Our company exports specialised agricultural equipment. For as long as anyone can remember, we confirmed every Letter of Credit. It was simply “how things were done.” We never stopped to ask whether we were actually getting value for the thousands we paid each year in confirmation fees.

That changed when a conversation with a fellow exporter made me question our assumptions. He mentioned that his company had stopped confirming LCs from reputable domestic banks years ago and never looked back. He put me in touch with TFpoint.

I reached out expecting generic advice. But what I got was a forensic examination of our LC practices. TFpoint’s team analysed our issuing banks, our transaction volumes, and our historical rejection rates. Their conclusion was clear: our primary issuing bank was highly rated and domestic. The country risk we were paying to insure against simply didn’t exist. We had been burning money on confirmation fees for years without any real protection in return.

But TFpoint didn’t stop there. They explained that while country risk was absent, three real risks still needed attention. First, the “autonomy of banks” under UCP 600 — without a confirming bank, we had no second opinion if our issuer wrongfully rejected documents. Second, the risk of a buyer seeking a court injunction to stop payment. Third, the impact on our cash flow if we needed to discount the LC for early payment.

The financial impact has been significant. We’ve eliminated tens of thousands in annual confirmation fees. Our rejection rate has dropped to nearly zero. And we finally understand the trade-offs we’re making.
TFpoint didn’t just save us money. They taught us to see risk differently. We’re no longer blindly paying for insurance. We’re making intentional, informed decisions about where our money goes.
For any exporter who’s never questioned their bank fees, I cannot recommend TFpoint strongly enough. They’ll show you what you’ve been missing.Their solution was brilliant in its simplicity. They redirected what we used to spend on confirmation toward a documentary pre-audit service. Before any LC presentation, their team reviews every document to ensure it’s flawless. They also helped us build a decision framework— when to confirm, when to skip, and when to prioritise early payment over cost savings.

Our team meticulously drafted commercial invoices and packing lists and ensured they perfectly comply with LC requirements. We carefully reviewed shipping documents to identify issues and performed a comprehensive audit of the entire document set.

Bank accepted documents on the very first presentation with zero discrepancies. By getting it right for the first time, exporter earned confidence and saved hundreds of dollars in bank discrepancy fee.