acalculator

What does an MCA really cost?

Enter a merchant cash advance offer. The MCA calculator gives the payback amount, the dollar cost, how many payments it takes, and the cost as an estimated APR.

Your numbers

Payments
Payment set by
Estimated APR
62.58%

Paying back $67,500.00 on $50,000.00 costs $18,500.00, an estimated APR of 62.58%.

Amount you receive $49,000.00Total cost of financing $18,500.00
73% amount you receive27% total cost of financing
Payback amount
$67,500.00
Total cost of financing
$18,500.00
Amount you receive
$49,000.00
Payment
$240.00
Number of payments
282
Last payment
$60.00
Estimated term in days
396
Cost per dollar received
$0.3776

Estimated APR: 62.58%. Paying back $67,500.00 on $50,000.00 costs $18,500.00, an estimated APR of 62.58%.

How it splits

The results are estimates for information only. They are not financial, tax, or legal advice. Check the numbers with your lender or a qualified professional before you decide. Terms of use

How to calculate

Computes the payback amount, the dollar cost, the number of payments, the term and an estimated APR of a merchant cash advance from the advance, the factor rate, the fee and the daily, business-day or weekly remittance.

Example with the default inputs (Advance amount $50,000.00, Factor rate 1.35, Fees taken from the advance (optional) $1,000.00, Payments Business days, Payment set by Holdback of sales, Holdback 10%, Sales per month $52,000.00): Paying back $67,500.00 on $50,000.00 costs $18,500.00, an estimated APR of 62.58%.

Method: payback = advance × factor rate; payment = fixed amount, or monthly sales × holdback × 12 ÷ payments a year; payments = ⌈payback ÷ payment⌉; APR = r × payments a year, where r makes the present value of the payments equal the amount received.

  • The payback amount and a holdback payment are rounded half up to the cent; every other step is exact until the display.
  • Payments are equal and start one payment period after funding; the last payment is whatever is left.
  • Business days are taken as 260 equal periods a year (5 a week), every day as 365, and weekly as 52.
  • Sales are steady, so a holdback payment stays the same; real remittances rise and fall with sales, which changes the term and the APR.
  • Fees deducted from the advance are part of the cost, as in the California finance charge rule (10 CCR § 943).

Machine-readable copies: Markdown, JSON.

Worked examples

Each example is checked against the calculator on every build.

  1. Advance amount $50,000.00, Factor rate 1.35, Fees taken from the advance (optional) $1,000.00, Payments Business days, Payment set by Holdback of sales, Holdback 10%, Sales per month $52,000.00 gives Payback amount $67,500.00, Total cost of financing $18,500.00, Amount you receive $49,000.00, Payment $240.00, Number of payments 282, Last payment $60.00, Estimated term in days 396, Estimated APR 62.582862%, Cost per dollar received $0.38.Source: California Code of Regulations, Title 10, § 940, Calculation of Annual Percentage Rate (actuarial method of Appendix J, 12 CFR Part 1026), https://www.law.cornell.edu/regulations/california/10-CCR-940, retrieved 2026-10-01
  2. Advance amount $20,000.00, Factor rate 1.2, Payments Weekly, Payment set by Fixed amount, Payment amount $1,000.00 gives Payback amount $24,000.00, Total cost of financing $4,000.00, Number of payments 24, Last payment $1,000.00, Estimated term in days 169, Estimated APR 78.680388%.Source: California Code of Regulations, Title 10, § 914, Sales-Based Financing Disclosure (finance charge, estimated total payment amount, estimated term), https://www.law.cornell.edu/regulations/california/10-CCR-914, retrieved 2026-10-01; Regulation Z, Appendix J, 12 CFR Part 1026 (https://www.consumerfinance.gov/rules-policy/regulations/1026/j/)
  3. Advance amount $10,000.00, Factor rate 1, Payments Every day, Payment set by Fixed amount, Payment amount $300.00 gives Estimated APR 0%, Total cost of financing $0.00, Number of payments 34, Last payment $100.00.Source: Regulation Z, Appendix J, 12 CFR Part 1026 (https://www.consumerfinance.gov/rules-policy/regulations/1026/j/): no finance charge gives a 0% rate

How it works

All amounts are in dollars. With A the advance, f the factor rate and F the fees taken from the advance (0 when left empty):

  • Payback amount P = A × f, rounded half up to the cent.
  • Amount you receive = A − F.
  • Total cost of financing = P − (A − F) = P − A + F.
  • Payment: the fixed amount you type, or, for a holdback, monthly sales × holdback % × 12 ÷ (payments a year), rounded half up to the cent. Payments a year are 260 for business days (5 a week), 365 for every day and 52 for weekly.
  • Number of payments n = P ÷ payment, rounded up to a whole number. The first n − 1 payments are the full payment; the last payment is P − (n − 1) × payment, which is more than 0 and at most one payment.
  • Estimated term in days = n × 365 ÷ (payments a year), rounded up to a whole day.
  • Cost per dollar received = total cost ÷ amount you receive, shown to 4 decimal places.

