We’ve made it as simple as possible for you. The main T&Cs are:
You need to use one of the following accounting solutions:
Simply hit the ‘Apply for pre-approval’ button located throughout the website. Or click the link at the bottom of this FAQ.
Complete the brief pre-approval form and we’ll come back to you within 24 hours on whether you’re eligible.
If you’re eligible, we’ll send you a more detailed form to complete. If, unfortunately, you’re not eligible, we’ll advise on any alternatives we can offer you. We can’t wait to get to know you and see if we can help.
Cashflow Smoothing has a lending component called the Cashflow Buffer. This is credit that you can access when there is insufficient cash in your Sinch Wallet. The amount of credit is a maximum of 30% of the total amount of expenses you’re smoothing over the year.
As with most lenders, and to keep our fees as low as possible, we require some form of collateral. There are currently two ways you can do this:
A Director’s Guarantee is a Personal Guarantee. It means that the people signing the Cashflow Smoothing Agreement and agreement to act as a Guarantor are personally liable for any debts owed by incurred to Sinch. All Agreements will require a Director’s Guarantee.
A General Security Agreement is a security interest over the current and future assets of your business for any debts owed by incurred to Sinch.
A mortgage over your residential or commercial real estate means that a specific real estate property is being used as collateral and can be used to recover any debts owed by your business to Sinch.
No.
Invoice / debt factoring is a lending product based on the invoices you issue to your customers (that is, your receivables). Invoice / debt factoring providers lend you a portion of your invoice.
Some providers leave it to you to collect the payment from your customers, while others will take on the responsibility to collect payment from your customer. This second one can give you a bad reputation if the collection is particularly aggressive.
The interest charges for invoice / debt factoring can be anywhere between 20% and 60% per annum, making it a very expensive option.
Sinch Cashflow Smoothing is completely different because it’s for your business’s operating expenses (that is, your payables). It’s designed to help you pay them in full and on time, preserving your relationship with your suppliers. Your suppliers don’t even know that you’ve used Sinch. All they see cash in their account covering your expense.
No.
Buy now, pay later is a form of fast, low doc lending available at the point of sale. It’s designed to get you to buy things you probably don’t need. And you usually get only eight weeks to fully repay the amount. While you don’t pay interest, you’ll often incur expensive late fees and other charges if you don’t make your repayments.
Sinch Cashflow Smoothing is completely different. First, you start with an estimate of the operating expenses you’re expecting for the year. We convert that to a weekly instalment, and collect it from you and store it so you can send us your expenses to pay from it, and from your Cashflow Buffer if you’re short.
The plan keeps you on track for your expenses so you’re incurring just the ones you need. And the plan is geared so any usage of the buffer is paid back within 12 months, not just eight weeks. Ands there are no hidden or late fees.
Depending on your situation, a normal business loan may be the best option for you. It has benefits, such as access to the loan directly as cash, but has disadvantages, such as the temptation to spend on things you may not really need.
Most importantly, a normal business loan doesn’t actually solve the cashflow problem. Normal loans can also put you further in debt, leading to a debt spiral that you may have difficulty getting out of.
Sinch Cashflow Smoothing has been specially designed to solve the cashflow problem. It’s an integrated service based on your business’s normal annual operating expenses. By converting your annual expenses into a weekly instalment, it gives you a predictable amount to pay each week to generally cover your expenses. But, if you’re short, we provide a Cashflow Buffer that you can dip into to make sure your expense is paid in full and on time.
So, Sinch Cashflow Smoothing blends budgeting, lending and payment automation so you can spend more time on your business, than in your business.
If you decide that you don’t need Sinch Cashflow Smoothing anymore, simply let us know and we’ll stop your plan. That means we stop collecting the instalments from you and we also stop making expense payments for you.
If there’s a positive cash balance in your Sinch Wallet, it will be returned to you.
If there’s a negative balance, which means you’ve used some of your Cashflow Buffer and therefore owe us that amount, this must be repaid to us immediately, along with any other fees and charges incurred.
Yes. We charge a simple, fixed Service Fee, ranging between 5% and 9% of the total amount of expenses you’re smoothing over the year.
We apply this fee (including GST) evenly to each of your instalments. The fee covers any use of the cashflow buffer and payment automation services.
There are no application, interest, late or hidden fees.
There are a few additional administrative fees that we charge, such as when you send us a photo of a bill, rather than the original electronic version. And, if you are in default, then we may apply fees for the cost of recovery.
No.
When you use your Cashflow Buffer, there is no interest charge. Your use of the Cashflow Buffer is fully covered by the Service Fee.
Each Cashflow Smoothing Plan comes with a Sinch Wallet which holds the Instalments we collect from you, and also provides access to your Cashflow Buffer.
The Sinch Wallet has a Cash Balance and an Available Cashflow Buffer Balance, meaning it works like a bank account with an overdraft.
Your money is safe in the Wallet because it is managed by our Partner, Gobbill, and we do not have direct access to it.
Gobbill Australia Pty Ltd ABN 16 622 628 666 (“Gobbill”) is an Authorised Representative (1261196) of Australian Financial Services Licence Holder (448066).
You can visit Gobbill here.
And you can confirm the Gobbill’s status as an Authorised Representative here
The Cashflow Buffer ranges between 10% and 30% of the total amount of expenses you’re smoothing over the year.
Cashflow Smoothing Plans are tailored to different business circumstances and have a lower or higher Cashflow Buffer based on risk.
Your individual Cashflow Smoothing Plan may have a Cashflow Buffer that is lower than the maximum if your risk profile suggests that it’s more appropriate for your situation to avoid causing undue hardship and stress.
