Mca Calculator
Give this calculator four numbers: the advance amount, the factor rate, the payback period and the payment frequency, and it returns the total payback amount, the cost of capital, the per-payment amount, the number of payments and an effective APR figure. It is a term-based calculator: it prices the offer on the contract’s stated payback months, where rival MCA tools start from your monthly card sales and a holdback percentage. Enter the worked example below and every figure on the page reproduces exactly.
Effective APR here is the simple annualized cost of the factor rate: (factor rate − 1) ÷ years × 100. It does not model upfront origination or underwriting fees, which the tool does not ask for. Read the section below before comparing it with a bank APR.
Quick Answer
A $50,000 merchant cash advance at a 1.30 factor rate, repaid over 12 months of daily debits, requires $65,000 in total repayment: $15,000 of cost on top of the advance, 260 payments of $250.00 each, and an effective APR of 30.00%. That APR is the simple annualized cost of the factor rate, not a bank-style APR, so read the pricing sections below before you sign anything.
- A factor rate is a fixed multiplier, not an interest rate: 1.30 on $50,000 always costs $15,000, whether you repay in 3 months or 12.
- Payment frequency changes the size of each debit, never the total repaid: daily, weekly and monthly plans for the same offer all collect $65,000.
- The shorter the payback term, the higher the effective annual cost, which is why 1.30 over 6 months prices like a 60% rate.
- This tool prices the contract term you type in; holdback-based calculators price your actual sales, so compare both views before borrowing.
- Quick Answer
- How to use the MCA calculator
- The MCA formula, and how each output is built
- Worked example: $50,000 at 1.30 over 12 months, checked three ways
- What the "effective APR" number actually means, and what it hides
- Factor rate vs true cost: what $50,000 costs at each factor
- Term-based vs holdback-based calculators: which view do you need?
- What competing calculators miss
- Frequently asked questions
- Add This Calculator to Your Website
How to use the MCA calculator
Fill in the four inputs and click Calculate. The advance amount is the lump sum the provider deposits today, before fees. The factor rate is the multiplier written in the offer: 1.30 means you repay $1.30 for every dollar advanced. The payback period is the contract's stated term in months, and the payment frequency tells the tool how to split the total into daily (260 business days a year), weekly (52) or monthly (12) debits. Reset restores the worked-example values. The validation is strict: leave any of the three number fields blank, type a non-number, or enter zero, and the tool shows "Please fill in all fields" instead of guessing.
The MCA formula, and how each output is built
The whole calculation runs on five lines of arithmetic. The cost of capital is the difference between what you repay and what you received; the per-payment amount is that total divided by the number of debits.
Worked example: $50,000 at 1.30 over 12 months, checked three ways
Advance $50,000, factor rate 1.30, 12-month term, daily debits. Step 1: $50,000 × 1.30 = $65,000.00 total payback. Step 2: $65,000 − $50,000 = $15,000.00 cost. Step 3: 12 months is one year, so 1 × 260 = 260 payments. Step 4: $65,000 ÷ 260 = $250.00 per day. Step 5: 0.30 ÷ 1 × 100 = 30.00% effective APR. Now switch the frequency to weekly: the tool shows 52 payments of $1,250.00, and monthly: 12 payments of $5,416.67. The total payback stays $65,000.00 in all three cases, which is the honest mechanic most marketing hides: frequency reshapes the debit, not the debt.
What the "effective APR" number actually means, and what it hides
The tool's effective APR is the simple annualized cost of the factor rate: the flat premium divided by the term in years. This matches how effective interest rate explainers annualize factor pricing, and it is the same family of method that industry guides use when they divide 365 by the days in the term and multiply by the cost percentage. What it is not: a time-weighted APR like a bank loan's. Because MCA payments come out daily, the true economic cost of the same dollars is higher than the simple figure, which is why a 1.20 factor over six months can behave like a ~75% rate once timing is accounted for. Use the tool's figure to compare MCA offers against each other, not to compare an MCA with a term loan. For loan-to-loan comparison, ask the provider for their stated APR or run the payments through a proper amortization tool.
Factor rate vs true cost: what $50,000 costs at each factor
Every row is a 12-month daily-debit run on a $50,000 advance, computed live by the tool's own math:
The cost share of each deal tells the story at a glance: at 1.30, the $15,000 cost is 23.1% of the $65,000 total repaid.
Halve the term to 6 months at the same 1.30 factor and the tool shows the identical $15,000 cost but a 60.00% effective APR, because the same premium is paid over half the time. This is the trap in factor pricing: the factor sounds fixed, but the true annual cost doubles when the term halves.
Term-based vs holdback-based calculators: which view do you need?
This calculator prices the contract term. Holdback-based rivals ask for your monthly card sales and the provider's holdback percentage instead, then derive the term from your revenue. Neither is wrong; they answer different questions.
