MPR Authored
Traditional MCA Gets a Speed Makeover
October 24, 2012
“How about you fund me first and then you change my merchant account?”
Some account reps will testify that closing a traditional split-funding or lockbox deal can be a bumpy road. The pay-as-you-grow system sounds fantastic over fixed payments until they learn that they have to change their merchant service provider, process sales for two full days, and then wait an extra day for the ACH to arrive in their bank account. The switch could take a few days to several weeks. Have you ever tried to convert MICROS?! A good account rep can keep the customer patient, but that job gets a lot tougher when the fixed daily ACH guys interject right before the contract is signed. We’ll fund you in two days with no processing change required! The customer would have to settle for a fixed daily payment, but that may be secondary to their stress about switching processing before receiving funds. Many things could cross their mind:
- What happens if the download fails?
- What if they say I need a new credit card machine?
- What if my current processor locked my machine with a password? How long will this delay everything?
- What if I don’t process sales every day? Will I need to wait until I have two full days of activity?
- What if there are additional underwriting steps after I switch?
- Are they going to withhold a percentage from my processing before I even get the money?
- How long is this really going to take? I would prefer if I just had the money now and then I’d feel a lot more comfortable doing the rest.
- I kind of need the money by tomorrow, I really can’t risk this taking longer than they expect.
So when RapidAdvance announced their new Rapid Funding Program, we thought, “is this really what we think it is?” We had Sean Murray reach out to Mark Cerminaro, the SVP of RapidAdvance and we learned the program is real. They can and will fund merchants prior to changing the merchant account or setting up the lockbox. In the interim, they set up a temporary daily ACH repayment to protect themselves should the conversion experience any hiccups. Murray asked if this was perhaps a response to the fixed ACH payment phenomenon that has exploded in the last year. Cerminaro responded (We paraphrased some of his words in this story), “Variable payments offer benefits. Many merchants would prefer to set up their financing this way. Some of our biggest resellers still focus heavily on split-funding as opposed to the alternatives. We believe this program will help both them and the merchant.”
With the slew of new players in the merchant financing market, is speed just window dressing for an old product? An article in Upstart Business Journal called MCAs old! The fixed payment merchant loan seems to be all the rage these days, leaving some to wonder if traditional MCA is on the decline. Cerminaro says that assertion is false. “We’ve experienced substantial growth this year on our traditional MCA product, on all of our products actually. When big companies like American Express and Amazon came in offering their own Merchant Cash Advance or loan program, it made merchants more comfortable that our product and similar ones to it are mainstream. The New York Times even ran an article that listed Merchant Cash Advance as an acceptable form of financing for small businesses. This is all making Merchant Cash Advance more attractive than it ever was before.”
On 7/28/11, we penned an article that said the Merchant Cash Advance industry was waiting for its big moment. At that time, we believed the merchants weren’t using Merchant Cash Advance financing simply because they just hadn’t heard of it. It was the hottest thing that no one was talking about. Of course the era of anonymity is gone and businesses are rushing to get funding hand over fist. The only question now is whether or not this will continue to drive rates down. Cerminaro alluded that some funders are undercutting so much that they’re forgetting to price in the risk. Other industry insiders feel the same way and the debate over it has become the most active thread on the recently founded, DailyFunder.com forum.
Contact Mark Cerminaro for any questions or clarifications regarding RapidAdvance’s Rapid Funding Program at mcerminaro[at]rapidadvance[dot]com.
– Merchant Processing Resource
https://debanked.com
Is Google Getting Greedy?
October 21, 2012By now, you’ve probably heard of Google’s earnings release blunder when their financial printer published an unfinished report. That version went viral and was clearly not ready for print since it included a placeholder note that said “Pending Larry Quote,” a space that was reserved for a quotable by CEO Larry Page.
Ad revenue was up 16% for the quarter, a 33% surge over last year’s numbers. But is Google getting greedy? We like to search for MCA industry news and in the last couple weeks, we noticed an interesting “glitch” that started to happen. Approximately 1 out of every 15 times (we didn’t run a statistical analysis), zero results show on the page. It doesn’t actually say “no results found,” but rather looks as if the results failed to load. That is of course except for the ads. The ads conveniently become the only clickable options.
