Welcome to the War Room @John Petrov , you’re in the right place! 🤝

@Hannah Gambe Welcome in Hannah!

Great work, @Eric Hoppe! This looks solid. If you can, consider adding some guidance on how new brokerages can establish credit with factoring companies. That’s one of the biggest growing pains for new authorities, and it would add a lot of value.

@Eric Hoppe I’m not an expert in establishing credit for new brokerages, but I can speak from experience, having built three brokerage arms within trucking companies through the years. What worked for me was starting with carriers I personally knew who used factoring companies like RTS, OTR, Apex, etc. Those factoring companies initially placed us on “No Buy” status, meaning the carrier was technically liable if we failed to pay. To get around that, I would call the factoring company directly and pay the invoice myself. After about 10–20 invoices, plus multiple follow-up calls, we would finally get rated. Apex was always the easiest, they typically offer new brokers a small credit line (around 5–10K) right away. But the first 3–4 months are a grind no matter what. This was 4–6 years ago, and I’m hearing the process has gotten tougher. Back then I could build credit in roughly 90 days. Today it seems closer to 6–8 months. The key is paying factoring companies that report to credit bureaus like Cortera or Ansonia. That actually builds your brokerage’s credit profile. One important note... do NOT pay carriers COD thinking it helps your credit. It does nothing. I would rather lose money on a few loads by paying carriers I trusted (who used factoring companies) than run COD loads that don’t build any credit history.

They're probably like " F'it let's just contract OTR with other carriers." It's way too expensive and cutthroat. 😅

@Christopher Hinz Credit Safe + Corelogic

@Rob Liss