What is the meaning of factor?

1. The percent of the original face of an MBS pool that remains outstanding at any given time is called the current' factor'. Principal payments, made by the borrowers, reduce the original face every month. Thus there is a new current factor each month. The current face is always equal to the product of the original face times the current factor. 2. An individual or firm that purchases accounts receivable from firms in need of working capital. Usually, a specialized financial firm engaged exclusively or almost exclusively in factoring.