Invoice finance and asset finance both release cash that would otherwise be tied up, but they solve different problems. Invoice finance advances money against what your customers already owe you. Asset finance pays for equipment or vehicles now and lets you repay over time. This guide uses the lenders’ own pages, read on 29 October 2026, to set out how each works, what the lenders say about cost, what the National Credit Regulator’s published rules say about charges, and which of the lenders we checked offer what. Lenders do not publish interest rates for either product, so this guide gives none.
Invoice finance advances cash against unpaid customer invoices
The basic idea is the same everywhere. You issue invoices on credit terms, the lender advances a percentage of their value straight away, and the balance comes back to you once your customer pays, less the lender’s charges. The two main versions differ in who the customer deals with. In a disclosed arrangement, the customer knows the lender is involved and pays into an account the lender controls. In a non-disclosed arrangement, customers keep paying you and never see the lender.
Standard Bank sells both versions. Its disclosed debtor finance page says the bank takes cession of your debtors book, lends you a percentage of the value of the debts in cash, and holds back the balance to cover disputed invoices, defaults and returns. New debtors are rated first and are included once the bank finds them to be in sound financial standing. The advance is repaid at maturity, between 30 and 365 days later, and the bank pays over the balance once a debtor has paid in full. To apply, the page says a business must be solvent and profitable, with turnover of R2 million a month, credit terms of no more than 120 days, and few or no trade disputes.
The non-disclosed version has the bank buy your debtors book while you keep collecting from customers, who continue to pay into your own account. The bank reviews your internal administrative controls and procedures regularly. The bank says a business must be solvent and profitable for two years, with good financial controls and accounting software. It also says the product can be used to take profit up front on a single large invoice by borrowing a portion of it.
Both Standard Bank pages list the same exclusions: sole proprietors and sales to private individuals, sales with payment terms under 14 days, progress or retention payments, IT software and licensing deals, and consignment, agency or sale-or-return sales. Both involve a 12-month agreement with a three-month notice period. Neither page states an advance percentage.
Nedbank describes invoice discounting as drawing up to 80% of acceptable invoices
Nedbank’s 2023 press release on its Debtor Management offering, dated 23 November 2023, is the bank’s most recent public description we found. It says invoice discounting is a feature of the Nedbank Debtor Management finance offering, and gives an example in which clients draw up to 80% against acceptable invoices, with the other 20% paid when the debtor settles. The bank’s head of sales for debtor management describes it as a flexible facility linked to the growth of the business, in contrast to an overdraft that is often limited to the security the client provides. This is an example from a three-year-old release, not a current rate card, so confirm the advance rate with the bank.
Standard Bank publishes how it charges, but not what it charges
On cost, Standard Bank’s two invoice products are built differently. The disclosed product charges an admin fee based on a percentage of the gross value of the invoices, plus interest on the loan amount only. The non-disclosed product charges a flat monthly service fee, plus interest on the loan amount only. For both, the bank says interest rates depend on your risk profile and are paid monthly on the daily outstanding balance. No percentages are published. Two businesses with the same invoices could therefore pay very different totals, and the only way to compare is to ask each lender for the admin or service fee, the interest margin and any other charges in writing.
Asset finance lets you use equipment while you pay for it
Standard Bank’s asset financing page offers two structures: an instalment sale, or a financial lease that gives you the option to own. Repayment amounts, initial payments and balloon payments are described as negotiable, with initial payments subject to equity requirements, and the interest rate can be linked or fixed. The bank says you can reduce interest by linking the agreement to an Access Finance Account. It lists quarrying and opencast mining equipment, farming equipment, technology equipment for medical, printing and IT sectors, manufacturing equipment and aviation parts among what it finances. On tax, the page says business assets can be depreciated against taxable income, but your accountant should confirm how that applies to you.
The page points to a 2026 pricing guide. We read the bank’s Commercial Asset Finance 2026 pricing guide, a PDF that says fees took effect on 1 January 2026 and include VAT. It lists monthly service fees by banking tier, from R105 for Enterprise Banking to R180 for Commercial Banking, plus R9.30 for an electronic account payment and R20 for a debit order, as listed in the guide. It does not give an interest rate, consistent with the page saying rates are negotiated.
