9 Best Merchant Cash Advance Companies 2022

So you think you want a merchant cash advance (MCA)―or a lump sum of up-front money, which you repay with a percentage of your daily (or weekly) credit and debit card sales.

Look, we don’t recommend revenue-based financing like MCAs as a rule (our guide to merchant cash advances explains why). But if you’re sure about getting one, we do want to help you get the best one possible.

For most businesses, that means starting with Lendio to get funding offers tailored for your business. We’ll tell you more about Lendio and the six other business cash advance providers that we recommend.

Merchant cash advance companies describe the costs of an advance in different ways.

Fundera, for example, uses a classic factor fee (expressed as 1.1). You have to multiply the factor fee by your advance amount to figure out your total repayment amount. A $10,000 advance with a 1.1 factor fee, for example, would require you to pay $11,0000 altogether―$10,000 to repay the advance and $1,000 in fees.

Other companies use a percentage-based factor rate. These simply tell you what percentage of the advance you’ll pay in fees. A 12% factor rate on a $10,000 advance, for example, means you’ll pay $1,200 in fees (plus the $10,000 advance).

Still other companies use weekly fees or other methods.

But no matter the method, remember that merchant cash advances are designed to be costly and confusing. Providers will try to make them look cheap, but you end up paying a lot in fees over a pretty short period of time.  That’s why we almost always recommend going with one of the best small-business loans instead.

At any rate, make sure you understand the exact costs of your advance―no matter which provider you go with.

If you want to get the best possible deal on an MCA, we recommend you apply with Lendio.

Lendio is a lending marketplace, rather than a direct lender. That means that Lendio will compare your application with various lenders, and then report back to you with a list of loan offers.

You can compare those offers to find what works best for you—whether that means comparing factor rates, retrieval rates, or cash amounts. You might even get offers for other types of funding that you can compare with MCAs.

With any luck, Lendio will help you find a merchant cash advance that fits just right.

Lots of cash advance companies get pretty negative reviews (probably because cash advances tend to be expensive and confusing), but not Forward Financing.

Since we first reviewed Forward Financing, it’s kept an impeccable 4.9 out of 5 stars on Trustpilot.¹ And don’t worry―that score comes from well over one thousand reviews, meaning that quite a few business owners have good things to say about Forward Financing.

These good things include praise for Forward Financing’s fast and simple application process, excellent customer service, and accessible funding.

Sound good to you? Then Forward Financing’s well-loved advances might be just the working capital you need.

Want an advance of more than $250,000 or so? Then you’ll want to apply with Lendr.

See, merchant cash advances tend to come in smaller sizes than other kinds of business financing. Lendr bucks that trend by offering advances of up to $500,000―at least $200,000 more than Forward Financing, Lendio, and Payability. 

That means that Lendr can give you enough working capital even for big expenses, making it useful for more kinds of business needs. And while you’ll probably need above-average qualifications to get its biggest advances, Lendr’s base borrower requirements aren’t much different than other companies on our list.

So for a big merchant cash advance, turn to Lendr.

If your business primarily sells on online marketplaces, take a closer look at Payability.

Payability works specifically with ecommerce businesses that sell on platforms like Amazon, ebay, and Walmart. So rather than look at general credit card sales, it evaluates your application specifically on your ecommerce platform sales.

Payability offers another advantage: It’s one of the few cash advance companies that lets you lower fees by repaying your advance early. If you think you can manage early repayment, Payability could end up being cheaper than other companies.

Between its ecommerce eligibility requirements and potential discounts, Payability has great things to offer online sellers.

Fundera by Nerdwallet works a lot like Lendio, since they’re both lending marketplaces.

That means you’ll go through a similar process of submitting an application, giving Fundera time to match you with financing companies, and then choosing your favorite funding offer. So as with Lendio, Fundera by Nerdwallet gives you a chance to shop for the best deal on a business cash advance.

But Lendio and Fundera work with different lending partners (though they do have plenty of overlap). Because of their different networks, Fundera by Nerdwallet may give you more (or at least different) matches that let you find just the offer you’re looking for.

