Heritage Bank has joined forces with Fayetteville-based Diversified Funding Services, Inc., to offer accounts receivable factoring, AR/ABL credit lines and other back office managed services to businesses throughout Atlanta and the State of Georgia.

With the local economy surging, both Heritage and Diversified Funding Services saw a clear need to offer these services to local businesses and entrepreneurs.

“Heritage has spent decades trying to meet the capital needs of its commercial clients, and this new partnership will open new avenues for our clients to be able to better utilize their assets to help their companies grow and prosper,” Heritage Bank President and CEO Leonard Moreland said.

This dynamic relationship also aims to raise the profile of community banking within the city, which was hit hard during the financial crisis of 2008. The years following the crisis saw commercial lending move away from local banks and toward online lenders.

While the ease of obtaining capital from online lenders is an easy draw for some businesses, Diversified Funding President and CEO Mark Little said it loses the relationship building and business guidance aspect of working with a community bank.

“Nothing replaces the need for relationships. Working with a community bank isn’t, ‘Here’s the money now pay it back.’ We have a connection to the ultimate survival of the company, because it is a partnership,” Little said. “We’re bringing the community back to commercial finance.”

Accounts receivable factoring works as a low-risk means for businesses to expand their working capital without opening a line of credit. AR/ABL credit works much the same way, with the direct lender holding the company’s receivables as collateral.

The expanded services will operate under the subsidiary HB Funding Services LLC, serviced and managed by Diversified Funding Services. It will also provide a suite of back office management options for small businesses. This includes receivables management, receivables collection and credit monitoring for vendors.

Atlanta-based Heritage Bank has served Atlanta’s southern crescent since 1955. The independent, state-chartered community bank has six full service offices and also features a well-rounded offering of commercial and consumer products. It is an active, involved member of the community it serves.

Founded in 1998, Fayetteville-based Diversified Funding Services works to provide businesses the opportunity to obtain critically needed cash flow for their companies with accounts receivables financing, traditionally known as factoring.