How much you can get with a merchant cash advance depends on how much your business deposits from sales each month. Through the funders we work with, an advance can run from $5,000 to $2,000,000, and the amount offered to a particular business is a share or a multiple of its average monthly sales deposits over the last four months. Funders then adjust that figure for how steady the deposits are, the balance the account usually carries, any advance payments already going out, how long the business has been open and the term they have in mind. Below are worked examples at three deposit levels, what moves the amount, and what a $50,000 or a $100,000 advance costs in dollars.
How funders size a merchant cash advance
A merchant cash advance is a purchase of part of your future sales. The funder advances a lump sum now, called the purchase price, and collects a larger fixed amount, called the purchased amount, through a set daily or weekly payment. Our guide to how a merchant cash advance works covers each part of the contract.
Sizing starts with your business bank statements. The underwriter totals the sales deposits for each of the last four months, takes out money that is not sales (transfers from savings, loan proceeds, owner deposits) and averages what is left. Advance agreements put this in writing. One agreement filed with the SEC defines the business's estimated average monthly future receipts as the funder's estimate based on the past average monthly receipts shown in the documents provided during underwriting.
From that average, the funder works backward from a payment. It decides how much of a usual week of deposits the business can hand over and for how many weeks, multiplies the two to get the purchased amount, and divides by the factor rate to get the amount you receive. Five things push that answer up or down:
- How steady the deposits are from month to month, since even months make a set payment easier to plan around than lumpy ones.
- The average daily balance, which shows whether the account has room to absorb a payment on a slow day.
- Payments already going to other funders, because they come out of the same deposits.
- Time in business, since a longer record of deposits gives the funder more to go on.
- The term the funder has in mind, because more weeks of payments support a larger amount at the same weekly figure.
Because each of these varies, the ratio between the advance and a month of sales varies too. In one agreement filed with the SEC, a funder paid $1,100,000 against average projected monthly sales of about $2.25 million, just under half a month. In the agreement linked above, the funder paid $120,000 against estimated average monthly receipts of about $1.48 million, roughly one twelfth of a month. The offer you receive can also differ from the amount you ask for. In the Federal Reserve Banks' 2025 Report on Employer Firms, 33% of merchant cash advance applicants were fully approved, 58% were partly approved and 9% were denied. Our guide to revenue-based financing walks through one sizing example in detail; the three below show how the result changes with the size of the business.
How much you can get at three deposit levels
Each example takes an average of four months of sales deposits, converts it to a usual week (the monthly figure times 12, divided by 52) and shows an offer a funder might make. These are illustrations with example figures, not quotes, and every funder sets its own terms.
| Example | Business A | Business B | Business C |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sales deposits, last four months | $23,400, $26,100, $24,300, $26,200 | $77,500, $84,200, $78,900, $79,400 | $238,000, $262,500, $244,500, $255,000 |
| Average monthly deposits | $25,000 | $80,000 | $250,000 |
| Usual week of deposits | About $5,770 | About $18,460 | About $57,690 |
| Amount offered | $18,000 | $60,000 | $225,000 |
| Share of one month's deposits | 72% | 75% | 90% |
| Example factor rate | 1.40 | 1.33 | 1.26 |
| Total payback | $25,200 | $79,800 | $283,500 |
| Cost in dollars | $7,200 | $19,800 | $58,500 |
| Set weekly payment | $900 for 28 weeks | $2,100 for 38 weeks | $6,300 for 45 weeks |
| Payment as a share of a usual week | About 16% | About 11% | About 11% |
Business A deposits about $25,000 a month, and the funder in this example offers $18,000 at a factor rate of 1.40. The business repays $25,200 at $900 a week, which is about 16% of a usual week, and the advance is finished in 28 weeks. The funders we work with generally look for about a year in business and about $20,000 a month in deposits, so a business at this level is within range of many of them. If you are not there yet, apply anyway, because some funders work with newer or smaller businesses and we will tell you plainly what is realistic.
Business B deposits about $80,000 a month and is offered $60,000 at 1.33. It repays $79,800 at $2,100 a week for 38 weeks, about 11% of a usual week, so roughly 89 cents of every deposited dollar stays with the business for payroll, rent and stock.
