Merchant cash advance

History

The merchant cash advance was originally structured as a lump sum payment to a business in exchange for an agreed-upon percentage of future credit card and/or debit card sales.

Concept

Merchant cash advance companies provide funds to businesses in exchange for a percentage of the businesses' daily credit card income, directly from the processor that clears and settles the credit card payment. A company's remittances are drawn from customers' debit and credit-card purchases on a daily basis until the obligation has been met. Most providers form partnerships with payment processors and then take a fixed or variable percentage of a merchant's future credit card sales.

These merchant cash advances are not loans – rather, they are a sale of a portion of future credit and/or debit card sales. Therefore, merchant cash advance transactions are not subject to state usury laws that limit lenders from charging high-interest rates. Critics argue that, as a consequence, they operate in a largely unregulated market and charge much higher rates than banks. On 10 June 2016, a New York Supreme Court judge presiding over a published merchant cash advance case ruled that "if the transaction is not a loan, there can be no usury," adding also that asking the court to convert an agreement to sell future receivables into a loan agreement "would require unwarranted speculation."

This structure may have some advantages over the structure of a conventional loan. Payments to the merchant cash advance company fluctuate directly with the merchant's sales volumes, giving the merchant greater flexibility with which to manage their cash flow, particularly during a slow season. Advances are processed quicker than a typical loan, giving borrowers quicker access to capital. Also, because MCA providers typically give more weight to the underlying performance of a business than the owner's personal credit scores, merchant cash advances offer an alternative to businesses who may not qualify for a conventional loan. An example transaction is as follows: A business sells $25,000 of a portion of its future credit card sales for an immediate $20,000 lump sum payment from a finance company. The finance company then collects its portion (generally 15-35%) from every credit card and/or debit card sale until the entire $25,000 is collected.

Usage

As of 2009, merchant cash advances are most often used by retail businesses that do not qualify for regular bank loans and are generally more expensive than bank loans.

Small businesses take out loans and cash advances when they believe that the opportunities offered by expanded financial assets will outweigh the costs. Small businesses that don't have the cash on hand to fund an expansion by themselves could rely on external funding, such as a merchant cash advance.

References

References

1. "How a merchant cash advance works {{!}} Stripe".
2. Tozzi, John. (9 January 2009). "How Merchant Cash Advances Work". [[BusinessWeek]].
3. Loten, Angus. (18 August 2011). "The Lure of Cash Advances". [[Wall Street Journal]].
4. Farrell, Maureen. (31 January 2008). "Look Who's Making Coin Off The Credit Crisis". [[Forbes.com]].
5. Elizabeth S. Bennett and Nitasha Tiku. "Thanks, But No Thanks". [[Inc. Magazine.
6. Murray, Sean. (11 June 2016). "Merchant Cash Advance Definitely NOT a Loan, New York Judge Rules". deBanked.com.
7. Goodman, Michelle. (11 June 2012). "Case Study: How A Merchant Cash Advance Worked in a Pinch". [[Entrepreneur.com]].
8. John Tozzi. (9 January 2009). "How Merchant Cash Advances Work". [[Bloomberg L.P..
9. "Business finance and loans {{!}} Small Business Development Corporation".