Guides
Guides & Articles
What we learn reading files all day, written in plain English and free of charge. Every guide answers one specific question, in the first forty words, before the detail.
One application, every lender we work with
Find out what you qualify for.
Eleven questions, about two minutes. The lenders who fund your industry and your state see it; you compare their offers and take one, or none.
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- Free, no obligation
- Up to $500K
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21 guides
If you need money this week
The deadline is already in the room. What actually moves fast, and what to do the day after a bank says no.
What is the fastest way to get working capital?
Payroll is Friday and you are short. What funding arrives that fast?
Denied by your bank. Where can you actually get $30,000 this week?
Waiting on a progress draw
The work is done and the money is real. It is just thirty days away from your account.
Biggest customer paying late
The money exists. Bridging it is cheap. Letting a customer set your payroll date is not.
Restaurant slow season
The dip is predictable. The mistake is applying during it instead of before it.
15 guides
Something broke
The truck, the walk-in, the van, the oven. What each one costs to fix from people who paid it, which product fits a repair versus a replacement, and how to keep trading while it is down.
Truck engine blew
Why the bank says no even at a 700 score, and what actually funds a rebuild.
Walk-in cooler died
Four to eight hours before product spoils. Which money can actually move inside that.
Service van broke down
A van is an asset and a repair is not. That decides which product, and how fast.
Food truck broke down
One vehicle is the whole business. Funding it is about the deposits before it stopped.
Oven, fryer or hood failed
A ten-year-old oven and a two-year-old one get different answers, and different money.
Mower or truck died mid-season
The dealer will finance the mower. The week you lose will not finance itself.
17 guides
Whether you'll qualify
Credit score, time in business, revenue — what each one really decides, and how much you can expect on the deposits you have.
Can you get business funding with a 580 credit score?
Can you get a business loan after only 8 months?
Does applying for business funding hurt your credit score?
How much can you borrow on $40,000 a month in revenue?
Before the first dollar of revenue
Who funds a business that has not opened, and why it is not us yet.
The revenue floor
Around $10,000 to $15,000 a month in deposits opens most doors. Under that, one product still does.
13 guides
What it costs
Factor rates in dollars rather than percentages, what to compare between two offers, and whether paying early saves you anything.
What factor rate should you expect on a merchant cash advance?
Can you save money by paying off a merchant cash advance early?
What does business funding actually cost, in dollars?
The APR behind a factor rate
A 1.3 factor repaid daily over four months is about 160 percent APR. Over eight months, about 80. Same fee, different speed.
The fees around the rate
An origination fee of a few percent, ACH and underwriting fees, and sometimes a broker fee. On a small advance they outweigh the factor.
The daily payment, computed
Total repayment divided by business days in the term. $65,000 over 126 days is $516 a day.
05 guides
The best options, compared
Ranked for a credit score, a trade or a deadline, by what each option costs rather than who pays us. The ones we do not place are on the list, and every list shows the date it was checked.
With bad credit
Five options a score under 600 still opens, cheapest first, including the two we do not place.
For restaurants
Six kinds of restaurant funding, cheapest first, matched to the walk-in, the slow season and the second location.
For trucking
Truck financing, quick pay, factoring and working capital: which one for the truck, the slow broker, the rebuild.
For construction
Draw gaps, retainage, materials up front and the machines: what each should be funded with.
The fastest options
Nine ways to get money, by how soon it actually lands, and the days left in 2026 when it will not move.
07 guides
If you already have an advance
Behind on the debits, two or three positions running at once, a promise of a cheaper loan later, an offer that changed, debits after payoff. What to do first, how consolidation works, what it costs, and what an SBA loan can and cannot pay off.
If you are behind on an advance
The order to do things in, what not to do, and which guide answers your exact situation.
Consolidating your positions
One new advance pays off the old ones. One debit instead of three, and the total it adds, worked through.
Reverse consolidation
The old advances stay open and a new funder covers their debits. Breathing room, at a price.
Refinancing with an SBA or bank loan
Not while the advance is still running. What SBA's October 2026 rule allows, and what a bank reads instead.
"Take the advance, we'll refinance you later"
Nothing makes the later loan happen, and the advance itself makes it harder to get.
The offer changed after statements
What underwriting legitimately changes, and the signs it was never a real offer.
07 guides
Applying without getting burned
What to have ready, what happens after you press submit, who pays the broker, and the signs you are on a page that sells your details rather than places them.
What documents do you need for a merchant cash advance?
Will applying for business funding get you flooded with calls?
Who pays the broker
The funder does. Anyone asking you for money upfront is not a broker.
