Despite all remaining COVID-19 restrictions being lifted in March this year, the hospitality and retail sectors are still reeling from the impact of the pandemic and in many cases still facing challenges in securing business finance.
While customers have returned and sales may be improving, funders in this sector usually make lending decisions based on traditional underwriting of accounting information. For many retail and hospitality businesses, the last couple of years’ books don’t look attractive or even viable to many banks and traditional lenders, based on traditional metrics.
However, there are alternative options that many in the sector may have missed and one of the most accessible and flexible of these is Merchant Cash Advance (MCA).
MCA finance is a relatively new product in the UK, but growing in prominence due to card and contactless payment methods being increasingly dominant. It is an alternative finance route for businesses that take payments via card terminals and online.
Unlike traditional lenders, MCA funders base their lending on card receipts. By connecting their technology to bank and card acquiring data, they have a real-time view of a businesses’ monthly income, meaning that lending can be based on what you sell each month.
As a result of this approach, repayments fluctuate as a percentage of ongoing card receipts, rather than being a fixed amount each month like a bank, which suits not only businesses in recovery mode, but also seasonal businesses in their normal cycle as well.
Paul Trickett, Business Development Manager at Bathgate Business Finance, said:
“Since September last year we have supported over 20 businesses to secure more than half a million pounds finance using MCA funders.
“These businesses are both clients that we have worked with directly and also clients who have been referred to us by banks and traditional lenders who have been unable to support them with existing products.
“MCA is a really quick and easy solution for a broad range of businesses and our team’s knowledge of the product and its relationships with MCA funders means we are perfectly positioned to help hospitality and retail businesses find the right solution to meet their needs.”
MCA KEY BENEFITS
- Simple and quick application
- 95% industry acceptance rate
- Amount approved based on the value of payments through a card machine or online
- Flexible repayments which are linked to future credit and debit card receipts
- Fixed fee structure and ability to redraw loans
Bathgate Business Finance can advise if your business could benefit from MCA and provide an initial indication of funding simply from reviewing your businesses’ average monthly merchant card payments.
To find out more, contact Paul Trickett on Paul@bathgatebf.co.uk or call 0151 625 7323 to speak to one of the team.