When a new merchant comes to us for a merchant cash advance, and decides to move forward with the application process, there are other documents we need to receive in order to correctly underwrite a merchant cash advance. Compared to loan/advance industry standards, Fast Merchant Advance makes this step fairly easy. Banks, as well as some of our merchant cash advance competitors request mountains of paperwork that are mostly unnecessary, and quite frankly are a pain for most merchants to put together and send. Fast Merchant Advance’s process is streamlined, and geared towards making it quick and easy for a merchant to apply for a merchant cash advance. Following are the documents that Fast Merchant Advance needs to begin the underwriting process. Very rarely do we ask for more documentation before a decision is determined.
1. Most recent 3 complete months of bank statements.
Why does Fast Merchant Advance need this? It’s important that we assess a merchant’s financial health prior to approving them for a merchant cash advance. They are coming to us for help in the first place, and it’s counter productive to hurt their bottom line by giving them a cash advance they can not afford. If we approve an account based on credit card sales alone, we would not guage the cash concentration a merchant has, and thus our repayment could be far too aggressive. In no time, a merchant could be suffocating under their current financial obligations, and our repayment percentage to boot.
2. Most recent 6 months of credit card processing statements.
We are a merchant cash advance provider. Fast Merchant Advance provides cash advances to merchants based on their credit card sales, for repayment on future credit card receivables. We request that a merchant sends us six months prior so we can assess average sales, transaction totals, and the seasonal trends of a business, should this apply. This also allows Fast Merchant Advance to provide the best possible offer to each merchant.
3. A copy of drivers license for all owners/signers.
With identity theft rampant these days, it’s important that we obtain a photo ID of each signer on an application to ensure that we are dealing with the correct person in regards to a business. We cross check the legal name on the drivers license to the name available via a business credit check which we perform during underwriting. The person who signs our application, should be the person who provides his/her driver’s license, and the person who is listed as owning the business via the Secretary of State system.
4. A Voided Business Check.
Fast Merchant Advance is part of the credit card processing community where all transactions are completed electronically. All monies, whether it’s batches coming in, or fees coming out happen electronically not only for speed, but for security as well. EFT (electronic funds transfer) is always verifiable, and trackable. The voided check we receive from a merchant not only give us the account information that all credit card processing monies will go into, but where the merchant cash advance funds will be sent as well. We require the voided check to be pre-printed and to bear the name of the business or owner or both.
5. A Copy of the Business License.
Our final verification to ensure that the business applying is both legimiate, and in good standing. Should a merchant not be in good standing with their local or state government, they could be subject to sizeable fees, and fines. In the worst cases, non payment over time can result in closure of the business by the state. Should a business close while on a repyament plan with Fast Merchant Advance they will not be able to repay their advance, and will go into default status. If these scenarios happened too frequently, the cost of the money as well as it’s availability would change and in essence “ruin it for everyone else”.
As you can see, there are very specific reasons for the information that Fast Merchant Advance requests. These are the bare essentials to determining a merchant’s financial status. They are easy for any merchant to compile, as these are the documents generally available at all times and easily acessibile.
For more information, or to speak with a representative about a Merchant Cash Advance for your Business please contact us at or Apply Online.
