The offers
kind is loan (rate is an APR such as 9.5) or factor (rate is a factor rate such as 1.32). Only the first five columns are needed. Fee % and flat fees come out of the cash you receive. Payments per year: 12 monthly, 26 biweekly, 52 weekly, 252 business-daily. The last column is the prepayment penalty on a loan, or the discount a factor lender gives for early payoff (usually 0). Lines starting with # are ignored.
Enter your offers, then click the button.
Result
Every offer on the same yardstick
| Offer | Cash received | Payment | Total repaid | Cost of money | Cost per $1 | True APR | Effective annual rate |
|---|
Can you carry it?
| Offer | Per month | Share of revenue | Cash-flow cover |
|---|
If you repay early
| Offer | Payoff amount | Total paid | Cost of money | APR actually paid |
|---|
Things to check
How it is calculated
Cash received is the amount minus the percentage and flat fees. Payment for a loan is the standard level payment on the full amount at the stated APR; for a factor offer it is amount × factor rate spread evenly over the payments in the term. True APR is the internal rate of return of the whole stream: the cash you get at the start against every payment you make, found by bisection, then multiplied by payments per year. Effective annual rate compounds that period rate over a year. Cost of money is total repaid minus cash received, so fees count. Early payoff uses the loan's outstanding balance plus any prepayment percentage, and for a factor offer the unpaid remainder less any discount you enter.
Not modelled: variable rates, interest-only periods and balloons, a line of credit's drawdowns, personal guarantees, collateral, covenants, tax treatment, and any lender's actual fee schedule (including SBA guarantee and servicing fees, which you enter as the percentages on your term sheet). Unverified: checked against textbook payment formulas and invented offers in unit tests, not against a real lender's disclosure; a lender's own APR disclosure can differ because of its own assumptions, and the agreement governs.
Common questions
How do I compare a business loan with a merchant cash advance?
Convert both to the same yardstick, the annual percentage rate you actually pay on the cash you actually receive. Enter the amount, the rate (an APR for a loan, a factor rate such as 1.3 for an advance), the payback term, the fees and how often payments come out. The tool solves for the true APR including fees, so a 1.3 factor over nine months and a 22% loan with a 4% fee can be set side by side.
What is a factor rate and how do I turn it into an APR?
A factor rate is a multiplier on the amount: 1.3 on $100,000 means you repay $130,000 in total, whatever the time it takes. Because the cost is fixed, the shorter the payback the higher the APR. Enter the factor rate and the number of months you expect to take and the tool computes the APR from the actual payment stream.
Why is the true APR higher than the rate the lender quoted?
Because fees are taken out of the cash you receive but you still repay the full amount. Borrowing $100,000 with a 3% origination fee puts $97,000 in your account while the payments are calculated on $100,000, so you pay the quoted rate on money you never got. The tool takes the fees off the cash received before it solves for the rate.
Is the cheapest APR always the cheapest offer?
No. A ten-year loan at 8% can have a lower APR than a two-year loan at 14% and still cost far more dollars in total, because you owe it for longer. The tool shows both the APR and the dollars of cost, and what each costs per dollar you receive, so you can pick the one that fits what the money will earn.
What happens if I pay the loan off early?
Amortizing loans give back the interest you have not yet incurred, less any prepayment fee, so paying off early usually lowers the dollars you pay but can raise the effective APR if there is a penalty. Fixed-payback advances usually give no discount, so the cost stays the same however early you repay. Enter a payoff month and a prepayment percentage to see both.
Does this tell me which lender to pick or whether I qualify?
No. It does arithmetic on the offers you type in. It does not know your credit, collateral, personal guarantee, covenants, current SBA fee schedules or any lender's terms, and it does not recommend a lender. Read the agreement and ask a qualified adviser before you sign.
Is my financial information uploaded anywhere?
No. The offers and revenue figures you enter are read and calculated in this browser tab. Nothing is sent to a server and the tool does not store your offers. It works offline once the page has loaded.