This happens often enough that it has become annoying. We’ve experienced it with multiple browsers and three computers. Has anyone else fallen victim to this glitch?
Perhaps it’s psychological, but it seems like this occurs most frequently on business lending related searches, when the revenue-per-click Google earns just happens to be at its highest. Is Google getting greedy?
It’s a Mad, Mad World
October 18, 2012
You aren’t going to find too many people who would disagree that things have gotten a bit crazy lately. We’ve got a crazy economy going, so why not employ a bit of crazy when it comes to promoting your small business in a crazy economy?
Think that be a bit of a naïve approach to attracting business? Maybe not.
Recently Old Navy added a little bit of crazy to the tried and true idea of a coupon when it created a “human coupon” to celebrate reaching 5 million fans on Facebook. Liberty Tax Service, while a big company, knew it couldn’t compete with H&R Block’s intensive television ad campaign, so they added their own little bit of crazy and instead dressed people up like the Statue of Liberty to direct traffic going by to their storefront. And let’s not forget all the hoopla Macy has been able to tweek out of their Thanksgiving parade for the last 80 years?
Still not convinced? How about a little case study on Sir Richard Branson? The man built a business empire using “crazy stunts” to bring attention to the “Virgin” brand. These stunts were perhaps a bit “larger” than most small business owners are capable of pulling off (you most likely can’t fund crossing the Atlantic ocean in a hot air balloon, or build an “aquaticar” and make history traveling from London to Paris in literally record time.) But you can’t deny that Brandon’s billions make a credible case for crazy.
OK, so maybe you’re not ready to dress like a chicken (or hire someone to dress like a chicken. Here are few approaches to crazy you might want to consider for your small business:
Organize a protest. Most everyone has either driven by or watched a “protest” on the evening news. How about staging a protest at your small business? What might you protest? How about carrying signs protesting “This business puts the customer first!” Or, “They actually helped me find something.” Or, “I called and a human being answered!”
Sponsor a crazy contest. This is a cool one because it can be conducted online as well as offline. For example, if you’re an office supply company or a professional organizer how about a “Messiest Desk” contest? The winner receives organizational products or a half hour consultation.
Crazy Customer of the Month. No, the customer doesn’t win if they’re crazy – in this case it is the award that’s crazy. For instance, a “Crazy Happy Customer of the Month.” Or, “Techie Customer of the Month.” Or, “Best Dressed Customer of the Month.” Take pictures and hang plaques.
Crazy Building Decorations. If you own the building, or it is OK in your lease, how about using your building to help your business stand out? A company in South Africa hung multi-colored sandals on a tree outside their building making it “bloom.” If you’re a financial planner it might be pretty effective to do the same to the tree in front of your office with fake 100 dollar bills.
Some businesses might find the above doesn’t mirror their brand. But you can still get a little crazy. Even the stodgiest consultancy can promote themselves by asking people to post pics of “crazy ties” on their Facebook page. Or hand out coffee cups that say something along the lines of “I got this for staying awake the longest at our last staff meeting.”
Sometimes crazy makes crazy good business sense.
– Guest Author
Merchant Processing Resource
https://debanked.com
Is it Just us or are the Deals Getting BIGGER?
October 15, 2012
Two years ago, it was easy to say that the average Merchant Cash Advance (MCA) deal was about $20,000 to $25,000. The claim used to be, funding up to $250,000! And yet very few companies would actually go that high when it came down to it. But now?
A million here, a million there… It’s all just business as usual. Nothing to see here everybody. Go on Tozzi, write another article about how MCA is for minuscule retailers that can’t get approved for a low limit credit card. Whether you call it MCA, Merchant Financing, or Merchant Lending, there’s no doubt that capital has become more accessible to businesses across the country. And the amounts being disbursed are getting BIGGER.
On October 12, 2012, Rapid Capital Funding (RCF), a mid-sized funder in Miami, FL provided $1,250,000 to a national convenience store chain. RCF published an official company announcement about it, but we actually got wind of the deal a week before it closed. deBanked staff is friendly with the folks at RCF, particularly with their lead underwriter, Andrew Hernandez. Hernandez is an industry veteran, with five years of MCA underwriting experience under his belt. So while RCF hasn’t had the reputation for taking on big paper in the past, we can’t say that we’re shocked that they’re marching down that path.
