The history of freight bill factoring began back in 1942 when the trucking industry was heavily regulated. It was difficult for a trucking company to deliver goods outside of its allocated territory. Because of this, clearing houses were created to handle payments on shipments that involved more than one trucking company. It was the job of the clearing houses to distribute payment from the shipper to all the trucking companies involved in getting the shipment to the end user. It was then that the clearing houses saw the trucking companies need for cash flow and began offering additional financial services.

When the transportation industry was deregulated in the 1970’s and truckers could go anywhere, clearing services became obsolete so the clearing houses turned their focus to financing truckers. Typically, truckers did fit within the strict guidelines of traditional banking so their match with factoring was a natural fit.

As the growing U.S. economy has increased foreign imports, the transportation industry has benefited and is growing rapidly. It is estimated that currently only 15% of truckers receive their financing through factoring although analysts believe that a great deal more would benefit. As the industry has picked up the weaker trucking companies have gone out of business and the strong are left standing. Truckers are now strong enough to charge fuel surcharges and price increases which impossible just a couple years ago.