the same for 2011.

More than ever, merchants have the upper hand over suppliers when they have cash. Many of our existing clientele are renewing to take advantage of opportunities. Many are receiving large discounts or other incentives by pre-ordering and paying in advance.

One of our retailers reported a savings of 40%. He pre-paid for this October and November deliveries and is receiving $20,000 of clothing. Given that his mark up is 100%, that means he'll generate $40,000 in sales for a total cost of $15,600 ($12,000 plus the $3,600 in factoring fees). Now that's a smart use of a Merchant Cash Advance!

Restaurants are reporting that they are getting similar concessions from their liquor distributors. Gift and novelty shops are reporting discounts of approximately 30% for pre-ordering and of course speciality toy and hobby stores are squeezing their suppliers for 30% to 50% discounts. If you're marketing and selling MCA, now is the perfect time to adjust your target market and message to capitalize on this selling season. Don't forget to focus on the right types of business and who their market demographics are as well. You want applications from merchants that have the highest chance of getting approved for funding.

At American Finance Solutions, we expect more record funding months in our busiest season. Both high- and low-end retailers should benefit the most in our current macro-economy; and be the most attractive to AFS and other funding companies. (Those with money will continue to spend at the upper-end, while the rest of us move down; and the middle retailers will really feel the squeeze this holiday season!)