The basic structure
A merchant cash advance provides money up front in return for a portion of future sales, collected through regular deductions. It is not generally structured as a loan, and the cost is usually described differently from an interest rate. Compare the dollars you receive with the total dollars you will repay.
Fremont businesses that tend to fit
Fremont has 230,504 residents and a large daytime workforce around its tech and manufacturing employers. That supports restaurants, cafes, salons, fitness studios, auto services and retailers that take card payments all day. Their deposits are frequent and fairly predictable, which is what deductions are sized against.
The fit is poorer for B2B firms invoicing a few large customers, such as machine shops and consultants. Their deposits come in lumps, and a steady deduction can strain the account between payments. They often do better with a line of credit or working capital.
Ask these before you accept
- What is the total amount I will repay?
- Is the deduction a fixed amount or a percentage of sales?
- How often does it come out?
- How does it work when sales fall sharply?
- Can I repay early, and what happens to the total?
- Do I already have an advance, and how do the two interact?
Fixed versus percentage, illustrated
For illustration only, a Fremont cafe deposits $2,400 on a weekday and $1,100 on a slow Sunday. A fixed $360 deduction takes 15% of the weekday and almost 33% of the Sunday. A 10% deduction would take $240 and $110. Which applies depends on the offer. These figures are examples, not our terms.
Seasonality in a commuter workforce
Fremont's daytime workforce follows corporate calendars: holiday weeks, shutdown periods and hybrid schedules change how many people eat lunch, get haircuts or visit a shop. A business that depends on that foot traffic should look at its quietest week in the last year, not its average, before agreeing to a daily deduction. A fixed deduction that looks small on an average day can look large in a holiday week. Test it against the weakest week you remember.
What we need
We provide funding from $25,000 to $5,000,000, funded in as little as 24 hours. We consider FICO 500+, request about three months of business bank statements, and need no tax returns. The five-minute application uses a soft credit pull, and sole proprietors can apply. If you already carry one advance, read MCA relief. For repayment that tracks sales more cleanly, see revenue-based financing. Apply here.