Another Milestone!

On March 17, 2009; one year ago tomorrow; I read a comment about The Receivables Exchange in a message by Paul Ellis to the Factoring Professionals Group of the LinkedIn network.

That was the first time I had heard of TRE.

Today I bought my 100th TRE auction.

Of those 100 auctions, 76 have been closed-out so far: all paid-as-agreed.

I have bought invoices from 26 TRE Sellers representing 47 Account Debtors.

The average period of time from purchase to close-out has been about 45 days. The weighted average duration has been about 35 days (because many auctions include multiple invoices and some get paid more quickly than others.)

I don’t think the Exchange Rules allow me to cite the actual annualized returns generated from the 76 auctions that have been closed-out, but I think I can say this:

--The TRE web site gives a range of monthly discount fees at which auctions have been sold.

--Advances, on average, tend to fall in the 80% to 85% of face value range (sometimes more, sometimes less).

--My actual annualized returns have been consistent with auctions selling at slightly higher than the mid-point of the publicized discount fee range, adjusted for my actual duration experience, average advance rates and actual TRE fees charged.

I can say that I have been unwilling to compete at either extreme of the auction pricing spectrum and that my actual results have been consistent with my bias toward a conservative approach to "qualifying" Sellers and a moderate approach toward bidding.

I’ve gotten what I bargained for--what more could I ask?