This can be accomplished through the use of factoring houses. When you use a factoring house (factor), you will end up with a stronger balance sheet as outstanding receivables are reduced and cash is accelerated. Factors also remove some or all of the risk associated with collection. At the same time, each enables you to offer your foreign customer terms that are longer in duration than those you could normally afford to offer. Export factoring is the discounting of your export accounts receivable that do not involve a bill of exchange (draft). Factoring allows you to ship on “open account,” by which goods are shipped without guarantee of payment (that is, a letter of credit). The factoring house assumes financial ability of the customer to pay and handles collections on the receivables. Because of this, you wouldn’t necessarily involve a factoring house until after you’ve quoted your customer a price