Fast funding repaid as a share of your card takings. Useful in the right situation, but only when the cost genuinely stacks up, which is not as often as it is sold.
A merchant cash advance is a lump sum, repaid as a fixed share of your daily card takings until an agreed total is cleared. The share, often somewhere between 10 and 20%, is collected automatically through your card processor, so there is no monthly payment to make.
Repayment flexes with trade. When you are busy, you repay more and clear it faster. When trade is quiet, the repayment shrinks with it. There is no fixed term. It is quick to arrange, usually unsecured, and approval rests mainly on your card turnover, which is why it appeals to retail and hospitality businesses that need cash fast.
Here is the part that catches people out. A merchant cash advance is not priced with an interest rate. It is priced with a factor rate, a flat multiplier applied to the advance, and that changes everything about how you should judge the cost.
The cost is £6,000, and it is fixed, whether you clear it in six months or twelve.
Because the cost is fixed in pounds, repaying faster does not save you a penny. It simply means you have paid £6,000 over a shorter time, which is a high annual cost by any measure, frequently several times the cost of a term loan for the same money. That is what the factor rate hides, and it is why so many businesses underestimate the price.
So there is one honest way to judge a merchant cash advance: look at the total you will repay in pounds, and compare it against what the same money would cost another way. Not the factor rate, which is designed to look small. The total.
When you have strong, consistent card takings, need cash quickly, and are putting it to a short, clearly profitable use, a seasonal stock-up or a refit before a busy period, where the return is fast and obvious. Used that way, as a short-term operational tool, the cost can be justified and the flexible repayment genuinely helps.
When it is papering over a structural cash flow problem, the advance treats the symptom and the cause remains. And when a term loan, invoice finance or a revolving facility would do the same job for materially less, which is often. If you qualify for cheaper finance and can service it, the total cost is almost always lower.
We are not here to sell you a merchant cash advance. We are here to work out whether it is the right answer, and to be honest when it is not. We will model the true cost, show you what the same money would cost another way, and only recommend an advance when it genuinely earns its place.
If you have already been offered one, bring it to us and we will sense-check it against the alternatives before you sign. And if an advance really is the right tool for the speed and flexibility you need, we will go and get you the keenest factor rate we can. Every fee and commission is disclosed before you commit, and you deal with a principal throughout.
If you are considering a merchant cash advance, or you have been offered one, talk to us first. We will show you what it will actually cost, whether it is the right tool, and what the alternatives are. It costs nothing to find out, and it could save you a great deal.
Copyright - Goodman Corporate Consultancy Ltd
Goodman Corporate Finance is a trading style of Goodman Corporate Consultancy Ltd. Company no 5364029 Registered in England and Wales.
Registered office: 5 Prospect Place, Millennium Way, Pride Park, Derby, DE24 8HG.
Goodman Corporate Consultancy Limited is an FCA authorised Credit Broker and not a lender.
We typically receive a payment (s) or other benefits from the finance provider if you decide to enter into an agreement with them depending on the chosen provider and their commission or incentive models. Different lenders pay different amounts depending on different commission models. Further details of the commission model, calculation and amount will be disclosed to you throughout your customer journey.
Goodman Corporate Consultancy Ltd is Authorised and Regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority under number 733340.
Goodman Corporate Finance is registered with the ICO no. Z1828753.
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