Reserve account

Two structures share the name. A per-invoice reserve is held and released load by load. An aggregate reserve is a running balance the factor maintains across your whole book, sometimes with a required minimum. Ask which one an agreement creates, because the second ties up capital continuously.

In practice. The reserve is the difference between the invoice face value and the advance. It is also the first place a factor recovers a chargeback, a short pay, or a fee, which means the amount released is often less than the stated percentage.

Reserve releases are frequently batched weekly rather than paid per invoice, so the release date can trail the broker's payment by several days.

Example. A $2,400 invoice at a 95% advance leaves a $120 reserve. After a $72 fee, the release is $48. If the broker also short-paid $60 on a rate discrepancy, the release becomes $0 and $12 is owed.

Why it matters for your cash flow. Reserve money is yours on paper and unavailable in practice, sometimes for six weeks. Carriers who budget from the invoice value rather than the advance consistently run short, because the last 5% arrives after the fuel is already bought.