Why Smart Factoring Companies are Expanding their Offerings for Retention and Revenue

Freight's Deepest Downturn in Years

Analysts continue to describe 2024–2025 as an unusually prolonged freight recession. Freight volumes remain sluggish, and overcapacity persists despite thousands of carriers exiting the market.

1. Spot rates are hovering near multi-year lows.
2. Fuel, insurance, and maintenance costs are all significantly higher than they were three years ago.
3. Smaller fleets, often one- to ten-truck operations, are especially squeezed.

For these carriers, every cent counts. That means they are comparing every service provider, including factoring companies, on total cost and practical value.

Retention is now the real Battleground

When carriers feel financial pressure, they shop for even tiny differences in rates. It is not unusual for a carrier to leave a long-term factoring partner for a competitor who is only 0.25% cheaper.

But price is only the deciding factor when everything else looks the same. If your company gives carriers tangible, day-to-day tools that save money and time, or help them find and move loads more efficiently, then you have created "stickiness." Switching becomes inconvenient, not rewarding.

Unfortunately, some larger factoring firms have taken the opposite approach. Rather than investing in new value-added services, they have attempted to enforce loyalty through restrictions, limiting or penalizing carriers for working with other factors or moving their accounts. This approach has backfired. Carriers view it as strong-arming, and it has created a negative reputation for those firms that will take years, if ever, to repair. In a relationship-driven industry like trucking, coercion rarely produces loyalty; trust and usefulness do.

That is why the most resilient factoring firms today are expanding beyond pure funding to offer operational services such as fuel, credit, TMS, dispatch, and tracking tools integrated into the carrier’s workflow. These are what build long-term partnerships instead of temporary compliance.

Why Fuel Programs that offer Credit-lines Outperform

Among all add-on services, fuel programs consistently rank near the top of what carriers value most, but not all fuel programs are created equal.

1. The most effective fuel programs are the ones that include credit.
2. In multiple industry surveys, carriers ranked access to credit for fuel purchases as their single most important requirement, above even discount levels or network size.
3. For small fleets, the difference between a prepaid card and a true credit line can determine whether they can take the next load.

A fuel program that extends controlled credit helps carriers manage cash flow between funded invoices, reduces downtime, and allows them to stay on the road. For factoring companies, it becomes a perfect complement to the core service because they already understand their client’s receivables, allowing them to extend credit responsibly while keeping everything within their funding ecosystem.

Adding more Value Reduces Churn

Carriers that rely on their factoring partner for daily operations are statistically less likely to switch providers. Here is why:

• Lower total cost to operate – Fuel savings and credit access reduce out-of-pocket strain, while dispatch and tracking features save back-office time.
• Operational dependency – When carriers manage loads, fuel, and settlements through one ecosystem, leaving means retraining drivers, re-entering data, and losing convenience.
• Perceived partnership – The relationship evolves from "my funder" to "my business partner." That perception is critical for loyalty.
• Incremental revenue for the factor – Additional services generate small, steady revenue streams such as fuel spreads, tech fees, and data insights, helping offset compression in factoring margins.

Mapping Why Now is the Right Time to Diversify

Freight will eventually recover, but the carriers that survive this cycle will remember who helped them operate through the downturn. Providers that offer meaningful tools like fuel, credit, and operating support will keep those carriers long after rates rebound.

The opportunity right now is to build those sticky relationships before the market turns. Waiting until the rebound means competing again on price alone.

Choosing the Right Partner

When evaluating who to work with, the key questions should be:

1. Does the platform offer credit-enabled fuel, not just discounts?
2. Can it integrate with my existing factoring system and funding logic?
3. Is it white-labeled or customizable so my brand stays front and center?
4. Does it include operational tools such as TMS, tracking, and dispatch to help carriers run more efficiently?

The goal is not to chase gimmicks but to quietly build a more complete, higher-value relationship with your carrier base.

In summary

Factoring companies that want to survive this freight depression and come out stronger will need to look beyond rates. The future belongs to those who provide credit-backed fuel programs, operational tools, and branded ecosystems that keep carriers running and keep them loyal.

As the industry resets, retention will depend less on who funds the fastest and more on who helps carriers operate the smartest and on who earns loyalty through value, not force.