Is Your Merchant Cash Advance Salesperson Transparent?

New York, NY - June 4, 2012

Merchant cash advances are discounted purchases of fixed dollar amounts of the future sales of a business. They are usually provided by private funders and can be a useful funding source for business owners, especially when banks are declining a very high percentage of unsecured business loan requests these days.

While the merchant cash advance industry is a viable source of funding for businesses with sales to sell, salespeople in the industry rarely attempt to deliver a best-fit funding solution based on putting the client first, according to Luis Orlando, the CEO of Corona Advances, Inc., an industry leader in the U.S. Hispanic-owned business market. Lack of disclosure on funding program options and overcharging is rampant in the industry. Corona Advances sets itself apart from the competition by first getting to know the business owner and educating him or her on the tradeoffs among different cash advance programs and terms, and then delivering a funding solution that puts the client first.

Terms of cash advances, such as the factor rate, advance size, projected payback period and holdback % can vary widely depending on the specifics of the business and its owner(s), and other variables. Business owners are often unaware of the full "matrix" of choices of terms available to them, because most industry salespeople pursue a quick sale without properly educating the client. For example, factor rates can vary from below 1.15 (rare cases) to 1.49 or higher (rare cases), projected payback periods can run from 1 month to 18 months, and holdback %’s may vary from below 10% to more than 50% (if using a split funding solution where credit card revenues are a small proportion of gross revenues). There is no single "rate".

Salespeople and firms in the industry may earn gross sales commissions ranging from 0% to 10% (or more) of the projected payback on a cash advance, depending on the pricing of the advance, the balance sheet (funder) used, and other considerations. The norm is 5% to 8%, paid directly by the funder but ultimately by the business client because it is embedded in the cash advance pricing. Despite this level of sales commissions paid, some salespeople put their financial self-interest above that of the client by charging additionally as much as 10% "closing costs" or junk fees (measured against cash advance size). Charging $300 on a $5,000 cash advance, to cover underwriting fees, site inspections, credit reports and other items is a defensible practice, however, charging $1,000 on a $10,000 cash advance or $1,500 on a $15,000 cash advance is not. This level of overcharging can put a business owner out of business, over time.

Other questionable practices, fortunately limited to only a handful of firms in the industry, involves putting an uninformed merchant into what the industry calls a "grasshopper" cash advance. The salesperson in this scenario arranges a 2nd cash advance from funder "B" to the merchant "behind" a pre-existing cash advance from funder "A", without funder "B" paying off the merchant’s outstanding balance with funder "A". What most business owners do not know is that a majority of funders will not offer future cash advances to merchants whose bank statements show evidence of grasshopper advance(s) taken. It is the industry equivalent of being painted with a scarlet letter, namely, tainted. Grasshoppering can severely narrow the merchant's range of potential funders in the future and thereby hurt the merchant, because without willing, competing funders a merchant can end up paying too much (above market terms) for any future cash advances.

Salespeople often mislead merchants by telling the business owner he or she "must" switch credit card processors for the business, in order to receive a cash advance. Often, this may not be necessary or there may be other funding options with a different collection mechanism such as so-called "ACH" or "Lockbox" options. If going the Lockbox route, the salesperson needs to explain that structuring this arrangement means that the merchant will receive his or her "netted" credit card-based revenues at least one business day later into the regular business bank account, slowing down cash flow, and that lockbox transaction fees may not be efficient relative to a smaller-sized cash advance.
Inexperienced merchant cash advance salespeople may send a merchant’s cash advance application and file to many funders at the same time, which results in the personal credit report of the business owner being pulled excessively, hardly in the best interest of the owner.

Merchants interested in learning more about Corona Advances and its services can visit or contact the company at 866-317-9986.

About Corona Advances, Inc.
Corona Advances was formed in 2009 to deliver merchant cash advance and unsecured business loan funding to a wide range of businesses throughout the U.S. The company works with Hispanic-owned businesses and with the wider market, directly funding, syndicating or brokering the best-fit funding solution for each merchant.