Business Partners Limited, a specialist funder, offers a narrower product. Its asset finance page (timestamped 5 August 2026) offers R250 000 to R5 million, for new equipment only, with manufacturing, engineering and alternative energy equipment such as solar panels and inverters named. It does not finance IT equipment, yellow goods or vehicles through this product. The business must be a registered entity with at least two years of trading, a profitable track record, a clear credit record and the ability to pay a deposit of at least 20% of the purchase price. The loan term is generally over 60 months, VAT can be covered if needed, and the page says the cost is adjusted for risk. Required documents include signed annual financial statements not older than 12 months, a 12-month cash flow forecast, 12 months of bank statements and a quote from an accredited supplier. In its general FAQ, the lender says there is no set interest charge and that each transaction is priced individually.
Business Partners does not list invoice finance on the pages we read. Its short-term finance product, for R250 000 to R750 000, is a working capital loan over up to 18 months, with interest only for the first six months, so it is not the same as borrowing against invoices.
The National Credit Act caps charges only for some borrowers
The National Credit Regulator (NCR) hosts the Act on its site, in the text gazetted in 2006. Section 4 says the Act applies to credit agreements at arm’s length, except where the borrower is a company or other juristic person whose asset value or annual turnover, combined with related entities, meets or exceeds a threshold the Minister sets. It also excludes a “large agreement” with a juristic person below that threshold. Section 7 says the threshold the Minister sets for this purpose must be no more than R1 million, and must be reviewed at intervals of no more than five years. We did not find the current gazetted figure on the NCR’s site, so we cannot state it. The asset value or turnover counts as the figure the business states when it applies.
Where the Act does apply, section 101 lists what a lender may charge: the principal debt, an initiation fee, a service fee, interest expressed as an annual rate, credit insurance, default administration charges and collection costs. Initiation and service fees may not exceed prescribed amounts, and interest may not exceed the maximum prescribed rate. Section 105 lets the Minister prescribe those maximums by credit market subsector. Section 102 allows instalment sales and leases to roll items such as delivery and installation charges, taxes and registration fees into the principal debt.
In other words, a business above the threshold sits outside the Act under section 4, so the statutory limits on fees and interest do not apply to its agreements, while a smaller business may be covered depending on the size of the agreement. Lenders must also register with the NCR once they pass certain size thresholds, and Standard Bank and Nedbank both display NCR registration numbers on their documents. The NCR’s pages we read do not address invoice finance specifically, so ask the lender in writing whether your agreement is covered by the Act. Our guide to interest on late payments covers how South African law treats what customers owe you.
Compare total cost, terms and exit conditions, not the headline advance
With no published rates, the useful comparison is of structure. For invoice finance, ask for the fee basis (a percentage of invoice value or a flat monthly fee), the interest margin, the advance percentage, which customers are excluded, the length of the contract and the notice period. For asset finance, ask about the deposit, the balloon payment, whether the rate is fixed or linked, the term, the insurance you must carry and who owns the asset until the last payment. Our cash flow simulator is a place to test whether your numbers can carry a repayment through a slow quarter, and slow-paying customers are the problem invoice finance exists to solve. Our report on the small enterprise ombud vacancy covers the body meant to help small suppliers get paid.
For other routes to money, see our overview of funding that is open now and our explainer on IDC funding. This guide is not advice and does not recommend any lender; it does not recommend any lender.
What we could not confirm
We did not compare the whole market. FNB’s business page asked for a CAPTCHA before it would load, so we did not read it, and we have not covered Absa, Capitec, Investec or specialist invoice factors. We could not confirm current advance rates for Nedbank or Standard Bank, any interest margin or fee percentage, the current threshold figure in the Minister’s Gazette notice, or how the Act treats a particular invoice finance structure. Standard Bank’s pages carry no date, and Business Partners’ pages carry only system timestamps, so terms may have changed since. Contact each lender for a written quote before deciding.