Other big deals this year in the MCA space:
United Capital Source – $1,250,000
YellowStone Capital – $751,000
Do you think we’ll be seeing more of this? Send us your comments.
– Merchant Processing Resource
https://debanked.com
Legal Questions about Merchant Financing?
October 9, 2012
“Many merchant advance agreements state that the sales agent can only send merchant advance contracts to the one merchant advance company. It is important to identify such exclusivity terms and make sure they are deleted from the agreement. Just to make sure, you would also want to add a provision that states unequivocally that the relationship is non-exclusive. Otherwise, if you send merchant advance contracts to a competitor, the merchant advance company that thinks you are exclusive could use that act as a reason to termination your compensation under the agreement.”
– Paul A. Rianda
Whether you’re an agent, ISO, or funder, you will at some point need sound legal advice. There is very little information on the Internet and hiring an attorney is expensive (though we highly recommend it!). If you feel like you just need a little guidance, we recommend you check out the publications by Paul A. Rianda, an attorney that has worked extensively in the bankcard and merchant financing industry. Below are a few articles that everybody should read:
More Companies Cheer For Charity
October 5, 2012The alternative business lending industry has raised even more money for charity thanks to four new companies. Through a fantasy football competition that started with the beginning of the NFL season, each of the twelve participants are representing individual non-profit organizations. At the end of the season, all of the money raised will be donated to the winning team’s charity. Though registration to compete ended five weeks ago, outside individuals and companies are free to add to the total. One of the following charities with be the lucky recipient of the prize:
- Network For Teaching Entrepreneurship
- Epilepsy Foundation
- Society of St. Vincent De Paul
- Kiva
- ALS Association
- 100 Urban Entrepreneurs
- Gift of Life Bone Marrow Foundation on behalf of the The Silver Project
- The Missionaries of Our Lady of Divine Mercy
- Smile Train
- Cystic Fibrosis Foundation
- American Heart Association
- Distressed Children & Infants International
Special thanks to the new contributions from:
Entrust Merchant Solutions
Based in New York City, Entrust has been helping small businesses get financing for more than five years.
Strategic Funding Source
From the flashy district of Times Square in New York City, Strategic is one of the oldest and most successful firms in the Merchant Cash Advance (MCA) industry. They can teach you how to become your own MCA company:
Capital Stack, LLC
Capital Stack is a Brooklyn, NY based financing provider that specializes in high risk deals structured via ACH. They’re also a co-founder of a new industry forum, DailyFunder.com.
Paramount Merchant Funding
Yet another New York City merchant financing company, Paramount is one of the fastest growing firms in the industry.
They’re also helping a separate cause at the same time. Help Paramount raise money for Noah’s Hope!
Dear Friends and Family,
Paramount Merchant Funding is hosting a bowling night on November 2nd to help raise money for Noah’s Hope.
About Noah’s Hope:
Noah’s Hope was started by Jennifer and Tracy VanHoutan, the parents of Noah and twin girls Laine and Emily. Noah and Laine are both battling LINCL-Batten Disease, a rare genetic illness. They have lost the ability to speak, as well as their balance and mobility. At this time, LINCL-Batten Disease is always fatal, usually between the ages of eight and 12.
Fewer than 450 children in the United States have LINCL-Batten Disease, so it doesn’t receive the attention it should. Paramount Merchant Funding has decided to help this great cause. We are raising money to donate to Noah’s Hope in the hopes of finding a cure for LINCL-Batten Disease. All donations, no matter how big or small, help make a difference in the fight against LINCL-Batten Disease.
CLICK HERE TO SEE HOW YOU CAN HELP!
About Paramount Merchant Funding:
Paramount Merchant Funding is a merchant funding company based in Midtown, New York City. We provide capital to businesses in the United States, as well as Canada. Paramount was founded in 2008 and provides professionals with a whole host of funding options depending on their stage of business.
Choose how you want to help!
1. Click HERE to donate money.
2. Donate something to give away at our raffle.
For more information email erika@empiremerchantadvance.com.
We appreciate any and all donations made for this cause!
Sincerely,
The Paramount Merchant Funding Team
It’s awesome what everyone is doing. You’re making the country a better a place!
