How We Research, Review and Correct Our Guides
The rules every guide, calculator and data page meets before it goes live.
Every page explains how merchant cash advances work from primary sources, shows its math and is fact-checked and reviewed before it goes live. Pages are reviewed by the Afterfirst file team, show the date of their last update, and are corrected when a reader shows us an error.
Who reviews our pages?
Guides, calculators and data pages carry the line “Reviewed by the Afterfirst file team.” That's the group at Afterfirst that reads merchant files and shops them with funders. We sign pages as a team, and we don't put invented names, stock photos or personas on them.
Afterfirst MCA is a broker. Funders make every approval decision and set their own terms, and our pages say so wherever an offer comes up.
How do we research a topic?
- We start from primary sources: U.S. Census Bureau data, federal agency pages, the terms that appear in MCA contracts, and the math itself.
- Every figure on a page is either sourced, with a link in its Sources section, or computed on the page, with the method stated.
- Worked examples use round, stated inputs. They show how the math behaves; they're worked cases, not typical offers or quotes.
- We link to the source instead of repeating a number from memory.
How do we show the math?
An APR on our pages is the internal rate of return on the stated payments, times 252 business days or 52 weeks per year. Factor rate to APR, worked examples walks through the method with a spreadsheet formula you can check. A daily debit is the purchased amount divided by the business days in the term. Dollar figures are rounded to the cent and rates to the nearest whole percent.
The calculators use the same formulas as the guides, so a number in a guide and a number from a calculator agree when the inputs match.
What words and claims do we avoid?
- We call the companies that buy future receivables funders, and we describe an advance as a purchase of future sales.
- We don't promise approval, a price or a funding time. The one timing statement we make is about our own callback:.
- We don't rank funders or list funder names, and no funder pays to appear on a page.
- We don't give legal or tax advice. Where a question turns on the law or on your books, the page says to ask an attorney or a CPA.
What happens before a page goes live?
Every page is fact-checked and reviewed by the Afterfirst file team before it goes live. Each figure is checked against its source, and each worked example is recomputed from its stated inputs.
How do we keep pages current?
Each guide and calculator shows the date of its last update at the end of the page. We review a page when a source it cites changes, when a reader reports a problem, or when the way funders write offers changes. When a review changes a figure, the date changes with it.
How do we handle corrections?
If you spot an error, email info@afterfirstmca.com with the page address and what's wrong, or call 877-FUND-654. We reply.
When a correction changes a figure, a method or a conclusion, we fix the page, update its date and add a short note at the end of the page that says what changed. Typos and broken links are fixed without a note.
Does how we're paid affect the guides?
No. Applying costs you nothing, and Afterfirst MCA charges you no fee. Funding companies pay us a monthly membership and a commission when a deal funds. How we're paid has the details. Guides don't steer you to a funder, and no page is a paid placement.
What data do we publish?
The city employer data report counts employers in U.S. cities, built from U.S. Census Bureau data, with its method and limits on the page and a CSV to download. We use the same figures wherever we describe a local market.
Questions about your file?
Call 877-FUND-654 with any question. We call you back, and we always talk with you before we shop your file.