Mann had figured out how to reverse the food chain so he got paid first. He did it by turning to the independent financing companies that had started springing up to cut into the big long-distance carriers' lucrative billing and collections businesses. The lenders enabled Mann to “factor” some of the money he was due. That meant an outside lender known as a factor would calculate how much TPC was owed by its callers and lend it 80 percent or so of those so-called receivables. When the cash eventually rolled in from TPC's callers, the factor got back its principal plus interest income that
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