– Merchant Processing Resource
https://debanked.com
Silicon Valley’s One Punch Knockout
October 4, 2012“This morning I woke up, brushed my teeth, and hopped in my hovercraft to go to the office. As soon as I arrived, I began my routine of playing ping-pong against my co-workers while computers performed the automated tasks I had set for them. Then I went to the gym, came back, and learned that our web portal had generated 12,000 leads, closed 7,000 deals, and funded 5,000 merchants. It was an exhausting day…” — A Senior Account Executive from the year 2013.
We’ve been offering insight on the 2012 invasion of Silicon Valley into the Merchant Cash Advance (MCA) industry. Excuse us, it’s called the “merchant financing industry” now. California technology companies are bringing money, yes, but most importantly, bringing their treasure trove of technologies to companies that were mostly satisfied with the status quo. But are America’s small businesses ready to do business Silicon Valley style or have MCA companies had it right all along, to operate in the way that small business is most comfortable with?
Two weeks ago, California enacted a law that will allow computerized driverless cars to drive on the road. Cars that drive themselves… this is business as usual in parts of California where everyday things such as gasoline, wires, and paper money don’t exist anymore. There, it is believed that clipping coupons from newspapers is something that the Pilgrims did on the Mayflower. There, applying for a small business loan should be as easy as using your brain waves to telepathically connect with a bank’s computer and having the funds instantly transferred to your bank account. There, is a sense that the rest of the country is just like them…. except it’s not.
If you’ve ever had the pleasure of being an MCA underwriter, you know why antiquated funding companies aren’t going to go quietly into the night. We got to speak with one veteran on condition of anonymity. His words:
We had a guy with good credit, processing $15,000 a month in credit card sales, looking for $20,000. He’d been in business for fourteen years and it seemed like a home run but it took seven weeks to close. He didn’t have a printer or a scanner and he had to drive twenty miles to the nearest Fedex/Kinkos every time he wanted to send us something. On his third trip, his ’94 Corolla broke down and we had to wait a few days until he could find a friend’s car to borrow to send the documents.
These situations do not occur every day, but it is evidence that automation will not singlehandedly knock everyone else out with one punch. There is a technology gap in America. Statisticians point out that 78% of Americans use the Internet, but there is a whole generation that doesn’t trust it with their most sensitive information or have the capabilities to use it to its fullest extent. Would a Silicon Valley takeover of the MCA industry alienate them and leave many of America’s small businesses once again without a shoulder to lean on?
Program or be Programmed
The title of this segment here is the title of a book written by Douglas Rushkoff. An article on CNN commented at length about it and its revelations about the digital age. Americans need to learn all the basics when they’re young. Your PHPs are just as important as your ABCs and 123s. CNN interestingly states:
It’s time Americans begin treating computer code the way we do the alphabet or arithmetic. Code is the stuff that makes computer programs work — the list of commands that tells a word processor, a website, a video game, or an airplane navigation system what to do. That’s all software is: lines of code, written by people.
—Just a couple of years ago, I was getting blank stares or worse when I would suggest to colleagues and audiences that they learn code, or else. “Program or be programmed,” became my mantra: If you are not a true user of digital technology, then you are likely being used by digital technology. My suggestion that people learn to program was meant more as a starting point in a bigger argument.
—According to Calacanis, each employee who understands how to code is valued at about $500,000 to $1 million toward the total acquisition price. One million dollars just to get someone who learns code.
Read those last two lines? Each employee that understands how to code is worth up to $1 million. Are they seriously teaching people in school that Microsoft Office proficiency is a leg up in the business world?
College graduates that know more than one language have an edge over people that don’t. But speaking Chinese, Spanish, or Arabic won’t get you as far as JavaScript. According to IT World, JavaScript is the most highly ranked programming language in the world as measured by its use and popularity. Learn French and you’ll really enjoy a vacation in Paris. Learn PHP, Python, or Ruby and you just might become the King of France.
Am I Already a Dinosaur?
No! Don’t let those 10 year olds with a software empire get you down. Anyone can learn and you need not spend $30,000 a year on college tuition to do it. Codecademy can help complete beginners learn code for free. Get real good at it and you may earn yourself a $50,000 salary increase.
