Reading and Comparing Merchant Cash Advance Offers
Two offers can look alike and cost very different amounts. Read these pages in order, then put every offer on the same worksheet.
To compare merchant cash advance offers, line each up the same way: cash received after fees, total payback, payment size and frequency, and contract clauses.
Who should read this: Owners holding one or more offers, and owners who want to know what to check before an offer arrives.
Read these pages in this order
Each page builds on the one before it. Skip ahead if you already know a step.
- How to read an offer Where the key numbers sit in a contract and which clauses deserve the slowest read.
- Factor rate vs APR Why a factor rate isn't an interest rate, and how to turn it into dollars.
- Factor rate to APR, worked examples The same math on realistic offers, step by step.
- The personal guarantee What you're really signing when you guarantee the advance personally.
- Confession of judgment clauses What the clause lets a funder do, and where it's restricted.
- Free offer comparison worksheet A printable sheet that puts every offer on the same lines.
- Offer comparison calculator Enter up to three offers and see cash to you, cost per dollar, weekly payment and an estimated APR.
- How Afterfirst compares offers The lines we line up for you when we shop your file.
- How Afterfirst is paid Afterfirst MCA charges merchants no fee. The funder pays us a commission when a deal funds.
Run your own numbers
Use these alongside the reading order. Your numbers stay in your browser.
- APR calculator Estimate an APR from the advance, payback and payment.
- Cost checker Turn a factor rate into a dollar cost.
- Offers and comparing FAQ Short answers on reading and comparing offers.
Want a person to look at it with you?
Send one free application, or call 877-FUND-654. A person reviews your file, then we shop it with funders whose programs fit and show you every offer on the same lines. Merchants never pay Afterfirst a fee. You choose one offer, or none.
Questions owners ask
What is the most important number on an MCA offer?
Start with the total payback compared with the cash you actually receive after fees. That gap is the cost in dollars. Then check the payment and how often it's taken, because that's what your cash flow feels.
Is the lowest factor rate always the cheapest offer?
Not always. Fees taken out at funding lower the cash you receive, and the term changes the estimated APR. Compare offers on cost per dollar received and on the payment you can carry.
Can Afterfirst look at an offer I already have?
Yes. Call 877-FUND-654 or email info@afterfirstmca.com. Applying costs you nothing, and Afterfirst MCA charges you no fee. Nothing happens until you choose an offer, or none.
Send one file.
See what fits.
Call 877-FUND-654 with questions.