- Inputs: advance, factor rate, term in months, debit frequency
- Best for: comparing written offers side by side
- Strength: instant, exact, no revenue guesswork
- Limit: assumes the term in the contract holds; slower sales can stretch it
- Inputs: advance, factor rate, holdback %, monthly card sales
- Best for: estimating when you actually finish paying
- Strength: ties the term to your revenue, like the real contract
- Limit: the answer is only as good as your sales estimate
A serious borrower runs both: this tool to price the offer, a holdback tool to sanity-check the term. If your card sales are $100,000 a month and the holdback is 15%, the $65,000 owed clears in about 130 days at $500 a day, which is where holdback tools shine and where the FTC's own enforcement record says misleading term claims get providers into trouble.
What competing calculators miss
Term-based rivals show the same five numbers and stop. Holdback-based rivals demand your sales figures and still price the factor as if fees do not exist. The gaps worth knowing: origination and underwriting fees are withheld from the funded amount or built into the payback on real contracts, but no mainstream MCA calculator, including this one, takes a fee input, so every published figure understates the true cost. Reconciliation clauses, which should lower daily debits when sales fall, appear in marketing copy but are absent from calculators entirely. And the "effective APR" label means three different things across rival tools, from simple annualization to timing-based estimates. This page keeps one disclosed definition, prices three payment frequencies in one run, and tells you plainly where the model ends. If the provider charges fees, add them to the cost of capital yourself before comparing offers. When the offer competes with a conventional option, price that option on our business improvement loan calculator and compare monthly outflows, not headline rates.
Frequently asked questions
A factor rate is the fixed multiplier the provider applies to your advance. A factor rate of 1.30 on a $50,000 advance means you repay $65,000 in total, a flat $15,000 cost. It is not an interest rate: interest accrues over time, while a factor rate's cost is identical whether you repay in three months or twelve.
Multiply the advance amount by the factor rate. $50,000 × 1.30 = $65,000.00. Subtract the advance from that total to get the cost of capital: $65,000 − $50,000 = $15,000.00. The calculator shows both figures plus the per-payment amount and payment count for daily, weekly or monthly debits.
No. Daily, weekly and monthly plans for the same offer all collect the same total: $65,000.00 on the worked example. Frequency only changes the size of each debit (260 payments of $250.00 daily, 52 of $1,250.00 weekly, 12 of $5,416.67 monthly) and how the withdrawals hit your cash flow.
It is the simple annualized cost of the factor rate: (factor rate − 1) ÷ years × 100. For the worked example that is (1.30 − 1) ÷ 1 × 100 = 30.00%. It is designed for comparing MCA offers against each other, not for comparing an MCA with a bank loan, because it does not account for daily payment timing or upfront fees.
No. The tool does not ask for fees, so every figure it shows understates the true cost by the fees in your contract. Providers often withhold origination or processing charges from the funded amount, which has been a central issue in FTC enforcement actions against MCA firms. Add your contract's fees to the cost of capital manually before comparing offers.
MCA providers debit on business days, not calendar days: 5 days a week × 52 weeks = 260 debits a year. A 12-month term therefore means 260 payments, a 6-month term 130. Weekly plans use 52 debits a year and monthly plans use 12.
It is faster and easier to qualify for, but far more expensive per dollar borrowed. Federal Reserve survey data shows small businesses keep turning to online lenders for speed while reporting higher-than-expected borrowing costs, with 60% of online borrowers saying costs came in above expectations. If you can wait for underwriting, an SBA loan prices the same $50,000 dramatically cheaper; use the calculator's effective APR to see the gap in plain numbers before you choose speed.
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References
- Federal Trade Commission. FTC Action Results in Ban for Richmond Capital and Owner From Merchant Cash Advance and Debt Collection Industries (archived copy; ftc.gov restructured the original URL). Accessed October 23, 2026.
- Federal Trade Commission. Merchant Cash Advance Providers Banned from Industry, Ordered to Redress Small Businesses (archived copy; ftc.gov restructured the original URL). Accessed October 23, 2026.
- Federal Trade Commission. Cash Advance Firm to Pay $9.8M to Settle FTC Complaint It Overcharged Small Businesses (archived copy; ftc.gov restructured the original URL). Accessed October 23, 2026.
- Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. Small Firm Borrowing in Seventh District States: Results from the 2024 Small Business Credit Survey. Accessed October 23, 2026.
- Federal Reserve Banks. Key Insights from the 2024 Small Business Credit Survey. Accessed October 23, 2026.
- deBanked. The FTC Wants To Police Small Business Finance. Accessed October 23, 2026.
- U.S. Small Business Administration. Access Affordable 7(a), 504, and Microloans. Accessed October 23, 2026.
- Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Small Business Lending Rulemaking (Section 1071). Accessed October 23, 2026.
- Internal Revenue Service. Deducting Business Expenses. Accessed October 23, 2026.
- Venable LLP. FTC Staff Perspectives on Small Business Financing Enforcement Dangers. Accessed October 23, 2026.