You can contact us at any time to discuss an increased Cashflow Buffer and we will re-assess your situation.
Sinch Cashflow Smoothing is not like a typical loan where, once approved, you can access the entire loan amount as cash and then use it however you like.
The success of Cashflow Smoothing in supporting your business and getting you through the tough times starts with you making your regular instalments. You need to make the first one or more instalments, depending on the Service variation, before you can access the Cashflow Buffer. You can, however, send us expenses at any time and we will pay them from the available Cash in your Sinch Wallet.
After you have made the required number of Instalments, you can then access the Cashflow Buffer by submitting your valid business expenses to us.You then must continue making your instalments.
At the end of 12 months, you should have no cash left in your Sinch Wallet, and any usage of the Cashflow Buffer has been repaid from the Instalments.
Your Cashflow Buffer is between 10% and 30% of the total amount of expenses you’re smoothing over the year.
If you have submitted expenses to us for payment and have completely used up your Cashflow Buffer, then we cannot pay any of your expenses until your next Instalment has been received.
Future Instalments pay back your Cashflow Buffer usage and increases your Available Cashflow Buffer Balance. This can be used to pay new expenses provided the expenses are within the Available Balance.
However, if your ongoing expenses continue to max-out your Buffer usage, this indicates that your total expenses for the year will be greater than the amount on your original Plan. We will discuss with you the impact of this, which can include limiting the future expenses you send to us, or increasing your Instalment.
No.
When you use your Cashflow Buffer, there is no interest charge. The Service Fee fully covers your use of the Cashflow Buffer.
Sinch currently has a maximum Cashflow Buffer of 30% of the total amount of expenses smoothed over the year.
If your Cashflow Buffer is lower than the maximum because of your business circumstances or the Service variation you applied for, you can apply for an increase once you’ve been using the Service and established a good history with us
We will re-assess your circumstances and determine if we’re able to increase your Cashflow Buffer.
In the future, we may increase the maximum Cashflow Buffer percentage. We’ll let you know when this happens.
Yes.
Your Instalments are held in an Australian Bank account managed by our Partner, Gobbill. Gobbill manages the Instalment collection and Payment automation services for us. This means we do not have direct access to your funds. Gobbill inspects the invoices and then pays them from your Sinch Wallet that holds your Instalments, and uses the Cashflow Buffer to top up the payment, if required.
Gobbill Australia Pty Ltd ABN 16 622 628 666 (“Gobbill”) is an Authorised Representative (1261196) of Australian Financial Services Licence Holder (448066).
You can visit Gobbill here.
And you can confirm the Gobbill’s status as an Authorised Representative here.
In general, your Instalment is a fixed amount each week, which gives you predictability.
However, there are a few situations in which your Instalment may change. For example:
Click here for the full Sinch Cashflow Smoothing Terms and Conditions
You can contact us anytime to discuss your Instalment amount and / or frequency. For the moment, all Cashflow Smoothing Plans have a weekly instalment frequency.
You can increase or decrease your Instalment amount based on your expected or desired annual expenses to manage through Cashflow Smoothing.
If you want to increase the Instalment amount, it needs to be consistent with your true annual business operating expenses. In general, we cannot smooth an annual amount that is significantly in excess of your true annual expenses.
When we onboard you to Sinch Cashflow Smoothing, we’ll ask you to nominate one or more email addresses from which you and others will send us eligible business expenses to pay.
When you have an expense to pay from a supplier, simply email it to us from one of the nominated email addresses. We’ll notify you that we’ve received it and, if it’s an eligible expense, we’ll schedule it for payment using the funds in your Sinch Wallet.
If there are any issues, such as an expense received from an email address not nominated by you, or the expense is ineligible, or there are insufficient funds in your Sinch Wallet (including your Cashflow Buffer), we’ll let you know, too, so you can address the issues.
We pay your expense according to the instructions on the invoice. Generally, the two options are EFT and BPay.
Unfortunately, we cannot use your credit card or cash to pay the expense.
You can send us any eligible business expenses at any time.
We will determine the payment due date and, if there are sufficient funds in your Sinch Wallet (including your Cashflow Buffer), and it is an eligible business expense, we will pay it three days before the due date to ensure the funds reach the Supplier’s bank account.
Any benefit from an early payment will be yours.
If the expense’s due date is within three months in the past, we will still schedule it for payment.
If the due date is older than three months in the past, we will let you know and discuss options with you.
Yes, provided the payment due date is no more than three months from today.
Any expenses with a due date older than three months will be returned to you to make alternative arrangements.
You may contact us to discuss expenses older than three months and we may, at our discretion, pay them for you from your Sinch Wallet.
You get any and all benefits from an early payment.
When we process the invoice, we will attempt to pay the expense to maximise any benefit for you for any early payment or other actions.
Your supplier is not aware that we have paid the expense for you so, naturally, any benefit goes directly to your business.
Yes.
Our Partner, Gobbill, manages the Instalment collection and Payment automation servichold your banking details or the direct debit agreement you sign with us. Gobbill also holds the expense / invoice you send us for payment for access to your full history. Gobbill also produces the journal entries for upload to your accounting solution.
Gobbill Australia Pty Ltd ABN 16 622 628 666 (“Gobbill”) is an Authorised Representative (1261196) of Australian Financial Services Licence Holder (448066).
You can visit Gobbill here.
And you can confirm the Gobbill’s status as an Authorised Representative here
Unfortunately, no.
There are many consulting firms that can provide advice on your business operations. Your accountant may be able to point you in the right direction.
CONTACT US
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11 York St, Sydney NSW 2000