Frequently asked questions
Explore the common questions and answers about Get Funds
01. General information
What alternatives are there to Merchant Cash Advances?
Working capital for SMEs comes in the form of its own free cash, overdrafts, family assistance and credit cards. Unfortunately, these alternatives are usually restrictive, not available or not enough to meet Business needs. That’s where merchant cash
advances shine.
What is a Merchant Cash Advance (MCA)?
A Merchant Cash Advance is an unsecured turnover lending solution. It’s a Cash Advance Leveraged against business revenue and paid over short terms. Its purpose is to unlock working capital in a quick and accessible manner.
How does it work?
We require minimal documentation, Once received Get Funds will allocate your application to the most suitable funder based on the best match for your needs. From start to finish it can take 1-3 days. If happy with outcome, you sign contract and receive money within 24hrs.
Where does the money come from?
Each of our funders have different sources of funding. Some have large institutional backing; some are self-funded and others have strong investors.
Is Merchant Cash Advancing a registered FSB?
No merchant cash advising is not required to be, it’s not providing personal finance, and only deals with businesses that have over 1 million rands in annual revenue or assets value. Furthermore, merchant cash advances are not legally a loan, it’s a buy and sell agreement of future receivables. So you wouldn’t need to be a registered FSB to buy someone’s car or watch. Likewise, its not required by Merchant cash advance providers..
Where does the money come from?
Each of our funders have different sources of funding. Some have large institutional
backing; some are self-funded and others have strong investors.
02. Cost & Repayment
What happens if we can’t afford the repayments anymore?
Each funder has different policies regarding this, in general funders are willing to negotiate lower repayments over tough times as long as communication stays open and you show willingness to repay the Advance.
Are there penalties to settling my Cash Advance to move to another provider?
Yes. When settling your cash advance, you get an early settlement discount from the funder, unfortunately it’s a discount that doesn’t remove all interest only a % portion of the remaining interest. In other words, if you get a 50% discount on remaining interest, you still have to pay the remaining 50%. 50% penalty.
Are there hidden fees?
Merchant cash advances are transparent, some have small admin fees. The only overlooked cost are the banks debit order costs of repaying the loan, but it’s not material.
What is the interest rate I’ll be paying?
Merchant cash advances don’t work on intertest rates because it’s not a loan by contract. The cost is labelled as a fixed fee or mark up. Because we deal with so many Funders the price varies depending on risk, term and funder mandates. Please click on the link to get an Instant quote based on industry norms
How much does it cost?
Get Funds is partnered will multiple cash advance providers, So pricing ranges from cheapest in the unsecured market to high risk costs. To provide an indication, clean to medium risk deals costs between 2-3% per month and high risk or stacked deals cost around 3-4% per month.
What are the repayment methods?
Because we partnered with so many lenders, we can offer between 3-24 months. The average deals are written on 6-10 months.
We have funders that take daily collections via debit order, Monday to Saturday 25 times per month, funders that collect weekly 4 times per month or monthly repayments and 3-month balloon payment options.
Can I pay in more than my scheduled repayments to lower the costs?
Unfortunately, not. Higher repayments can be arranged to reduce the term, but the costs don’t get reduced. Only if you settle the facility early with a lump sum can fees get discounted.
Can I get payment holidays?
We have funders willing to offer up to 1 month’s payment holiday upfront for good reason like revamps, closing over December etc. Sometimes payment holidays midterm can be given to businesses that discuss the need for a payment breaks upfront.
Can I settle early?
Most of the funders allow early settlements, some give early settlement discounts and some do not. The average discount we encounter is between 15% and 50% discount on remaining fees upon early settlements.
03. Eligibility & Requirements
Can I get funds if I’m blacklisted?
Unfortunately, not.
If I got declined by a cash advance provider, are there still options for me?
Yes Definitely. We work with many funders, often funders have mandates they don’t air publicly, so declines could just be that you don’t match their mandates, but there are funders that love what other funders don’t. The good news is Get Funds knows all the mandates and will match you with the right funders. If your business credit worthiness is low, we still have higher risk funders, so there are options.
Is a Merchant Cash Advance shariah certified?
Because Merchant Cash Advances are set up legally as a buy and sell agreement of future revenue, it is in fact not a loan. The cost is seen as a discount of revenue not interest, so it is shariah compliant. Some of the funders are shariah certified.
