Earlypay: invoice factoring, discounting, trade and equipment finance

If your business does the work first and gets paid 30, 60 or 90 days later, you already know the problem Earlypay was built for. Wages, fuel, materials and the ATO all want paying now, while the money you’ve earned sits in your debtors ledger. Earlypay lends against that ledger, so the cash arrives when you invoice rather than when your customer gets around to paying.

It is one of the few invoice financiers in Australia that is listed on the ASX (code EPY), which means it publishes its results. Its FY26 results, released in August 2026, reported funds in use of $307.8m at June 2026. That’s useful context: you’re dealing with an established specialist, not a start-up platform.

This profile is based on Earlypay’s own website as at October 2026. Check the current detail with Earlypay before you sign anything.

What does Earlypay offer?

Earlypay’s site lists four main products, plus several supporting pages:

Product	What it does	What Earlypay publishes
Invoice factoring	You sell eligible invoices; Earlypay advances most of their value and releases the rest when the customer pays	Facilities of $100k to $10 million; up to 80% advanced, sometimes 85%
Invoice discounting	Your invoices secure a facility; you keep running collections	Up to 80% of eligible invoices; usually confidential
Trade finance	Pays your suppliers so stock or materials keep moving	No published limits
Equipment and asset finance	Funds equipment purchases without draining working capital	No published limits; recent client examples of $225k and $350k

There’s also an “invoice finance for payroll” product, aimed at closing the gap between pay day and when clients settle their invoices. In practice it’s invoice finance pointed at wages, which is why labour hire firms feature heavily in Earlypay’s client examples. Our page on labour hire business loans covers why that sector leans on this kind of funding.

Factoring, discounting, or something in between?

Earlypay describes three ways of running a factoring facility, and the difference matters more than most owners expect:

• Disclosed factoring. Earlypay manages collections and may contact your customers. It’s the version most open to newer businesses, firms with ATO debt and owners with credit issues.
• Partnership factoring. You keep chasing your own customers, while Earlypay helps allocate payments and follow up overdue invoices.
• Confidential factoring. Collections stay with you and customers aren’t told. Earlypay reserves this for established businesses with strong financials.

Invoice discounting is different again: the invoices are security rather than sold, you need an in-house accounts receivable team, and Earlypay looks for a history of profitability. If you’re unsure which suits you, our comparison of invoice factoring and invoice discounting walks through the trade-offs.

What do your invoices need to look like?

With invoice finance, the lender is backing your customers’ willingness to pay as much as your own business. Earlypay’s published criteria focus on the invoices themselves:

1. Business customers in Australia. Invoices must be owed by Australian businesses, not consumers.
2. Work already done. You invoice after the goods are delivered or the service is complete. Progress claims and pre-billing are a harder fit.
3. Fresh invoices. Invoices should generally be less than 90 days from issue. Old, disputed debts won’t carry much weight.
4. Trade terms under 90 days. Discounting in particular expects trade credit terms shorter than that.

Earlypay also says start-ups can qualify if they meet its lending criteria, and that businesses already holding loans with other lenders can still apply. That’s more flexible than many people assume about invoice finance.

Unsure whether your debtors ledger would carry a facility? Tell us about your customers and terms and we’ll suggest a sensible starting point.

A worked example

Imagine a Brisbane freight business invoicing $500k a month to a handful of national retailers on 45-day terms. It has $500k sitting in unpaid invoices and a fleet to fuel.

Using Earlypay’s own illustration, an 80% advance on $500k of outstanding invoices would make about $400k available. As customers pay, those receipts flow to Earlypay, the advance is cleared, and Earlypay passes the leftover 20%, minus its charges, back to the freight company. There are no fixed monthly loan repayments; the facility rises and falls with sales.

The questions to ask are about cost in dollars: what does it cost per month to keep, say, $300k drawn, including service fees? Our invoice finance calculator helps you estimate that before you speak to anyone.

Who is Earlypay a good fit for?

Earlypay tends to suit:

• B2B businesses with a steady debtors ledger, such as transport, labour hire, wholesale, construction, mining services and manufacturing.
• Fast-growing firms where each new contract stretches the bank balance further, and a facility of $100k or more is useful.
• Owners with a blemish, such as an ATO debt or patchy credit, who still have good-quality invoices.

It’s a weaker fit for businesses selling to consumers, those paid upfront or at the till, very small ledgers under its facility minimum, and businesses that invoice before the work is done.

Questions to ask Earlypay before you sign

• How is the advance worked out, and which invoices are ineligible (for example, related-party or overseas debtors)?
• Is there a minimum monthly fee or minimum usage?
• How long is the contract, and what does it cost to exit early?
• Will my customers be notified, and who contacts them if an invoice runs late?
• What security is registered on the PPSR, and are director guarantees required?

If Earlypay says no, what then?

A decline from an invoice financier usually comes down to the invoices or the customers, not just your business. Some next steps:

• Ledger too small or invoices too few? A selective, single-invoice provider such as FundTap or Fifo Capital may suit.
• Customers are consumers, or you’re paid upfront? Invoice finance won’t fit. Look at unsecured business loans or a business line of credit.
• ATO debt is the real problem? Our guide to ATO tax debt business loans sets out the options.
• You own property? A property-secured loan can unlock more than a debtors ledger will.

To weigh Earlypay against its closest rival, see ScotPac vs Earlypay, or read our profiles of ScotPac and Octet.

Not sure invoice finance is the answer? Let’s look together

Invoice finance is excellent when your customers are solid and your terms are long. When they aren’t, or you need a lump sum instead, another product will often do the job better and cost less.

Send us the basics and we’ll give you a straight view. Our enquiry form is about sixty seconds of typing, and making it leaves no mark on your credit history. Nobody auctions your file to a dozen funders; one of our team works through what your debtors ledger can support, then picks up the phone. Give us honest figures for monthly sales, debtor days and your biggest customers, because that’s what lets us name a fitting option on the first call.

Ask about funding against your invoices →