After you apply
Verification, then underwriting, then offers — usually inside a day.
What must be disclosed
A dozen states now require the numbers in writing, before you sign.
What the FTC found
A $20.3m judgment, and a list of the practices that produced it.
08 guides
Merchant cash advances, explained
The product most of this audience is actually offered, and the one with the most terms worth understanding before you sign anything.
How repayment works
Fixed daily ACH or a share of card sales — and they behave very differently.
If your sales drop
Reconciliation is the clause that decides this, and it is often discretionary.
Taking a second advance
Legal, common, and the fastest route from a hard month to a closed business.
Is it actually a loan?
Structured as a purchase of receivables, which is why usury caps rarely apply.
Confessions of judgment
You waive your right to defend yourself before any dispute exists.
Advance vs loan
The loan is cheaper. The question is whether you can get one.
08 guides
Working capital, explained
Short-term money for running the business rather than expanding it — what it covers, how the terms work, and when a line of credit is the better shape.
What it covers
Running the business, not expanding it — and the distinction is priced.
Loan or line of credit
One gap or a recurring one — that is the whole decision.
How long the term runs
Three to eighteen months — and shorter is not the same as cheaper.
Daily, weekly or monthly
Same total, very different effect on the account.
How much to take
The maximum you are offered is almost never the right number.
Repaying early
Depends entirely on whether it is interest or a fixed factor.
08 guides
Equipment financing, explained
The asset secures the loan, which is why it is the cheapest money most small businesses can get — and why you should not buy machinery out of working capital.
What counts as equipment
If it has a serial number and a resale market, it can usually be financed.
Financing vs leasing
Do you want to own it at the end, and how fast does it date?
The down payment
Usually 10–20%, and often negotiable against a stronger file.
Used equipment
Yes, and age caps matter more than condition.
Credit score needed
Matters more than for an advance, less than for a bank loan.
Section 179
You can often deduct the full price while still paying monthly.
08 guides
Lines of credit, explained
You draw what you need and pay for only that. The hardest of the four to qualify for, and the one worth having before you need it.
How it works
An approved limit you draw against, repay, and draw again.
Line of credit vs card
The card is easier to get. The line gives you cash at a sane rate.
Credit score needed
Around 600 and up — the highest bar of the four products.
Interest on what you draw
Only the drawn balance — but fees can apply to the rest.
With weak credit
Hardest product to get this way — secure it or use another one.
Secured or unsecured
Collateral buys a lower rate and a bigger limit — and real risk.
26 guides
Buying, expanding, opening
A forklift, a second truck, a second location, a laser. What an underwriter wants to see first, why the asset gets the cheap money and the ramp gets the expensive money, and how to split them.
Buying a forklift
The forklift secures the loan. That is why a year in business and a 600 score is enough.
Opening a second salon
The first salon's deposits are the application. Split the buildout from the chairs.
Nail salon, mostly cash
A funder can only lend on money that reached the bank. Cash in the drawer is invisible.
Adding a laser to a med spa
The device secures the loan. Your medical director and six months of deposits carry the rest.
Financing gym equipment
The bank declined the category. An equipment lender is underwriting the racks.
Q4 inventory, ordered in October
Inventory is not collateral a lender can value. Your payout history is.
05 guides
Difficult situations
Tax liens, UCC filings, a personal guarantee, a default behind you. None of these are automatically fatal, and most are handled badly by people who do not ask about them first.
UCC filings
A public notice that a funder has a claim on your assets.
Personal guarantees
Nearly always — and it is the term that outlives the business.
With a tax lien
Yes, if there is a payment plan and the lien is disclosed.
After a default
Harder, not impossible — settled beats outstanding, every time.
Sole proprietors
Yes — but the business bank account is close to non-negotiable.
16 guides
Why banks decline, by industry
The reason a bank turns you down is usually specific to your trade — and it is often the same reason a revenue-based funder says yes.
Start here — any industry
The five reasons that recur whatever the trade, the alternative each one points to, and what to do the week after a no.
Construction
Revenue arrives in lumps tied to progress draws.
Restaurants & food service
Declined on the category before the numbers are read.
Retail
Cash tied up in stock reads as poor liquidity.
Healthcare & medical practices
Approval is not the problem — reimbursement lag is.
Trucking & transportation
One or two assets, thin equity, volatile fuel.
One application, every lender we work with
Find out what you qualify for before you need it.
Eleven questions, about two minutes. You see offers side by side and take one, or none.
- Won't affect your credit
- Free, no obligation
- Decisions usually inside 24 hours
- Up to $500K