Financing guide

The business financing guide: the tasks, with the numbers.

Each guide finishes one job an owner actually has: preparing statements, sizing a request, comparing two offers or testing a payment against a slow month.

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Your first business financing

Updated October 13, 2026 · Merchant Fund Express

First Business Loan: How an operating business with no borrowing history should prepare its first request.

Requirements by Product: Documents, credit, time in business and collateral for each product, side by side.

Document Pack: A printable checklist of every document by product.

Time in Business: A 3/6/12/24/36-month matrix tied to the published tiers.

Funding by Monthly Revenue: How $10K, $20K, $50K and $100K a month read against the tiers.

Credit Score vs Cash Flow: How personal credit, business credit and cash flow are each weighed.

$1M+ Funding: What a $1M+ request takes and how to check the math first.

Bank statements and documents

Bank Statements: An annotated statement, the PDF checklist and month-to-date exports.

Deposits That Count as Revenue: Which deposits a funder counts as revenue and which it backs out.

Processor Statements: Reconciling card sales to the deposits a funder reads.

Business Debt Schedule: A template for listing what the business owes, with coverage math.

Funding Timeline: Every stage between applying and money in your account.

Costs, offers and repayment

Offer Comparison Calculator: Net cash, cost per dollar and a dated schedule for up to three offers.

Payment Burden Calculator: A dated 13-week cash test for a new payment, with a slow stretch built in.

Amount and Repayment Examples: Four amounts repaid two ways, with the arithmetic shown.

Fixed vs Variable Rate: Fixed versus variable rates, and how fixed-payback advances compare.

Down Payments: Which products ask for money down and how it changes the cost.

MCA Regulations by State: Which states require MCA disclosures or registration, and how to read them.

Comparing products

Term Loan vs RBF: Loan or receivables purchase, compared contract term by contract term.

SBA Loans vs Revenue-Based Funding: SBA 7(a), 504 and Express compared with revenue-based funding.

Microloans vs RBF: When a microloan beats revenue-based funding, and when it cannot.

Accounts Receivable Financing: AR financing versus factoring: who collects, what it costs, which fits.

Trade Credit: How to use supplier terms and when outside funding beats them.

Peer-to-Peer Loans: How peer-to-peer business lending compares with bank-statement funding.

Debt Financing Explained: How business debt works, compared with equity and revenue-based funding.

Off-Balance-Sheet Financing: What off-balance-sheet means for a small business and how funders see it.

Delayed Draw Term Loans: Staged draws on a committed term loan, with a dated example.

Cross-Collateral Loans: How one pledged asset can secure several debts.

Stated Income Business Loans: Why bank statements replaced stated income in business funding.

No Money Down: Which funding needs no down payment, and what it still costs.

SoFi Alternatives: A dated, fair comparison with SoFi small business loans.

Industry cash-flow scenarios

Restaurant Weekly Cash Flow: A dated four-week restaurant schedule and an honest payment screen.

Repair or Replace Equipment: Repair versus replace math and the right product for each answer.

Materials Before the Job: A commercial job mapped by date, with a stress test before borrowing.

Net-60 Invoice Gap: Factoring versus working capital on a real net-60 billing.

Fleet Repair Funding: A regional fleet repair screened against downtime and existing debt.

Factored Trucking Revenue: How a factored carrier’s revenue is read, and what the factor’s lien means.

Salon Second Location: Budget a second salon with a dated ramp-up schedule.

Reimbursement Gap: Model the gap between billing and insurance payment.

Inventory Reorder: Size an inventory reorder against payout timing.

Purchase Order Funding: Fund a large wholesale order without guessing the timing.

Seasonal Inventory: Fund holiday stock with a downside case built in.

Payroll Before Clients Pay: Model payroll against client payment terms.

Hotel Funding: How hotel and motel revenue is read for funding.

Pharmacy Funding: Funding the gap between dispensing and reimbursement.

Farm Funding: What is and is not fundable for farms and ag businesses.

Heavy Equipment: How heavy equipment financing is sized and structured.

Credit, contracts and taxes

Business Credit Scores: Paydex, Intelliscore and SBSS ranges and how much they matter.

Dispute Business Credit: A dispute workflow for business credit report errors.

Promissory Notes: What a business promissory note contains and how it reads on a funding file.

Debt Covenants: The rules inside a business loan and how they limit new funding.

Owner Financing: How a seller note works and how to keep cash after closing.

Are Loans Taxable Income?: Why borrowed money is generally not income, and the exceptions.

Interest Deduction: When business loan interest is generally deductible.

Criminal Record: What funders check when an owner has a criminal record.

Startup Funding With No Revenue: Honest options for a startup with no revenue yet, and when to come back.

Qualification situations

Ownership Change: How a funder reads a continuing business after its ownership split changes.

After an Acquisition: How a funder reads a business you just bought, and how to time the first request.

Fast Revenue Growth: How funders read fast revenue growth and how to size a request to revenue that lasts.

Address Change: Which records must match after a business moves, and how to time the application.

Part-Time Owners: Why hours do not matter, what does, and where part-time businesses get tight.