So if you like lending marketplaces, Fundera by Nerdwallet offers a great alternative to Lendio.

The financing companies below don’t necessarily call their loans merchant cash advances, but they also work by taking a percentage of your credit card sales—or in this case, a percentage of the credit card and debit card payments you accept through their services. 

PayPal Working Capital is exclusively for PayPal users—whether you use PayPal’s mobile credit card reader or you just accept PayPal payments on your online store. To qualify, you’ll need to have a PayPal Business or PayPal Premier account for at least three months, plus you’ll need to get at least $15,000 in PayPal sales per year.

If you use the Square mobile credit card reader, you might qualify for Square Loans (formerly Square Capital). Square will use past credit card and debit card sales to decide how much you qualify for. Note that you can’t apply for a Square loan; Square will extend a merchant cash advance loan to you if it thinks you qualify.

Is Stripe your credit card processor of choice? Stripe Capital is the new kid on the block, appearing on the market in September 2019. As of right now, there’s no maximum loan size, though Stripe suggests that a typical business owner can expect somewhere between $10,000 and $20,000.² Of course, your specific loan size will depend on your past sales through Stripe.

National Business Capital works with younger businesses than most merchant advance companies do. It accepts businesses with just six months of history―half of what companies like Lendr and Forward Financing require. Plus, National Business Capital doesn’t require any minimum credit score. So if you’ve got a young startup and poor credit, National Business Capital can still work for you.

While merchant cash advances might not be our favorite financing option, they can be an important part of meeting your cash flow needs—assuming you have enough credit card transactions to make them viable, of course.

Most businesses will get the best cash advance by applying with Lendio, since it lets you compare funding options. If you want a company with stellar reviews, go with Forward Financing. For larger advance sizes, Lendr has what you need. Payability has some advantages for e-commerce sellers. And Fundera by Nerdwallet gives you another lending marketplace option.

So choose and apply wisely. Hopefully our ranking will make that process a little easier.

Merchant cash advances don’t have to be your only option. Learn how to build your business credit so you can get better loans in the future.

To get our list of the best merchant cash advance providers, we looked at dozens of lenders to find out which ones offer cash advances. Then we scored those companies on their financing costs, application and funding turnaround times, customer reviews, and other factors. We used their scores to decide which providers made the cut―and in what order.

When it comes to qualifying for an MCA, the biggest factor is your credit and debit card sales. Since MCAs give you money in exchange for a percentage of your future sales, you need regular, predictable credit card sales to qualify.

Lenders may also look at all the usual business loan qualifications, like how long you’ve been in business, your personal credit score, and your annual revenue.

The time it takes to pay off your MCA will depend on your retrieval rate and your credit card sales. (After all, you won’t be making standard monthly payments.) Typically, you can expect somewhere between 8 to 10 months, though repayment can be as short as 4 months or as long as 18 months.

At any rate, they're squarely in the short-term financing camp.

No, merchant cash advances aren’t actually loans. You might think that merchant cash advance companies are loaning you money that you repay with your future credit card sales, but that’s not technically correct.

You’re actually selling a percentage of those credit card and debit card sales to the merchant cash advance provider. The money you get up front? That’s payment for that future percentage. So a merchant cash advance provider is a provider, not a lender, because they’re not actually giving you a loan.

But that’s getting a little pedantic, so you’ll definitely see MCAs lumped in with short-term business loans.

If you’re interested in MCA alternatives, check out our guide to the best small-business funding options to see all your choices. If you’re looking at MCAs because you have poor credit, you might also be interested in our guide to financing your business with bad credit.

The fees on a merchant cash advance take the form of a factor rate, which we thoroughly explain in our guide to merchant cash advances. You’ll pay back your advance plus a factor rate with what’s called your retrieval rate or holdback amount, or the percentage of your credit card sales that goes to the MCA provider. (Again, see the guide for more details.)

In some cases, you may also have to pay an administrative fee (like the origination fee on a small-business loan).

Disclaimer

At Business.org, our research is meant to offer general product and service recommendations. We don't guarantee that our suggestions will work best for each individual or business, so consider your unique needs when choosing products and services.