A merchant cash advance gives you a lump sum of capital that you repay from a slice of your daily or weekly sales. It is the easiest funding to qualify for and the fastest to fund. It is also the most expensive, so before anything else, we show you the true cost.
An advance can be the right call when you need cash fast and the opportunity in front of you is worth more than the cost of the money. It is the wrong call when a cheaper option would have worked and nobody told you. We will tell you which one you are looking at.
This is a specific tool for a specific moment. It earns its place when speed matters more than price, or when other funding is not available yet.
If your situation is not urgent, a line of credit, a term loan, or working capital will almost always cost you less. We look first, and if one of those fits, that is what we will steer you toward.
An advance is not priced like a loan. Run your numbers through our true-cost calculator first, so the price is never a surprise.
A cash advance is not quoted as an interest rate. It is quoted as a factor rate, usually somewhere between 1.2 and 1.5. You multiply the amount you take by that factor to get the total you pay back.
Say you take $100,000 at a factor rate of 1.4. You repay $140,000. That is $40,000 in cost, and because it is collected over a short period, often a few months, the effective annual cost is far higher than the factor rate makes it look. That gap is exactly why we put the real number in front of you before you decide.
The structure is simple, which is part of why it is so fast. The tradeoff is the cost, covered above.
Funds can hit your account in as little as 24 hours, with very little paperwork compared to a traditional loan.
You repay through a fixed daily or weekly debit, or a set percentage of your card sales, until the full amount is paid.
Instead of interest, the total you owe is the amount taken multiplied by a factor rate, agreed up front.
Most advances are designed to be repaid within a matter of months, which is what drives the high effective cost.
Ranges, not promises. Here is the honest picture, including the parts that are easy to gloss over.
The figures above are general market ranges shown for education. They are not an offer, a quote, or a guarantee of approval or terms. Your actual amount, factor rate, and terms depend on the funder and your business profile.
The bar is low here, which is part of the appeal and part of the risk. Easy to get does not mean easy to carry.
Even a few months of operating history can be enough to qualify for an advance.
Steady monthly revenue matters more than credit, since repayment comes from your sales.
Weaker or limited credit can still qualify, which is why funders charge more for the risk.
Before anything, we check whether a line of credit, term loan, or working capital would cost you less. If it would, we say so.
If an advance is the right move, we show you the factor rate, the total payback, and the daily impact in plain numbers.
We negotiate the structure, protect you from stacking traps, and make sure the payment is one your cash flow can actually carry.
Technically, no. An advance is the purchase of a portion of your future sales at a discount, rather than a loan with an interest rate. That distinction is why it is priced with a factor rate and why the cost works differently. In practice, it functions like very fast, very expensive financing, and we treat it that way when we explain it to you.
A factor rate is a simple multiplier, usually between 1.2 and 1.5, that sets your total repayment. You multiply the amount you take by the factor rate to find what you owe. For example, $50,000 at a 1.3 factor means you repay $65,000. Because it is collected over a short period, the true annual cost is much higher than the factor rate alone suggests, which is exactly what our calculator shows.
Yes, and we will not pretend otherwise. A merchant cash advance is the most expensive form of business funding we work with. That does not make it wrong for every situation, but it does mean it should only be used when the speed or access is worth the cost, and when a cheaper option is not available. We always check for that cheaper option first.
When you need cash fast for something with a clear, near-term payoff, and the gain outweighs the cost, or when you cannot yet qualify for lower-cost funding and the need is real. It is a bridge for a specific moment. If it would become a recurring crutch, that is a sign the underlying problem needs a different solution, and we will talk that through with you.
If you are carrying multiple advances and the daily payments are squeezing your cash flow, you are not stuck. Consolidation can combine them into a single, more manageable payment. We will look at your open positions and tell you straight whether consolidating actually helps your situation. Start with our MCA consolidation page.
One straightforward conversation. We check for a cheaper option first, show you the true cost if an advance is the answer, and never push you into anything that does not fit.