Tax Extension: How a filed tax extension affects a funding request and what to send instead.

Customer Concentration: How a funder reads one dominant customer and what makes the file work.

After a Lost Contract: How to re-size a funding request after losing a major contract.

After a Paid-Off Loan: How a completed payoff helps your next request, and renewal vs new funding.

Funding Red Flags: Warning signs of a bad funding offer or scam, plus questions to ask any funder.

Industry decisions

Alignment Machine Financing: Per-job alignment math and a dated financing comparison for repair shops.

HVAC Pre-Season Financing: A dated pre-season draw-and-repay plan for HVAC units and techs.

Roofing Claim Delays: A dated commercial claim-delay gap and two ways to bridge it.

Dental Operatory Payback: Operatory cost, hygiene production and a dated payback table.

Med Spa Device and Launch: Device and launch funding for a med spa, with a dated booking ramp.

Bakery Wholesale Orders: The net-30 gap on a bakery wholesale account, dated and priced.

Catering Before an Event: Deposits versus costs before a big booked catering event, dated.

Kitchen Rebuild Funding: Phased versus full kitchen rebuild, closure cost and a dated insurance-gap schedule.

Hotel Off-Season Capital: Map hotel off-season months by occupancy and size working capital to the trough.

Materials Before the PO Pays: Count cash cycle days on a manufacturing order and size the materials gap.

Courier Fleet Repairs: Price van downtime per day and fund courier fleet repairs on weekly deposits.

Childcare Expansion Funding: Cost a childcare buildout, staff ratios and enrollment ramp, then size funding.

What the money is for

Repair vs Replace Equipment: A three-year repair vs replace cost sheet for any business equipment.

Emergency Refrigeration Funding: First 72 hours of a refrigeration failure: rental vs repair vs replace, and fast funding.

Vehicle Down Payment Funding: Break-even math for funding a work vehicle down payment and upfit.

Permit-Required Upgrade Financing: Timeline and cost math for code-required upgrades with a deadline.

Financing to Complete a Project: Margin and timing math for funding the finish of a profitable job.

Business Relocation Funding: Overlap rent vs downtime math for funding a business move.

Franchise Transfer Financing: How ownership date affects funding a required remodel after a franchise transfer.

Replace a Canceled Credit Line: What to do first when a bank freezes your line, with a cost comparison.

Reopening Funding After a Shutdown: Week-by-week ramp math for funding a reopening after a temporary closure.

Payments, payoffs and paperwork

Reading a Payment Schedule: Reading a daily, weekly or monthly schedule, counting business days and finding the real last payment.

Automatic Debit Questions: The questions to settle before authorizing automatic ACH debits.

Failed Payment: What happens after a failed or NSF payment and what to do the same day.

Payment Holiday Cost: How a pause changes the end date and total cost on fixed-total and interest-bearing products.

Balloon Payments: How a balloon payment works, a dated schedule, and the refinancing risk at the end.

Renewal Net Cash: How to compute a renewal’s net cash and the true cost of the new money.

Payoff Letter: The lines a payoff letter must show, with dated examples for an advance and a loan.

UCC Termination Request: How to request a UCC-3 termination after payoff and confirm it on the state record.

More comparisons

Term Loan vs Equipment Financing: One $120,000 machine paid for with a term loan and with equipment financing.

Equipment Financing vs Leasing: One $60,000 kitchen financed, leased at fair market value and leased with a $1 buyout.

PO Financing vs Factoring: One $90,000 wholesale order funded before delivery and factored after it.

Line of Credit vs Factoring: One $80,000 payroll gap bridged by a line of credit and by factoring.

QuickBridge Alternatives: A dated, fair comparison with QuickBridge by amount, sales, documents and payments.

Tools and data

MCA Cash Flow Stress Test: Base, -15% and -30% monthly cash test for an MCA payment, on gross profit.

Payroll Funding Gap Worksheet: Dated ledger of payroll vs collections with the low point and bridge size.

Inventory Financing Break-Even: Profit after financing, break-even sell-through and cash timing for a stock order.

Equipment Payback Calculator: Monthly net effect, payback month and a 30% downside case for financed equipment.

Collection Delay Calculator: Cash tied up by slower collections, a dated invoice example and which product fits.

Document Readiness Checklist: An interactive checklist of what a funder reads, using our published requirements.

Lender Requirements Dataset: Published minimums from 14 U.S. financing providers, checked October 13, 2026, with a CSV.

Where to start

Never borrowed before: start with the first business loan guide and the document pack. Holding offers already: use the offer comparison calculator, then the payment burden calculator. For the published cutoffs, see funding requirements, or check what you qualify for without affecting your credit.

Common questions

Who writes these guides?

The Merchant Fund Express team, from the requirements we publish and the files we review. Worked examples are illustrations of the arithmetic, not offers.

Do the guides apply to every funder?

They explain how files are commonly read. Each funder has its own program rules, and the published requirements on this site are the ones we work from.

Where do I see the exact requirements?

On the funding requirements page, tier by tier.

How do I apply?

The application takes about five minutes and starts with a soft credit pull.