Merchant Cash Advance Calculator: What Would Funding Really Cost You Per Day?
Enter your monthly card sales and the amount you need to see an estimated funding range, the daily holdback taken from your card deposits, and roughly how long payback would take. Built for restaurants and bars, and it works for any card-accepting business.
Your estimate
Estimates are based on published industry averages and are not a quote. Actual rates depend on card mix, ticket size, industry, and underwriting.
A payments specialist can walk through your funding options and what an actual application would look at. This estimate is not an offer of credit or an approval decision.
How this works
A merchant cash advance is not priced like a loan. Instead of an interest rate, it uses a factor rate: if you receive $60,000 at a 1.30 factor, you repay $78,000 no matter how fast or slow that happens. Repayment usually comes from a holdback, a fixed percentage of your daily card sales withheld before deposits reach your bank. On a busy Saturday the holdback is bigger; on a slow Tuesday it is smaller. This calculator turns those two numbers into what owners actually feel: dollars per day and months until you are paid off.
The funding range is estimated as a multiple of your average monthly card sales, adjusted for time in business. These multiples are illustrative assumptions, not underwriting rules, so treat the range as a starting point for a conversation rather than an offer. Daily holdback is your monthly card sales divided by your open days, multiplied by the holdback percentage. Payback time is total repayment divided by that daily amount.
The most important number is often the one owners never see: the cost expressed as an approximate APR. Because a factor rate cost is fixed but payback can happen in under a year, the equivalent annual rate can be far higher than the factor rate suggests. The full report converts your payback into an approximate APR, lays out the month-by-month schedule, and compares it with a term loan over the same period so you can decide whether the speed and flexibility of an advance is worth the price for your situation.
Worked example
A restaurant with $80,000 in monthly card sales, open 7 days a week (about 30.33 open days a month) and 36 months in business, asks for $60,000 at a 10% holdback and a 1.30 factor. Daily card sales are about $2,637, the estimated range is $80,000 to $120,000, and the daily holdback is about $264. Total payback is $78,000, a cost of $18,000, repaid over about 296 open days, or 9.8 months, at about $8,000 a month. A term loan at an illustrative 12% APR over 10 months would be about $6,335 a month with about $3,351 in total interest, roughly $14,649 less than the advance.
Estimates are based on published industry averages and are not a quote. Actual rates depend on card mix, ticket size, industry, and underwriting.
Assumptions used in this estimate
- Open days per month: days_open_per_week x 52 / 12. Calendar math (52 weeks / 12 months).
- Funding range multiple, 6 to 11 months in business: 0.50x to 1.00x average monthly card volume. Illustrative assumption for this tool, not TouchSuite underwriting criteria.
- Funding range multiple, 12 to 23 months in business: 0.75x to 1.25x average monthly card volume. Illustrative assumption for this tool, not TouchSuite underwriting criteria.
- Funding range multiple, 24+ months in business: 1.00x to 1.50x average monthly card volume. Illustrative assumption for this tool, not TouchSuite underwriting criteria.
- Minimum time in business to show a range: 6 months. Illustrative assumption; range is withheld below this, not a statement of approval or denial.
- High-risk range adjustment: 0.75x applied to low and high range. Illustrative assumption for this tool.
- Default factor rate: 1.30 (user can choose 1.15 to 1.50). Illustrative assumption; replace with the factor rate on an actual offer.
- Default holdback percentage: 10% (user adjustable 1% to 30%). Illustrative assumption; replace with the holdback on an actual offer.
- Representative term loan APR: 12% (user adjustable). Illustrative assumption for comparison only, not a quote from any lender.
- Term loan length for comparison: Equal to estimated advance payback, rounded up to whole months. Tool design choice so both options are compared over the same horizon.
- Sales pattern: Flat monthly card sales at the entered average; slow-sales scenario uses 20% lower sales. Simplifying assumption; 20% is an illustrative stress level, not a forecast.
- Fees not modeled: Origination, underwriting, or other deductions from funding are excluded. Simplifying assumption; any such fees would raise the true cost.
Frequently asked questions
How much can I get based on my credit card sales?
Funders typically size an advance as a multiple of average monthly card volume, adjusted for time in business, sales consistency, and industry. This tool uses illustrative multiples (from 0.5x to 1.5x monthly card sales) to give you a ballpark. Actual amounts depend entirely on the funder's underwriting.
What is a factor rate and how is it different from an interest rate?
A factor rate is a multiplier on the amount funded. A 1.30 factor on $60,000 means you repay $78,000 in total. Unlike an interest rate, the dollar cost does not shrink if you pay faster unless the contract offers an early payoff discount, so a short payback can mean a very high APR equivalent.
How is the daily holdback calculated?
It is your holdback percentage times your daily card sales. With $80,000 in monthly card sales, open 7 days, and a 10% holdback, that is about $2,637 in daily sales and about $264 withheld per day. Some offers use a fixed daily ACH debit instead of a percentage, which does not drop on slow days, so ask which one you are being offered.
Why does the APR look so much higher than the factor rate?
The factor rate cost is spread over the actual payback period, which is often less than a year. Paying $18,000 to use $60,000 that you repay steadily over about ten months works out to a much higher annualized rate than 30%. The gated report shows the approximate APR for your numbers.
Does this estimate mean I will be approved?
No. This tool does not check credit or make any approval decision, and the ranges are illustrative assumptions. A payments specialist can walk you through what an actual application would look at.
Do I have to switch processors to get merchant funding?
It depends on the funder and the structure. Some advances are repaid through your processor's settlement and may require processing with a specific partner; others debit your bank account. Ask any funder this question directly before you sign.