Export and import financing: keep cash moving from the supplier's dock to your buyer's payment.
When you import goods into the U.S., or export to U.S. buyers, cash is tied up from the moment you pay the supplier until the buyer pays you on terms. 1st Commercial Credit covers both ends: purchase order financing to pay the supplier and factoring so you can offer net terms to your buyer, with credit and cargo insurance available.
Daniel Chirino · Business Development Officer, 1st Commercial Credit
Updated: October 29, 2026
- Since 20021st Commercial Credit
- 3,800+clients funded
- $5B+funded
- Direct fundernot a broker
- Every costin writing before you sign
1st Commercial Credit figures from its website, read October 29, 2026.
Two sides of the same shipment
If you import into the U.S.
- Purchase order financing pays your overseas supplier, the freight and the import duties for finished goods.
- When the goods are delivered and invoiced, factoring turns that invoice into cash and repays the PO funding.
- At 1st Commercial Credit, PO financing is for companies that already factor their receivables there.
If you export to U.S. buyers
- Funding is based on the Incoterms of your sale, so you don't wait for the buyer to pay.
- Once the goods are delivered or the invoice terms are met, factoring funds up to 85% of the invoice value.
- You can offer competitive net terms to U.S. buyers while getting paid now.
- Foreign companies are accepted. Logistics partners handle dock-to-door shipping, customs clearance, warehousing and final-mile delivery.
What protects the deal
Credit insurance
Available on your U.S. buyers, so a buyer that can't pay doesn't become your loss.
Cargo insurance
Bespoke cargo insurance is available for the goods in transit.
Collections
1st Commercial Credit can handle collections from your U.S. buyers, which reduces the risk of slow payers.
From the credit side: before factoring, I spent three years at Allianz Trade, which insures exactly this kind of receivable. On cross-border sales, the buyer's credit is the whole deal: check it before you ship, not after.
Who qualifies
- About $150,000 in monthly sales for the export program.
- Creditworthy U.S. buyers.
- For import PO financing: a U.S. company with a proven track record in its industry that already factors with 1st Commercial Credit.
Each structure is built for the deal: what you sell, from where, on which Incoterms and to whom. Bring the purchase order, the supplier and the buyer to the first conversation and the answer comes much faster.
Sources: 1st Commercial Credit's pages for export-import financing and purchase order financing, read October 29, 2026. Terms are confirmed in writing before you sign.
When it's not the right tool
- It's a one-time shipment. Factoring is built for an ongoing relationship with your buyers.
- You sell to consumers, not to businesses.
- Your volume is well below about $150,000 a month in sales.
- You only need to pay suppliers on longer terms. Then look at trade payable financing.
Questions importers and exporters ask me
Can a company outside the U.S. use it?
Yes. The export program accepts foreign companies selling to U.S. buyers.
Does it replace a letter of credit?
For paying suppliers, 1st Commercial Credit's trade payable financing is designed to eliminate the need for letters of credit.
How much of the invoice is advanced?
On the export side, up to 85% of the invoice value once the goods are delivered or the invoice terms are met.
What are you shipping, and to whom?
Tell me the product, the route and the buyer. I'll tell you which side of the deal can be funded.
Also read: purchase order financing · credit insurance and recourse · all financing options