Which funding products does this apply to?

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

Are the figures here quotes?

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

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 A market average assembled from lenders who do not publish prices is a guess with a decimal point on it.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.

Using a broker or applying direct yourself

You are not buying advice. You are buying distribution, paid for out of your deal — which is worth a great deal when your file needs finding a home, and nothing when it does not.

By Find Me Funders research desk Updated 14 September 2026 999 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.

A broker is paid by the funder, out of your transaction, usually as points added to what you would otherwise have been quoted. That single fact explains everything about the relationship. The broker's incentive is to close the deal that pays the most and closes fastest, and what you are actually buying is access to a distribution network — knowledge of which funders will look at a file like yours today.

So the question is narrow and answerable: is your file inside a credit box you could find on your own? If it is, you are paying for an introduction. If it is not, you are paying for the only route to money.

Where the broker wins

Illustrative only —fourteen months in business, two NSFs in the last ninety days, a state tax lien on an agreed payment plan, and a $38,000 payroll shortfall three weeks out.

Applied directly, this file gets declined repeatedly. Each attempt costs time, sometimes a hard credit pull, and after five or six submissions the pattern itself becomes a reason to decline — underwriters read a cluster of recent inquiries as a file that has already been shopped and rejected.

A broker who places files like this daily knows which funders take a lien on a plan, which ones tolerate two NSFs, and which want the bank statements formatted a particular way. Say the deal closes at $60,000 with a 1.38 factor — a $22,800 cost — and eight points to the broker inside that, $4,800.

The alternative was not a cheaper deal. It was a missed payroll. When your file is genuinely outside the standard boxes, the broker's points are the price of the transaction existing at all, and arguing about them is arguing about the wrong thing.

Where going direct wins

Illustrative only —a $250,000 five-year term loan for a business with three filed returns, clean statements and coverage above the threshold.

Through a broker: 9.75% and three points. Payment $5,281.06, interest $66,864, plus $7,500 of points.
Direct: 9.25%. Payment $5,219.97, interest $63,198.

The total premium is $11,165 for an introduction to a lender whose commercial lending page you could have found yourself. This file is bankable. Every lender in the country wants it. There is no network effect to buy.

The variable that flips it: whether your file is inside a published credit box you can locate on your own.Clean and bankable means the broker adds distribution you do not need. Messy and time-pressed means distribution is the entire product.

The number to ask for

On advance-type products the mechanic is a buy rate and a sell rate. The funder quotes the broker a buy rate — say 1.30 — and the broker presents 1.38. The difference is the broker's compensation, and on a $60,000 deal a move from 1.30 to 1.38 is $4,800.

Ask the question plainly: what is the buy rate on this file, and what are you adding? Some brokers answer. Some refuse. Both answers are information. On loan products, ask what points are being paid, by whom, and whether they are netted from your proceeds or added to the balance — those are different costs.

In several states, commercial financing brokers must register, and commercial financing disclosure laws require specified figures to be given to you before you sign. The requirements differ by state and change. Ask which disclosure regime applies to your transaction and ask to see the disclosure before signing, not with the funding documents.

What a broker cannot do for you

Change your file.Points do not fix a coverage ratio or manufacture a filed return. A broker who says they can "get it done anyway" is usually pointing at a more expensive product, not a better outcome.

Represent you.There is no fiduciary duty here by default. The broker is compensated by the counterparty. That is not a scandal, it is the structure, and you should read every document as though nobody in the chain is on your side.

Stop shotgunning.The real risk of a broker relationship is your file being blasted to twenty funders at once, generating calls for months and a cluster of submissions that damages your next application. Put the limit in writing before you send bank statements.

The questions that settle it

Can I name three lenders who publish criteria my file clearly meets? If yes, apply to those three yourself. It takes an afternoon.
What is my deadline, and what does missing it cost in dollars? That figure is the ceiling on what speed is worth paying for.
What is the broker's compensation on this deal, and who pays it? If you cannot get a straight answer before documents, assume it is larger than you would like.
How many funders will see my file, and which ones? Ask for the list in advance and for the right to approve additions.

What to ask for, and what to refuse

Ask for a written submission list and a cap on it. Ask for the buy rate or the points. Ask whether the broker is also the funder on this transaction — some are both, and the disclosure changes what the fee means.

Have your last three months of bank statements, your most recent filed return, a current debt schedule and your entity documents in one folder before you speak to anyone. A broker who receives a complete package has less to explain away, which is worth real money on price.

Refuse to give anyone your online banking credentials — send statement PDFs or use a read-only connection you control. Refuse an arrangement with no cap on submissions. Refuse to pay any fee in advance of funding; compensation in this market comes out of the transaction at close. And if a broker will not tell you the funder's name before you sign, ask why you are being kept from the counterparty to your own contract.