Tools
What a cash advance actually costs.
Advances are quoted as a factor rate because a factor rate sounds small. This turns the offer in front of you into an annualised rate — the number that lets you compare it with anything else.
Assumes level weekly repayments, which is how most advances are collected. Enter the factor rate from the offer in front of you.
Annualised rate
89.9%
a factor of 1.25 over 6 months is not 25%
$100,000
Total repaid
$20,000
Cost of the money
$3,846
Out of cash flow, weekly
money you keep cost (20% of every repayment)
The same $80,000 over 6 months at the median advertised business-loan from-rate (9.2% p.a. on the board, read 2026-08-02) would cost about $2,160 in interest — against $20,000 here. Advertised rates are markers, not offers; the arithmetic is the point.
We do not broker merchant cash advances — this page is the reason why. If the speed matters that much, there is usually a survivable way to get it.
Start a fileArithmetic on the numbers you enter, nothing more. Not a quote, not a comparison of available products, not a recommendation, and not advice — talk to your accountant about what a facility means for your position. General information only.
Why a factor of 1.25 is not 25%
A factor rate multiplies the advance: borrow $80,000 at 1.25 and you repay $100,000. That reads like 25%. But repayments start immediately and run weekly, so on average the money is only in your hands for about half the term. Paying $20,000 to hold a shrinking balance for a few months is a very different proposition from paying it to hold the full amount for a year — and the annualised rate is the honest way to say so.
This is also why advances feel survivable at first and brutal by month three: the weekly draw is fixed while the benefit of the cash fades. We publish this calculator because we do not broker these products, and we would rather lose that deal than sell that curve.