Guide

The POS or the office system went down for good. What funds a replacement this week?

POS terminals, a server, a network refit and the computers that run the shop are assets and finance as equipment over two to five years, often with the vendor paid directly inside a few days. The IT contractor's recovery hours, the data restore, and the days of taking cash only are working capital, funded in one to three business days on your deposits. If the cause was ransomware, do not pay from an advance before you have talked to your insurer and a professional.

What actually stops when the system does

A restaurant with a dead POS takes cash and hand-written tickets and loses card sales, its inventory counts and its tips reporting for as long as it lasts. A shop with a dead server loses its scheduling, its invoicing and, if the backups were on the same machine, its history. The hardware is a few thousand dollars. The days without it are the expensive part, and the first call is whoever can get a temporary terminal or a laptop running today — most POS vendors will overnight a replacement to an existing account.

Application to funded

01Hour 0YOU APPLYAbout 2 minutes.No hard credit pull.0224 hoursOFFERS COME BACKFrom the funders thatwrite your industry.0372 hoursFUNDS CLEAROnce you acceptand sign.
Drawn to elapsed time rather than as three evenly spaced steps, because the gaps are the point. Decisions usually land inside 24 hours and funding in as little as 72 hours — timings depend on the funder and on how quickly statements arrive.

The hardware and the software: equipment

Terminals, tablets and stands, a receipt printer and cash drawer, a back-office server, the network switch and access points, the workstations: these are assets with serial numbers, and equipment lenders finance them over two to five years with the vendor paid directly. Many POS vendors run their own financing or a subscription that bundles the hardware, and that is often the fastest route to a working counter — read the contract for the term and the early-exit terms before signing on a bad day.

A newer business or a thin file is asked for a down payment. The amounts are small enough that this is rarely a hard approval.

The recovery: working capital

The IT contractor's hours to rebuild, the data recovery service if the backups failed, the staff hours re-entering a week of tickets, and the sales lost while the counter was cash-only are not assets. A working capital loan or a cash advance on your last three to six months of deposits covers them, decided in about a day and funded in one to three business days. Borrow the invoices, not a round number, and ask for weekly payments.

If it was ransomware

A locked system with a ransom note is an insurance event and possibly a legal one before it is a financing one. Cyber coverage, if you have it, usually requires notice within days and has a panel of responders; paying the ransom from an advance without talking to them can void the coverage and does not reliably get the data back. Call the insurer, then a professional, and then decide. The funding above covers the rebuild either way.

Sources

Related questions.

Can I finance a POS system with under a year in business?
Usually. The hardware secures it and the amounts are small. Vendor subscription plans often need only a business bank account and a personal guarantee.
Is a POS subscription cheaper than financing the hardware?
Over a year, sometimes. Over five, the subscription usually costs more and you own nothing at the end. If you expect to run the same system for years, price both in total dollars.
Will a funder see the cash-only days in my statements?
As a dip in card settlements. Attach the vendor's failure ticket or the IT invoice and the dip has a date and a reason. Unexplained dips are what get priced.

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