This calculator from Fairleaf Commercial Capital, a small-business funding broker in Spartanburg, SC, takes the amount, factor rate and holdback from a merchant cash advance offer, plus your average daily card sales, and estimates the total collected, the dollar cost and the business days to remit. It does not compute an APR. A merchant cash advance is not a loan.
What the four calculator inputs mean
- Advance amount: the cash the funder pays you up front.
- Factor rate: the multiplier in the offer; the advance times the factor rate is the total the funder will collect.
- Holdback percentage: the share of each day's card receipts the funder takes.
- Average daily card sales: your typical card receipts per business day, taken from processing statements.
The calculator returns three numbers: the total to be collected, the cost (that total minus the advance) and an estimate of business days, found by dividing the total by your daily sales times the holdback. It works on daily figures only.
Why the query says loan and this page does not
Many owners search for this tool as a loan calculator, but a merchant cash advance is not a loan. The funder buys a share of your future receipts, so there is no interest rate and no fixed term. The estimated days are an estimate: if sales fall, collection takes longer, and if they rise, it ends sooner.
Reading the result
Look first at the cost in dollars, not the factor rate. Then look at the days: a short collection period with a fixed cost means the effective price is steep, even if the factor rate looks modest. To compare with a loan, set the total collected beside the total of all loan payments for the same cash received; the calculator does not convert an advance into an APR, and that comparison is done by hand.
If the offer uses a fixed daily debit instead of a holdback percentage, divide the total collected by the daily debit yourself to get the number of business days.
Restaurants and shops in Spartanburg County, SC
Card-heavy businesses see the most advance offers. Spartanburg County had 548 restaurants with paid staff in 2023 and 1,112 retail employer establishments (U.S. Census Bureau, County Business Patterns 2023). The restaurant financing page sets advances beside equipment financing and credit lines, and the merchant cash advance page explains holdback, reconciliation and stacking.
Some vendors also offer advances to cover the installation and delivery costs that equipment financing leaves out. The post on equipment soft costs explains those costs; if an advance is offered for them, run it here first. Fairleaf's other guides sit on the resources hub.
By Fairleaf Commercial Capital ยท Updated