I do work in the oilfield and have been using our factoring company for about a year and a half. It costs us roughly 1.5% per month, and I believe that it's worth it for our small company. We can now bid larger 100k+ jobs that have tight profit margins from customers that routinely pay in 90+ days. In years past it was difficult for us to bid these jobs, because we needed our cash flow for the better paying jobs. We just couldn't tie up a large portion of our operating funds on those tight (but still solid profit) jobs. One of the other benefits is we don't have to bug our customers so much about when our check is being cut. Even though they are late on a payment, it still drives business away when you're calling them constantly asking for a check. I've been on both sides of that call, and I know it pushes business away. I'm sure in a perfect world you would not need factoring, but it has really helped our 30yr old family business.