Business Day: Meaning in a Merchant Cash Advance
A business day is a weekday when banks are open, excluding weekends and bank holidays. Daily MCA payments, funding wires and payoff timelines are usually counted in business days.
What does business day mean?
When a contract says a payment comes out every business day, it means Monday through Friday, minus bank holidays. When a funder says it'll fund within a business day, a Friday approval usually means Monday. The banking system that moves ACH and wires settles only on business days, which is why the term shows up everywhere in funding paperwork.
Why does business day matter to your business?
It shapes your cash flow and your expectations. A daily debit that skips the weekend doesn't double up on Monday unless your contract says so. A payoff letter good through a certain number of business days gives you less calendar time than it sounds. And a callback promised the same business day means before the end of that working day.
Do holidays count as business days?
Bank holidays shift everything by a day. If you're timing a payoff or funding around a long weekend, check the bank holiday calendar first.
How do cutoff times work?
Banks set daily cutoff times for wires and ACH. Something sent after the cutoff counts toward the next business day. When a funder says it'll fund today, ask whether today means before the cutoff, because that's the difference between money this afternoon and money tomorrow.
Do time zones change the business day?
A funder on the other coast works on its own clock. Ask which time zone a deadline refers to.
Where will you see it?
In the payment schedule, the funding timeline, payoff letters and notice sections of the contract.
Which terms are related to business day?
The full list is in the glossary. Owners ask about this in Can I make extra payments on my merchant cash advance?.
A term on your offer you don't recognize?
Send us the line and we'll tell you what it means. Call 877-FUND-654 with any question. We call you back, usually the same business day, and we always talk with you before we shop your file.