Estimated APR

The first payment is one period after you receive the money, and the payments are equal apart from the last. The rate per period r is the one that solves

amount you receive = payment × (1 − (1 + r)^−(n − 1)) ÷ r + last payment × (1 + r)^−n

and APR = r × payments a year, shown as a percent to 2 decimal places. This is the actuarial method of Regulation Z, Appendix J, which California’s commercial financing rules (10 CCR § 940) name for the APR. When the total cost is $0, the APR is 0%. Business days are treated as 260 equal periods a year, which ignores weekends and holidays, so the APR is an estimate.

Rules

  • The advance is at least $1, the factor rate from 1 to 3, a fixed payment at least $0.01, and the holdback more than 0% and at most 100%.
  • Fees as large as the advance have no answer (you would receive nothing).
  • A holdback payment that rounds to $0.00 has no answer.
  • More than 2,600 payments has no answer (10 years of business days, 7.1 years of daily payments, 50 years of weekly payments); the message gives the years for the chosen schedule.
  • When the rate per payment period would be over 1,000,000 (the cost dwarfs the amount received), there is no answer.
  • Amounts are exact decimals until the display, which rounds half up.

Worked examples by hand

$50,000 at 1.35, $1,000 fee, 10% of $52,000 monthly sales, every business day. Payback = 50,000 × 1.35 = $67,500. You receive 50,000 − 1,000 = $49,000, so the cost is 67,500 − 49,000 = $18,500, or $0.3776 per dollar. The payment is 52,000 × 0.10 × 12 ÷ 260 = $240. 67,500 ÷ 240 = 281.25, so there are 282 payments: 281 of $240 ($67,440) and a last one of $60. The term is 282 × 365 ÷ 260 = 395.9, so 396 days. Solving the present-value equation gives r = 0.24070% per business day, and APR = 0.0024070 × 260 = 62.58%.

$20,000 at 1.2, no fee, $1,000 a week. Payback = $24,000 and the cost is $4,000. 24,000 ÷ 1,000 = 24 payments, the last a full $1,000. The term is 24 × 365 ÷ 52 = 168.5, so 169 days. The estimated APR is 78.68%.

$10,000 at 1.0, no fee, $300 a day. Payback = $10,000, so the cost and the APR are 0. 10,000 ÷ 300 = 33.3, so 34 payments: 33 of $300 and a last one of $100.

Other questions people ask

How does a factor rate work?

Multiply the advance by the factor rate to get the payback amount. A $50,000 advance at a 1.35 factor rate is paid back as $67,500, so it costs $17,500 before any fees. Unlike an interest rate, the factor rate does not depend on how long repayment takes.

How do I convert a factor rate to an APR?

Find the rate per payment period that makes the payments, discounted back to the funding day, equal the amount you received, then multiply it by the number of payment periods in a year. This is the actuarial method of Regulation Z, Appendix J. The faster you repay, the higher the APR for the same factor rate.

Why is the APR of an MCA so high?

The whole fee is paid over a short time, often 6 to 12 months, and you start repaying the next business day. In the default example, $18,500 of cost on $49,000 received, repaid over about 13 months of business days, is an estimated APR of about 62.6%.

What is a holdback?

The share of your sales the funder collects, such as 10% of each day’s card sales. With steady sales of $52,000 a month and 260 business days a year, a 10% holdback is 52,000 × 10% × 12 ÷ 260 = $240 a business day.

Is a merchant cash advance a loan?

Usually not in law: it is sold as a purchase of future sales, so federal truth-in-lending rules do not apply. Some states, such as California and New York, require funders to disclose an estimated APR, the finance charge and the estimated term for this kind of sales-based financing.

Do fees change the cost?

Yes. Fees taken out of the advance mean you receive less but still pay back the full payback amount. The calculator adds them to the cost and uses the amount you actually receive for the APR, as the California finance charge rule does.

What if my sales change?

With a holdback, a slow month means smaller payments and a longer term, which lowers the APR; a busy month does the opposite. The calculator assumes steady sales, so treat its term and APR as estimates.