Wageroller

Who are you?

Paul Breen, founder of Wageroller.

What do you do?

We offer a way to obtain finance against your wage bill, not your sales ledger, over two-month rolling periods. This type of finance is called wagerolling and it provides businesses with an easy way to access reliable funds when they need it.

Why should I care?

Wagerolling frees up a lot of cash that can be used to help the business grow. Cash flow is a major problem for growing businesses and banks are not addressing this need. They are increasingly attempting to get businesses to use factoring or invoice discounting as a means of solving cashflow problems. However, only 30-40% of companies are eligible for this type of funding because most have customers that aren’t businesses. We are addressing a major gap in the market because any firm can use our service.

What can you do for me that I cannot do for myself?

Most businesses that require funding or an overdraft need to give away equity in the business or are asked to put up a tangible asset, such as shares or bricks and mortar to secure the loan. However, we will free up cashflow in the company without taking away any equity encumbering assets. This allows the business to grow without them giving anything away.

What mistakes will you prevent me from making?

We can ensure that staff are paid each month. They do not need to be made aware that we are involved because you process your payroll in the same way as normal; we simply provide access to funds that clients can self-manage online. The money goes directly to the employees and not to the business, so there is never any temptation to use it for other purposes. Perhaps more importantly, we automatically make sure that the taxman gets his share on time, because you don’t want to get behind on that.

How else will you save me money?

The benefit of wagerolling, even for larger businesses, is saving money by paying suppliers quicker for greater discounts without affecting cashflow, you’ll also save on BACS charges. It’s a lot cheaper than factoring as the interest charged is only on the average outstanding balance – not on the company’s turnover. Give me examples of your other clients. Some of our clients have as many as 650 staff that are paid weekly, others only have two staff that are paid on a monthly basis. I can’t give out names as most of their staff are unaware how they are paid, but we include some high-profile football clubs, high street retailers and even telecoms companies on our client list.

Why should I trust you?

The company has taken five years to get to this stage – three in planning and software development – and it has a two-year proven track record in delivering the wagerolling service. We are also supported by Natexis, one of the biggest banks in France, and our insurer is Atradius, so we have sufficient financial backing to now begin operating Wageroller on an international level. In the last two years we have only ever missed one payment, fortunately we solved the problem within 12 hours, even though it was an outside banking error. And you know how fast banks normally move!

What will it cost me?

We have no fixed charges and it makes no difference how many staff a customer has, customers are only charged for funds they use. For funds used, the service charge is 3% over base or less, this is calculated in the same way as a mortgage and there is a monthly admin charge of 1% or less. There is an initial one-off arrangement fee based on 3% or less of the total agreed facility to open a Wageroller account, although the fee is reduced if you apply online.

What’s your criteria?

Wageroller can work for a business of any size or sector, up to any level of funding, from six-month-old start-ups to the oldest established firms.