Business C deposits about $250,000 a month and is offered $225,000 at 1.26. It repays $283,500 at $6,300 a week over 45 weeks, again about 11% of a usual week. The example rate is lower here only to show a larger, steadier file; real rates depend on the funder and the statements. Larger requests, up to $2,000,000, follow the same arithmetic on larger deposits.
What lowers or raises the amount
Advances you are already paying
An open advance is the most common reason an offer comes in lower than the deposits alone would suggest. Say Business B already pays another funder $1,200 a week. If the new funder wants all advance payments to stay near the $2,100 a week it was comfortable with, it has room for $900 a week. Over the same 38 weeks at 1.33, that supports about $25,700 instead of $60,000. Existing debt weighs on other kinds of funding too. In the Fed's 2025 report, 41% of firms denied all or part of the financing they sought said they were turned down because they already had too much debt, up from 22% in 2021. Our guide to getting a second merchant cash advance covers renewals and second positions in dollars.
Returned payments and overdrafts
Each returned item or day below zero tells the underwriter the account ran dry at least once. One or two in four months may cost little, while a pattern usually means a smaller amount, a shorter term or fewer offers, so keep the account above zero in the month or two before you apply.
Seasonal deposits
Four months of statements can land on your slow season. If Business B's last four months averaged $62,000 because they were its quiet stretch, the same 75% would come to about $46,500 rather than $60,000. Sending more months of statements helps the funder see the full year, and New York's commercial finance disclosure rule deals with the same problem. When a provider estimates the term it discloses on sales-based financing, it averages at least four and at most twelve months of sales, may use the same number of highest-sales months from the past year, and may leave out a weak month caused by something unlikely to recur, such as a natural disaster. Since the payment is set, sizing it on a usual week rather than your best week keeps it comfortable through the quiet months.
Credit, time in business and balances
Credit is one input among several, and a lower score usually narrows the offers or raises the cost rather than ending the conversation. A longer time in business and a balance that rarely gets close to zero both help. Our guide to qualifying for a merchant cash advance goes through each requirement and the documents to have ready.
What raises the amount
Larger offers go to files with deposits that hold steady or grow across all four months, a healthy average balance and no other advance payments. Paying down an existing advance frees room in the weekly figure, and a funder that has already been paid on time is often willing to renew for a larger amount. A longer term can raise the amount as well, since the same weekly payment runs for more weeks, and the funder prices that extra time into the factor rate.
What a $50,000 or $100,000 merchant cash advance costs
The cost of a merchant cash advance is the total payback minus the amount you receive, plus any fee taken out at funding. It is set at signing as a factor rate, so it does not grow if collection takes longer. Here is what a $50,000 and a $100,000 advance cost at three example factor rates, each repaid weekly over 40 weeks.
| Amount and example factor rate | Total payback | Cost in dollars | Cost per dollar received | Weekly payment over 40 weeks |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $50,000 at 1.18 | $59,000 | $9,000 | 18 cents | $1,475 |
| $50,000 at 1.27 | $63,500 | $13,500 | 27 cents | $1,587.50 |
| $50,000 at 1.38 | $69,000 | $19,000 | 38 cents | $1,725 |
| $100,000 at 1.18 | $118,000 | $18,000 | 18 cents | $2,950 |
| $100,000 at 1.27 | $127,000 | $27,000 | 27 cents | $3,175 |
| $100,000 at 1.38 | $138,000 | $38,000 | 38 cents | $3,450 |
Fees taken at funding change the cash that lands, not the payback. If a funder charges a 2.5% origination fee, $1,250 comes out of a $50,000 advance and $2,500 out of a $100,000 one, so at 1.27 the $100,000 advance puts $97,500 in your account and costs $29,500 in all. In the larger SEC-filed agreement above, a $99,000 origination fee was deducted from the $1,100,000 purchase price. Ask for the amount that reaches your account as its own line on every offer.
