Which funding products does this apply to?

Merchant Cash Advance, Working Capital. Each has its own page listing the funders in this directory that offer it and what each one publishes about its terms.

Is this specific to restaurants?

It is written around how a restaurant business actually generates and collects cash, which is what makes its funding problem different. The mechanics transfer; the arithmetic may not.

The Find Me Funders research desk. Some drafting is AI-assisted, and every page that is says so at the top, including whether a person has checked its claims yet.

How do I know a figure here is right?

Where a page carries the green notice, its claims were checked against the sources listed at the end and a reviewer is named. Where it carries the amber one, nobody has verified it yet and you should confirm anything you plan to act on.

Are the examples real deals?

No. Every worked example is labelled illustrative and exists to show the arithmetic. What any particular lender charges is on that lender's page, where it publishes it.

Why do you never say what a typical rate is?

Because we cannot source it. A market average assembled from lenders who do not publish prices is a guess with a decimal point on it. Where a lender publishes a figure, we show that figure and say where it came from.

Is this financial or legal advice?

No. It is general information about how these products work. Outcomes depend on your contract and your state, and a lawyer or accountant licensed where you are is the person to ask about your situation.

Can I reuse this content?

Quote a paragraph with a link back. Do not republish whole articles.

Is it cheaper to renew an advance or take a second one?

A renewal charges the new factor on money you already owe. A second position charges only on new money, and takes a second debit out of the same account.

By Find Me Funders research desk Updated 14 September 2026 922 words 4 min read

Drafted with AI assistance. Not yet independently checked. Nobody has verified the claims on this page against a source, so treat the figures and legal points as a starting point rather than as settled, and confirm anything you are about to act on. How we check things.

Is it cheaper to renew my existing advance for more money, or to take a second advance alongside it?

On price alone a second position usually wins, because a renewal applies the new factor to the rolled balance as well as to the new cash — so the renewal only becomes cheaper once you are roughly four-fifths through the original term. On survivability the renewal usually wins, because one debit is far smaller than two. Compute the marginal cost of the new money on the renewal and compare it against the second position's factor, then check whether your existing agreement makes a second position a default.

A renewal pays off your existing balance with new money and applies the new factor rate to the whole new purchased amount — which means the factor is charged a second time on the portion of the original deal you had not yet repaid. A second position leaves the first agreement alone and prices only the new cash, but adds a second daily or weekly remittance to the same bank account.

So one question is about price and the other is about whether you can breathe. They frequently give different answers, and the funder offering the renewal will only be discussing the first one.

Where the second position wins on price

Illustrative only —an original advance of $80,000 at a 1.32 factor, total repayment amount $105,600. You need $50,000 of new cash. The renewal is offered at 1.32; a standalone second position is priced at 1.45.

At 35% repaidremaining balance $68,640:

Renewal: new purchased amount $118,640, total repayment $156,605. Subtract the balance you already owed and the new cash, and the marginal cost of that $50,000 is $37,965 — $0.76 per dollar.
Second position: $22,500 — $0.45 per dollar.
The second position is $15,465 cheaper.

At 88% repaidremaining balance $12,672:

Renewal: marginal cost $20,055 — $0.40 per dollar.
Second position: $22,500 — $0.45 per dollar.
The renewal is $2,445 cheaper.

The crossover sits at roughly 81% repaid. Below it, the renewal charges you for money you already owed and the second position is cheaper. Above it, the rolled balance is small enough that a single cleaner deal wins.

Where the renewal wins on something other than price

Illustrative only —monthly collections of $90,000 with a 28% gross margin, so $25,200 of monthly gross margin to cover everything.

Renewal, single remittance at 13% of collections: $11,700 a month.
Stacked, first position at 12% plus second at 9%: $18,900 a month.

The stack takes 75% of gross margin before rent, wages or anything else. It is $7,200 a month more than the renewal. A structure that is $15,465 cheaper over its life and takes three quarters of your margin every month is not cheaper in any sense that matters if it stops you trading in month two.

The variable that flips it: whether the combined debit leaves enough margin to operate.Work out the combined remittance as a percentage of gross margin — not of revenue. Above about half, the price comparison has become academic.

The clause that may remove the choice

Most advance agreements contain an anti-stacking clause. Taking a second position may be an event of default on the first, which can trigger acceleration of the entire remaining balance — turning a funding decision into a demand for everything at once.

Read the existing agreement before you take a second position. Look for the additional-financing covenant, the default list, and any provision about additional liens on receivables. Some agreements prohibit it outright, some require consent, and some are silent. Silence is your friend here; consent language is not, because asking produces a written refusal you then have to explain.

Second-position funders know this. They fund anyway, price for it, and the risk lands on you.

What the renewal hides

The double dip.At 35% repaid in the example above, you pay the new factor on $68,640 of money you already owed — $21,965 of cost for no new cash at all. Funders present renewals as "we're increasing you to $118,640" rather than "we're lending you $50,000 for $37,965", and both sentences describe the same document.

The reset term.A renewal restarts the clock. You were three months from clear; now you are twelve months out again, with a larger balance and, usually, an anti-stacking clause that blocks anything else.

The payoff figure.The balance rolled into the renewal is whatever the funder says it is. Ask for the transaction history behind it and reconcile it against cleared debits in your own bank statements before you agree to anything.

The questions that settle it

What percentage of the total repayment amount have I actually paid? Count cleared debits from your statements, multiply, divide. Below roughly 80%, the renewal is the more expensive way to get new money.
What is the marginal cost of the new cash? New total repayment minus the old balance minus the net new cash, divided by the net new cash. Insist on that figure.
What is the combined remittance as a share of gross margin? Above half, stacking is not survivable regardless of price.
Does my existing agreement prohibit additional financing? Read it before, not after.

What to ask for, and what to refuse

Ask for a written payoff figure with the transaction history behind it. Ask the renewal funder to state the net new cash and the marginal cost of it as dollar figures in the document. Ask whether a term extension or a temporary reduction on the existing deal would solve the problem instead — it costs nothing to ask and it is sometimes the cheapest answer on the table.

Refuse to evaluate a renewal on the new total. Refuse a renewal presented as "no new cost until the old one is paid off", which is not how the arithmetic works. And if neither option leaves you operating margin, refuse both and deal with the underlying problem, because a third advance will not be available and the second one will still be there.