One Punch
Silicon Valley with their exotic computer languages and cars that drive themselves may present a challenge to the MCA industry, but many firms will be able to hang on for a long, long time. Some people still pay by check at the grocery store and yes, many business owners would rather not use online banking, no matter how safe they’re told it is. But there will come a time when being bilingual means being able to write Java and Perl. Oh there will come a time when driving twenty miles to Kinkos in a car that one must drive themselves to fax a document that will never again exist on paper, will be an experience we confuse with the Pilgrims trip on the Mayflower.
Everyone should at least take some basic lessons on self-defense. Silicon Valley is coming out fighting. They might not knock you out, but it couldn’t hurt to have a white belt in JavaScript. Anything to keep you in the ring just a little bit longer.
< ?php echo "- Merchant Processing Resource"; ? > 😉
https://debanked.com
Article condensed 10/8/12
Ten Days
September 28, 2012
It’s been ten days since Kabbage announced they had raised $30 million to fuel the growth of their Merchant Cash Advance (MCA) operations at home and abroad. MCA is changing faster than we can report it:
Former Yahoo CEO joins Kabbage. Hello Silicon Valley takeover! Quotes from the story:
Kabbage is providing an old service, merchant cash advances, with a new twist
Did they just call merchant cash advances old?
Kabbage is rapidly reshaping the small business financing space in the same way that PayPal reshaped the payments space over the last decade
Start believing this…
Amazon enters the MCA industry with a new division called Amazon Lending. Quotes:
Amazon is lending up to $800,000 to some merchants, Wingo said, adding that this is a pretty aggressive entrance into merchant financing.
Merchant financing…quite possibly the term that will replace “merchant cash advance” in the next couple years. Notice AMEX’s advance program is called the same thing. Trend anyone?
Amazon is competing against a start-up called Kabbage, which extends cash advances ranging from $500 to $50,000
They apparently don’t feel anyone else is a threat in the online space.
“We’re flattered that Amazon is building a business modeled on ours,” said Kabbage co-founder Marc Gorlin. “It’s validating that big companies are getting into the small business financing space.”
Dear Kabbage, you did not invent this model.
The kicker to Amazon’s new program? They charge up to 13% interest annually, on pace with what a little company in California named Opportunity Fund claimed was flat out unprofitable. Does that make them yet another new company walking around with a giant Kick-Me sign on their back? Some industry insiders would argue that offering these low rate programs are like swallowing dynamite.
We did a little bit of digging on this new program to see exactly what Amazon was up to. One of their prospective merchants posted this excerpt of the fine print:
Subject to applicable law, you will be in default under this Loan Agreement if any of the following events occur: ……..
(iii) your gross merchandise sales on Amazon.com as reported in your Seller Account (“GMS”) in any month is less than 50% of your lowest GMS on Amazon.com in any of the prior 12 months,(iv) the collective value of your units stored in Amazon fulfillment centers in the US, based on your list price of those units on Amazon.com, (“FBA Inventory Value”) in any month is less than 50% of your lowest FBA Inventory Value in any of the prior 12 months,
Except as otherwise required by applicable law, if you are in default, subject to any right you may have under applicable law to receive notice of and to cure such default, you agree that we may in our sole discretion exercise any remedy available to us at law or equity or take any or all of the following actions: (I) declare the unpaid balance of your Loan to be immediately due and payable, (II) enforce our rights as a secured party by directing Amazon Services LLC to reserve, hold, and pay to us an amount up to the unpaid balance of your Loan from your Seller Account disbursements until the unpaid balance of your debt under this Loan Agreement is paid in full, (III) enforce our rights as a secured party, by taking possession of your units stored in Amazon fulfillment centers and disposing of them in accordance with the Uniform Commercial Code,……………..
If this Loan Agreement is referred to an attorney (who is not our salaried employee) to collect the amount you owe or otherwise enforce the terms of this Loan Agreement, you agree to pay our reasonable attorneys’ fees, court costs and other costs of collection to the fullest extent not prohibited by applicable law.
6. Financing Statements. You authorize us to file and, as we may deem necessary or desirable, to sign your name on any documents and take any other actions that we deem necessary or desirable to ensure that our security interest in any item of inventory or your Seller Account is properly attached and perfected.
There’s some language in there that would make a lot of MCA companies jealous, particularly the section that states a 50% drop in sales is an automatic default!
Thoughts? Share them on DailyFunder.
– Merchant Processing Resource
https://debanked.com