As a guide to the deposits behind these amounts, the $50,000 advance at 1.27 ($1,587.50 a week) is about 12% of a usual week for a business depositing about $57,000 a month, and the $100,000 version ($3,175 a week) is about 12% for a business depositing about $115,000 a month. Two offers on the same amount can still be thousands of dollars apart.
Our guide to factor rates and how an advance is priced shows how to turn any offer into total payback, cost per dollar and payment, including early payoff discounts and renewal terms.
Why asking for what the need costs keeps the payment comfortable
The largest offer is a ceiling, and taking less of it keeps more of each week's deposits in the business. Say Business B is offered $60,000 but the job in front of it, a stock order and a delivery van repair, comes to $35,000. At the same 1.33 over 38 weeks, $35,000 means a payback of $46,550 and a payment of $1,225 a week, about 7% of a usual week instead of 11%.
| Business B, 1.33 over 38 weeks | Take the full offer | Take what the need costs |
|---|---|---|
| Amount received | $60,000 | $35,000 |
| Total payback | $79,800 | $46,550 |
| Cost in dollars | $19,800 | $11,550 |
| Set weekly payment | $2,100 | $1,225 |
| Share of a usual week | About 11% | About 7% |
The smaller advance costs $8,250 less and leaves $875 more in the account every week. The extra $25,000 would cost 33 cents per dollar whether it was spent or sat in the account, and a smaller open balance leaves room for a renewal later if a second need comes up. If the business expects to need money again and again, a line of credit, which charges only on what is drawn, can sit alongside the advance; our guide to the business line of credit explains how draws and repayments work.
How to apply for a merchant cash advance through us
- Fill in our short application and add your last four months of business bank statements, either as uploads or by connecting your bank read-only.
- Tell us how much you need and what it is for, and that figure goes to the funders with your file.
- We send your file to the funders in our network whose requirements fit your business. Most of them prequalify from the statements and a soft pull, so getting matched does not need a hard credit pull.
- Offers come back side by side, and our team goes through the amount that reaches your account, the factor rate, the total payback and the weekly or daily payment with you before anything is signed.
- Once you choose an offer, the funder finishes its review. If it runs a hard pull at that stage, you will know before it happens, and most applicants are funded within one to two business days of choosing an offer.
There is nothing to pay to apply or to see offers, and you are under no obligation to accept one. Our page on revenue-based financing sets out the terms we place, from $5,000 to $2,000,000.
Gather your last four months of business bank statements and start your application, or call us at (818) 351-0225 to talk through what your deposits can support first.
Questions about how much you can get with a merchant cash advance
How much can I get with a merchant cash advance?
Through the funders we work with, a merchant cash advance runs from $5,000 to $2,000,000, and the amount for your business is a share or multiple of your average monthly sales deposits over the last four months, adjusted for how steady they are, your average balance, any advance payments already going out, your time in business and the term the funder has in mind; in our examples, a business depositing $80,000 a month is offered $60,000.
How much is a $50,000 merchant cash advance?
A $50,000 merchant cash advance at an example factor rate of 1.27 has a total payback of $63,500, so it costs $13,500, or 27 cents per dollar received, and repaid weekly over 40 weeks the set payment is $1,587.50; at 1.18 the payback is $59,000 and at 1.38 it is $69,000, before any fee taken out at funding.
How much does a $100,000 merchant cash advance cost?
A $100,000 merchant cash advance costs $18,000 at an example factor rate of 1.18, $27,000 at 1.27 and $38,000 at 1.38, so the total payback runs from $118,000 to $138,000 in those examples, and a 2.5% origination fee would add $2,500 to the cost by lowering the cash that reaches your account to $97,500.
What is the average cash advance fee?
There is no single average for a merchant cash advance, because each funder prices its offers as a factor rate set at signing; the dollar cost is the total payback minus the amount you receive plus any fee taken at funding, which at example factor rates of 1.18 to 1.38 is 18 to 38 cents per dollar.
Are merchant cash advances a good idea?
A merchant cash advance is a good fit when a business needs money within days, has steady deposits to support a set daily or weekly payment and has a clear use for the funds, because the decision rests mainly on bank statements rather than collateral or a high credit score; asking for the amount the need costs and comparing several offers side by side keeps the cost and the payment where you want them.
