AS Balti Investeeringute Grupp (BIG) is the first in Estonia to render the service of salary factoring, which enables the salary to be received by the clients before the actual payday.

According to Ingo Põder, chairman of the management board of BIG, salary factoring is basically meant to substitute for the out-of date practice of advance payment on account of next month's salary.

The essential preconditions for salary factoring are that the applicant should have a steady job and receive a regular salary from the employer. The amount of salary is not an obstacle to the issue of credit; it can also be obtained by persons who receive a minimum salary.

In case of salary factoring, the client will not pay interest on credit, but a one-time service fee. The amount of the service fee is 5% of the credit issued, but not less than EEK 250, which will be withheld from the credit sum issued.

The extent of credit granted depends on the client's average salary during the previous six months. As a rule, the credit is to be returned within a month, but it is also possible that the factoring contract extends automatically for several months in succession.

To conclude a factoring contract, the applicants should go to a branch of BIG and submit their passport, a certificate issued by their employer and their bank account statement for the last six months indicating the receipt of salary into their bank account. In addition to this, the applicants must fill in a factoring application and an application to the chief accountant of their employer.

According to Põder, salary factoring is another new loan product that will diversify the existing range of loan products offered by BIG.

AS Balti Investeeringute Grupp (BIG) is the greatest lender of money to private persons in the Baltic States after banks and leasing companies. BIG was founded in Tartu in 1992. In 1993 the company expanded to Tallinn and in 1994 to Pärnu. The first foreign branch was established in Riga in 1996. The name of the subsidiary is AS Vidzemes Kredits and its main areas of operation are similar to those of the parent company.

The year 2000 audited net profit of BIG exceeded EEK 5 million, which is three times more than the EEK 1.6 million profit of 1999. In the first six months of the year 2001, BIG posted a net profit exceeding EEK 2 million.

Further information:

Ingo Põder
Chairman of the management board of AS Balti Investeeringute Grupp
Tel. 07 441 950