Which funding products does this apply to?

Merchant Cash Advance, Working Capital, Term Loan, MCA Reverse Consolidation. 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 A market average assembled from lenders who do not publish prices is a guess with a decimal point on it.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.

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

Refinancing now or finishing the term

On a fixed-cost product the price is already spent, so refinancing buys back your own balance at full price. How far through you are decides whether that is madness or arithmetic.

By Find Me Funders research desk Updated 14 September 2026 918 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.

Where you are in the term decides this, and on a fixed-cost product it decides it brutally. When the cost was set at signing — a factor, a flat fee, precomputed interest — refinancing does not swap an expensive rate for a cheaper one. It repays a balance that already contains all of the original cost, using new money that carries a new cost on the whole amount. You pay for the same dollars twice.

On a simple-interest loan the position reverses. Interest you have not yet accrued does not exist, so clearing the balance early genuinely cancels it. Two products, two opposite answers, and the pitch is identical for both.

The crossover on a fixed-cost deal

Illustrative only —an advance of $100,000 at a 1.32 factor. Total repayment amount $132,000, of which $32,000 is cost. A funder offers to refinance and hand you $40,000 of net new cash at a 1.30 factor.

What that $40,000 costs depends entirely on how far through you are:

20% repaid. Remaining balance $105,600. New purchased amount $145,600, repaying $189,280. Marginal cost of the $40,000: $43,680 — $1.09 for every dollar.
40% repaid. Remaining $79,200. New amount $119,200, repaying $154,960. Marginal cost: $35,760 — $0.89 per dollar.
60% repaid. Remaining $52,800. Marginal cost: $27,840 — $0.70 per dollar.
80% repaid. Remaining $26,400. Marginal cost: $19,920 — $0.50 per dollar.
90% repaid. Remaining $13,200. Marginal cost: $15,960 — $0.40 per dollar.

The new factor was 1.30 in every row. The cost of new money ranged from forty cents to a dollar nine, because the factor is applied to the rolled balance as well as to the new cash. Against a standalone second-position advance priced at 1.45 — forty-five cents per dollar — the refinance only becomes the cheaper of the two once you are past about 85% repaid.

Where the refinance wins: late in the term.At 90% through, one clean facility at forty cents on the dollar beats a second debit at forty-five, and you carry one obligation instead of two.

Where finishing wins: everywhere else.At 20% through, the offer that felt like relief costs more than a dollar for every dollar it hands you. Finish the term, then borrow.

Where the refinance genuinely wins

Illustrative only —a simple-interest term loan. $100,000 at 14% over sixty months, twelve payments made. Balance $85,149.

Finish the term: remaining interest $26,538.
Refinance the balance at 9% over the remaining forty-eight months: interest $16,560.
Saving $9,979, less a 2% origination fee of $1,703 — $8,276 net.

Nothing was double-counted, because the unaccrued interest simply never accrues. This is what refinancing is supposed to look like, and it is available only where the old product priced time rather than pricing the deal.

The variable that flips it: whether the old facility's cost accrues with time or was fixed at signing.Check the contract, not the pitch. If the document states a total repayment amount rather than a rate, the cost is already yours.

Three things to verify before you decide

The real payoff figure.Not the balance in a portal — a written payoff good through a named date, itemising fees. It is routinely higher than owners expect, and every dollar of difference lands in the rolled amount.

The discount, if any.Some fixed-cost agreements contain an early payoff discount with a schedule. If yours does, it changes the remaining balance and therefore the whole calculation. Most do not, and a salesperson claiming "you'll save on the payoff" should be asked to point at the clause.

The prepayment charge.On a loan, check whether the interest is simple or precomputed and whether a penalty applies. A declining 3/2/1 structure can erase a rate advantage entirely in year one.

The questions that settle it

What percentage of the total repayment amount have I already paid? Count cleared debits from bank statements, multiply, divide. This one number drives everything on a fixed-cost deal.
What is the marginal cost of the new cash? New total repayment, minus the old remaining balance, minus the net new cash. Divide by the net new cash. If that figure is not below what standalone money costs you, the refinance is worse.
Is the old facility's cost time-based or fixed? Rate and accrual, or total repayment amount. Two different worlds.
Am I refinancing for cash or for relief? They are different problems. If the payment is the problem, ask about a term extension or a temporary reduction before you take new money — the cheapest amendment is often the one you have not asked for.

What to ask for, and what to refuse

Ask for the payoff letter before you sign anything, with a good-through date at least five business days out. Ask the new funder to state, in the document, the net new cash and the total repayment. Ask whether the old balance is being paid directly to the existing funder or routed through you, and get proof of payment and a UCC termination afterwards.

Refuse to evaluate a refinance on the payment. A lower payment on a longer, bigger obligation is not a saving. Refuse "the new rate is lower" as an argument on a fixed-cost product; the rate is not the number that matters. And refuse any refinance where nobody will write down the marginal cost of the new money as a single dollar figure — that refusal is itself the answer.

Where this applies