Reports and benchmarks on merchant cash advances and small-business credit. Every figure names its source, period and sample, so it can be checked and cited.
Published figures from the Federal Reserve Banks' 2025 Small Business Credit Survey (employer and nonemployer firms) and the FDIC's 2024 Small Business Lending
Among SBCS respondents who borrowed from online lenders, 60% said actual borrowing costs were higher than expected. The figure was 37% at small banks and 32% at large banks. Per the FDIC, three-in-ten banks can approve a small, simple loan within one business day. No source here measures the merchant cash advance market itself.
3 sources38% of U.S. small employer firms applied for a loan, line of credit or merchant cash advance in the 12 months before the 2025 Small Business Credit Survey, and 8% applied for a merchant cash advance. Merchant cash advance applicants were fully approved more often (48%) than SBA loan applicants (32%), and 60% of firms that borrowed from online lenders said costs were higher than they expected.
4 sourcesThe SBA Office of Advocacy counts 36.2 million small businesses in the United States, and the Census Bureau recorded 534,947 seasonally adjusted business applications in September 2026.
2 sourcesEach benchmark names the variable it reports (factor rate, advance size, term, holdback), the unit, the period covered and the sample it was drawn from. A figure without a stated sample is marked illustrative and is not a measurement.