Do we need security?
Merchant Cash Advances are unsecured. No collateral required. Merchant cash advances are turnover lending solutions, your business revenue is taken into account based on the principle that the history of your revenue will repeat into the short term. If so, the funder will draw comfort from that and not require assets as security.
Does the funder look at my personal credit score as well as business scores?
Most of our funders only consider business credit scores, and we have a few that look at personal credit scores as well. Overall, merchant cash advances are willing to fund business with lower minimum credit scores than banks require. The acceptable risk measures are also higher in merchant cash advancing than other finance institutions are willing to accept.
What documents are required?
Basic Information like shareholder ID’s, company registration docs and bank statements are required. We might request management accounts and financials should the funders require, but generally the paperwork is always minimal and basic.
How much do I qualify for?
Merchant cash advancing is divided into three qualifying mandates.
Some funders qualify you for 100% of monthly revenue as a cash advance, some 70% and others qualify you for your monthly average revenue multiplied by your GP%. Please Speak to a Get Funds broker and we will submit your application according to the amounts you require.
Can I access money if I haven’t been trading for less than 12 months?
Merchant cash advance is not in the venture capital space. Most of our funders require 12 months turnover track record, however If the business has traded well for a few months, we have managed to raise funding for business 4 months older and up.
03. Terms & Conditions
What are the terms?
Get funds has the advantage of working with multiple Funders, So we can offer a wider range of short term solutions. The average deal terms range between 3-10 months but we can arrange 10 to 24 months facilities as well.
If I got declined by a cash advance provider, are their still options for me?
Yes Definitely. We work with many funders, often funders have mandates they don’t air publicly, so declines could just be that you don’t match their mandates, but there are funders that love what other funders don’t. The good news is Get Funds knows all the mandates and will match you with the right funders. If your business credit worthiness is low, we still have higher risk funders, so there are options.
Can I get a cash advance if I already have an active advance?
Firstly, banking products don’t affect your ability to get a Merchant Cash Advance unless it affects affordability to repay the cash advance. Should you have an active merchant cash advance and require additional funds, we do have funding providers willing to fund side by side with your current advance.
Is it wise to move from one funder to the next to get a better deal?
If you get offered a better deal than your current facility, it is very tempting to take it, however if it’s not a stacked deal, the better offer will come with the condition to settle your current cash advance provider. This could mean big penalties, and these will be massive hidden costs that will make changing funders potentially a very bad idea. It’s advisable to only consolidate your current facility if you have repaid more than 50%, the further repaid the better. Get funds are experts in the industry and will help get you the best offers, and ensure you make the best decisions to avoid the penalties clients often overlook.
Are there penalties to settling my Cash Advance to move to another provider?
05. Why Choose Get Funds?
How long does it take?
Once a full application is received, We have funders that take 2 hours to approve, other up to 3 days and some 5 days.
Do we take a % of card sales as a repayment?
No, our funders negotiate a fixed debit order upfront, either daily, weekly or monthly. This debit order is a fixed repayment and doesn’t fluctuate according to your card sales. Percentage of card sales repayment methods are not ideal because many clients historically find themselves paying the advance off far sooner then they thought and incurred high costs on such short terms. Fixed debits are preferable.
Why use Get Funds as opposed to going directly to a funder?
The main reason is the benefits of Get Funds being partnered with all the best in class merchant cash advance companies making us far more powerful than any of them on standing on their own. We get to offer all their strengths and avoid all their weaknesses.
Instead of using google when you need funds use a Get funds broker to get
- Free Service
- Correct funder match first time
- We do all the work
- Much quicker
- Better Terms and price
- We boast the highest approval rate in South Africa
- Access to all the top funders
Who is Get Funds partnered with?
Get funds is partnered with best-in-class Merchant cash advance funders. We specialize in working capital solutions. We only deal with alternative funders, our clients prefer the speed and ease of our funders vs the banks and other institutional funders’ low approvals, long turnaround times, securities, and tedious application requirements.
What documents are required?
Basic Information like shareholder ID’s, company registration docs and bank statements are required. We might request management accounts and financials should the funders require, but generally the paperwork is always minimal and basic.
