Best for construction·Updated July 18, 2026
1st Commercial Credit Review 2026
Best for construction receivables and international B2B factoring
3.9out of 5
1st Commercial Credit LLC, Dallas Texas· Legal entity
2003, independently held· Founded
70 to 97 percent· Advance rate
0.69 to 2.5 percent per 30 days· Factor fee
24 hours ongoing, 3 to 5 days first funding· Funding speed
$10M typical· Maximum facility
Construction receivables and international factoring· Specialty
Our Verdict
3.9
Based on our independent review
Ease of Use
0.0/5
Pricing & Value
0.0/5
Features & Add-ons
0.0/5
Customer Support
0.0/5
3 to 5 business days first fund
0.0/5
Pricing Transparency
0.0/5
Privacy & Data
0.0/5
Best For: Construction subs and GCs with progress billings or retainage, staffing agencies with weekly payroll pressure, and B2B exporters factoring international invoices.
Top Advantages
- Construction-specialist underwriting, including progress billings
- International factoring across Canada, Mexico, UK, and Australia
- Factor fees start at 0.69% for strong receivables
0.69 to 2.5% per 30 days
1st Commercial Credit Overview
1st Commercial Credit is a Dallas-based factor founded in 2003 that runs a facility book up to $10M per client across construction, staffing, medical, security, cable and telecom, plus international receivables in Canada, Mexico, the UK, and Australia. Advance rates range from 70 to 97 percent with factor fees starting at 0.69 percent per 30 days. The construction specialty and the cross-border book are the two things that differentiate it from generalist factors in the roster.
Construction receivables are handled differently from every other industry. Progress billing, lien waivers, joint checks, and retainage all require specialized underwriting that most factors either decline or overcharge for. 1st Commercial Credit has the operational machinery for that paperwork, which is why Reddit threads in r/Construction surface it as a recommended factor more often than the bigger brands.
The tradeoff is speed. First funding takes 3 to 5 business days, slower than altLINE, FundThrough, or eCapital, because the underwriting team reviews customer credit, lien position, and AR composition more rigorously. Once live, ongoing advances fund in 24 hours. Pick 1st Commercial Credit if you are in construction or need international factoring. For pure domestic staffing or manufacturing with clean receivables, altLINE or Universal Funding will be cheaper and faster to stand up.
1st Commercial Credit Pricing Plans
Standard factoring
Most Popular0.69 to 2.5%per 30 days
Fee grades on customer credit, volume, and industry complexity
- 70 to 97% advance rate
- 24 hour ongoing funding
- $10M facility typical cap
- Flexible contract lengths
- Construction and international capable
Construction facility
1 to 2.5%per 30 days
Construction-specific pricing reflects specialized underwriting
- 70 to 80% advance on retainage files
- Lien waiver processing included
- Progress billing supported
- Joint check handling
- Retainage tracking and release
International receivables
1.25 to 3%per 30 days
Premium of 25 to 50 bps over US rate typical
- Canada, Mexico, UK, Australia coverage
- Foreign exchange handled
- Direct underwriting, no correspondent factor
- Longer collection windows accommodated
- Cross-border compliance included
1st Commercial Credit Pros and Cons
Pros
- Construction-specialist underwriting, including progress billings
- International factoring across Canada, Mexico, UK, and Australia
- Factor fees start at 0.69% for strong receivables
- Facility sizes up to $10M
- Non-recourse available
Cons
- First funding takes 3 to 5 business days, slower than competitors
- Website heavy on state-landing-page SEO, less transparent pricing
- Complex deals require relationship management
Dallas shop founded 2003
1st Commercial Credit opened in Dallas in 2003 and still operates independently. Roughly 23 years of continuous operation in factoring is a durability signal in a category where rollups have consolidated a lot of the competition. The firm has kept a specialty focus on construction and international receivables rather than chasing the trucking or generalist AR book that most larger factors compete on.
The Dallas base matters for Texas and Gulf Coast construction clients, where in-person underwriting conversations are sometimes useful on messy progress-billing jobs. For clients outside Texas, the file-based workflow is identical to any remote-first factor.
Pricing and advance range
Factor fee starts at 0.69 percent per 30 days on the strongest receivables and runs up to 2.5 percent. On a $100,000 invoice funded for 30 days at 1.5 percent, the fee is $1,500, an 18.3 percent annualized equivalent. At the floor rate of 0.69 percent, the APR equivalent is around 8.4 percent, which is the lowest floor in the 10-name roster and reflects 1st Commercial Credit's willingness to price sharply on clean investment-grade receivables.
Advance rate runs 70 to 97 percent. The wider low-end range is a construction thing. Jobs with meaningful retainage (typically 5 to 10 percent held by the GC until project completion) factor at 70 to 80 percent on the initial advance because the retainage portion is not advanced until release. Clean non-construction receivables push to 95 percent advance.
Construction specialty
Construction factoring is harder than commercial factoring because of three things. First, progress billing means an invoice represents work completed through a milestone rather than a delivered good, which introduces dispute risk. Second, lien waivers must be executed correctly to preserve the factor's lien priority, and incorrect waivers are a common cause of denied advances. Third, retainage sits outside the advance until release, which affects cash flow modeling.
1st Commercial Credit handles all three. The underwriting team knows progress billing. The operations team processes conditional and unconditional lien waivers in the standard formats. Retainage is tracked and released when the GC releases, usually 60 to 180 days after project completion. If you are in construction, this operational fluency is worth more than a 25 basis point discount from a factor that will misprocess your lien waivers.
International factoring
International receivables from Canada, Mexico, the UK, and Australia are supported. Most US factors decline international receivables or route them through a correspondent factor, which adds fees and friction. 1st Commercial Credit underwrites international AR directly, which is useful for US exporters, border commerce, and companies with UK or Australian subsidiaries billing into the US parent.
