Merchant Cash Advance Calculator

Use this calculator to understand how much you will repay on a merchant cash advance. Enter your advance amount, factor rate, and term to estimate your total repayment and periodic payment amounts.

What is a merchant cash advance?

A merchant cash advance (MCA) is not a loan. It is an advance based on future credit or debit card sales. You receive a lump sum upfront and repay it through a portion of your daily or weekly sales, or through fixed payments.

MCA agreements usually come with a factor rate instead of an interest rate. This means you repay more than you borrowed — often significantly more.

Key terms to know

Advance Amount: The total amount of funding you receive from the provider.

Factor rate A decimal number (like 1.3 or 1.4) is used to calculate your total repayment.

For Example:

$20,000 advance × 1.4 = $28,000 total repayment

Holdback percentage A portion of your daily sales the provider takes (e.g., 10%) if you're repaying based on revenue.

Repayment term How long it typically takes to repay the advance, in months or weeks.

How this MCA calculator helps

Merchant cash advances can be confusing. The repayment is not based on interest rates or amortized like a traditional loan. This calculator helps you:

• Estimate your total repayment
• See how much your daily or weekly payment might be
• Understand your real cost of borrowing
• View a full Amortization schedule

Example: Fixed repayment

Let's say you receive a $50,000 advance with a factor rate of 1.3, and a 6-month repayment term.

• Total repayment = $50,000 × 1.3 = $65,000
• If you repay daily (around 126 business days in 6 months), your daily payment would be around $516

Example: Holdback-based repayment

If your provider takes 10% of your daily credit card sales:

• Daily sales average = $4,000
• 10% holdback = $400/day toward repayment
• It would take about 162 days to repay $65,000 at this rate (not fixed, depends on your sales)