Coverage is strongest in Canada and Mexico because of geographic proximity and trade volume. UK and Australian coverage is more selective and carries slightly higher fees, typically 25 to 50 basis points above the US rate to reflect foreign exchange and collection friction.
Other industries on the book
Staffing is the second-largest book after construction. Typical staffing rates run 1 to 2 percent per 30 days at 90 percent advance, which is competitive with altLINE and Universal Funding but slightly slower on first funding.
Medical receivables, including physician practices and durable medical equipment suppliers, are supported with specialty underwriting for commercial insurance and Medicare payer mix. Security services and cable or telecom contractors round out the industry list. Trucking is not a strong fit, RTS Financial, Triumph, and Scale Funding are built for that persona.
Funding speed, the caveat
First funding takes 3 to 5 business days. That is slower than altLINE's same-day first funding or FundThrough's 24-hour turnaround. The extra time goes into customer credit review, lien position check for construction files, and AR aging analysis. Once the facility is live, ongoing advances land in 24 hours on verified invoices, which is standard for the category.
If you need cash in the next 48 hours, 1st Commercial Credit is not the right pick. If you can wait a week for first funding in exchange for better pricing and construction fluency, the speed tradeoff is usually worth it.
Contracts and exit
Contract length is flexible. 12-month, 6-month, and spot factoring arrangements are all possible depending on the client profile. Monthly minimums apply on longer contracts, typically $20,000 to $50,000 per month in factored volume. Early termination fees exist on multi-month contracts and should be negotiated on the front end.
Spot factoring, where you factor a single invoice without a commitment, is offered but priced higher. Expect a premium of 50 to 100 basis points on the factor fee for spot deals because the operational overhead is higher per transaction.
Customer sentiment
Reddit r/Construction threads surface 1st Commercial Credit as a recommended factor for subcontractors on larger jobs. The feedback pattern is consistent. Slower to start, better to work with once live, more expensive than the cheapest factors but worth it for construction files.
BBB rating is A+. Trustpilot presence is limited. The public footprint is smaller than NerdWallet-favored names like altLINE or FundThrough, which reflects the construction and international specialty niche rather than a problem with the company.
Who should pick 1st Commercial Credit
Pick 1st Commercial Credit if you are a construction subcontractor, GC, or materials supplier with progress billing and retainage. Pick it if you have international receivables from Canada, Mexico, the UK, or Australia. Pick it if you want spot factoring flexibility instead of a locked facility.
Skip 1st Commercial Credit if you are in trucking (RTS, Triumph, Scale Funding are sharper), if you need same-day first funding (altLINE or FundThrough), or if you want the lowest possible rate on clean staffing or manufacturing AR (Universal Funding's 0.55 percent floor edges this out).
1st Commercial Credit vs. Top Competitors
| Service | Learn More | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1st Commercial Credit Best for construction 0.69 to 2.5% per 30 days 3.9 | 0.69 to 2.5% per 30 days | N/A | 3.9 | Construction subs and GCs with progress billings or retainage, staffing agencies with weekly payroll pressure, and B2B exporters factoring international invoices. | Current Review |
 altLINE 0.75 to 3.5% 3.8 | 0.75 to 3.5% | $16,825 | 3.8 | Lowest fees with bank-backed stability | |
 Riviera Finance 2 to 5% 4.2 | 2 to 5% | 2 to 5% | 4.2 | Non-recourse credit protection with in-person service | |
 Porter Capital 1 to 5% 3.7 | 1 to 5% | 1 to 5% | 3.7 | Factoring with a graduation path to asset-based lending | |
 Universal Funding 0.55 to 2% 4.1 | 0.55 to 2% | 0.55 to 2% | 4.1 | Large facilities up to $20M and confidential non-notification factoring |
Final Verdict
3.9 / 5
1st Commercial Credit is the construction specialty pick and the international factoring pick. 0.69 to 2.5 percent per 30 days, 70 to 97 percent advance, $10M facility typical, 24-hour funding once live. Slower first funding at 3 to 5 business days is the tradeoff for deeper underwriting.
Visit 1st Commercial Credit
By StartupOwl Team, LLC Formation Expert
Frequently Asked Questions
Factor fee starts at 0.69 percent per 30 days on the strongest receivables and runs up to 2.5 percent. Advance rate runs 70 to 97 percent depending on industry, with construction files at 70 to 80 percent and clean non-construction receivables at 90 to 95 percent. On a $100,000 invoice at 1.5 percent for 30 days, the fee is $1,500, an 18.3 percent annualized rate.
Construction receivables require specialized underwriting for progress billing, lien waivers, joint checks, and retainage. 1st Commercial Credit processes all four in the standard formats and handles retainage tracking through project completion. Most generalist factors either decline construction files or overcharge for them.
3 to 5 business days for first funding after application, AR aging review, customer credit checks, and lien position verification clear. This is slower than altLINE or FundThrough. Once the facility is live, ongoing advances fund in 24 hours on verified invoices.
Yes. Receivables from Canada, Mexico, the UK, and Australia are underwritten directly, not routed through a correspondent factor. That direct underwriting keeps fees lower than most US factors will quote for international AR. Canada and Mexico are strongest, UK and Australian coverage is selective.
Standard contracts are recourse. Non-recourse is available on stronger receivables and adds roughly 25 to 75 basis points to the fee. Non-recourse only covers customer insolvency, not disputes or quality issues, which is a universal caveat across all non-recourse factoring.
This review reflects independent, first-hand testing by the StartupOwl team. Affiliate relationships never influence our ratings or recommendations. Read our editorial policy →
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