Best Merchant Cash Advance Providers UK (2026)
Quick verdict
We place merchant cash advance deals across UK lenders most weeks, so here is the short version. For most businesses with card sales, YouLend is the cheapest mainstream MCA, and our default for Dojo and e-commerce. 365 Finance is our pick for hospitality, late-night venues and anyone YouLend declines, because it funds nightlife and gives you a real phone contact. Choose Capify for a bumpy credit history, Fleximize if you want to overpay and settle early, and iwoca when a flexible credit line beats a lump sum. All MCAs are unregulated commercial agreements. We are introducers, not advisers.
Look, every "best MCA" list online is written by someone who has never actually submitted a deal. We have. We sit between UK business owners and the lenders, package the application, and watch who approves, who declines, and who quietly hikes the rate at the offer stage. This page is what we have learned doing that, not a rewrite of the lenders' own marketing.
A quick honesty note first. A merchant cash advance is not the cheapest money your business can borrow. The factor rate (usually 1.10 to 1.40) makes it pricier than a bank loan in pure cost terms. What you are buying is speed, flexibility and a soft credit check that does not mark your file. If you have two years of clean accounts and time to wait, a term loan is cheaper. If you need £25,000 by Friday and your takings move around, an MCA earns its keep.
UK merchant cash advance providers compared
| Provider | Funding range | Min card sales | Min trading | Speed to fund | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| YouLend | £3,000 to £1,000,000 | £1,500 / month | 3 months | Same day possible, 1 to 3 days typical | Dojo users, e-commerce, strong credit, lowest cost |
| 365 Finance | £10,000 to £500,000 | £10,000 / month | 6 to 12 months | Reliably 24 to 48 hours | Pubs, bars, nightclubs, restaurants, declined-elsewhere cases |
| Capify | £5,000 to £500,000 | £10,000 / month (typical) | 6 to 9 months | 24 to 72 hours | Patchy credit, prior declines, established traders |
| Fleximize | £5,000 to £500,000 | Not card-sales dependent | 6 months | 24 to 48 hours | Businesses that want to overpay and settle early, top-ups |
| iwoca | £1,000 to £500,000 | Not card-sales dependent | 6 months (Flexi-Loan) | Hours to a few days | Recurring cash flow gaps, top-ups, businesses wanting to only pay for what they use |
Ranges are lender-published and change. Your offer depends on your card turnover, trading history, industry and credit profile. iwoca is a Flexi-Loan, included as the most common MCA alternative.
The providers, and who each one actually suits
1. YouLend
Our default for costThe one we reach for first on price. For Dojo card machine customers and online sellers on Shopify, Amazon or eBay, YouLend is usually the cheapest mainstream MCA in the UK. Open banking gets you the biggest offers and the fastest decisions.
The catch: Portal-first, so less hand-holding. Excludes nightclubs (unless food-led), adult, gambling and crypto.
2. 365 Finance
Our default for service and tricky casesWhere we send hospitality, late-night and licensed venues, and almost anyone YouLend has turned down. You get a named account manager on the phone, not just a portal, and repayments are capped at 16% of daily card sales, an accountant-led design choice that protects your cash flow.
The catch: Higher minimum card sales (£10k/month) and a longer trading requirement than YouLend.
3. Capify
The credit-history workhorseOne of the longest-running MCA providers in the UK, and the one we lean on when the numbers are fine but the credit file is bumpy. Capify has seen more or less everything and tends to look at the whole business rather than fixate on a county court judgment from three years ago.
The catch: Pricing is rarely the cheapest. You are paying for flexibility on risk.
4. Fleximize
Best for early repaymentStrictly a revenue-based business loan rather than a pure MCA, but it behaves similarly and earns its place for one reason: penalty-free overpayments. If you think you might clear the balance early, Fleximize is where the maths actually rewards you for it. Top-ups are available once you are part-way through.
The catch: It is a loan with interest, not a card-sales MCA, so repayments are less flexible in a quiet month.
5. iwoca
When an MCA is the wrong toolNot an MCA at all, it is a Flexi-Loan, a revolving line you draw on and repay as you go with no early repayment fees. We include it because honestly, for a lot of businesses a flexible credit line beats an advance. If your need is a recurring cash flow gap rather than a one-off lump sum, this is often the smarter call.
The catch: A line of credit, not a lump-sum advance. Different product, repaid monthly.
How we actually decide where to send your deal
There is no algorithm. When a deal comes in we look at four things in order: your monthly card sales, how long you have been trading, your industry, and your credit profile. Those four decide who is even eligible before price comes into it.
We had a Leeds salon last quarter turning over about £18,000 a month on card, trading 14 months, clean file. That went straight to YouLend through their open banking route and funded in under two days at a rate a bank would not touch for speed. The same week, a Manchester late-night bar with a previous decline and a CCJ went to 365 Finance, approved at 48 hours. Different businesses, different homes. Sending both to the same lender would have got one of them declined.
The thing nobody tells you: applying to five lenders yourself leaves five footprints and five conflicting offers, and some lenders will not touch a business that has clearly been shopped around hard. We run a single soft search, package it once, and approach the right two or three. Our default is to lead with cost, then fall back to the lenders that say yes to harder profiles.
When you should skip an MCA entirely
- Don't bother if you have two years of clean accounts and the time to wait. A Funding Circle or high street term loan will cost you less.
- Skip it if your need is a recurring cash flow gap rather than a one-off. A revolving line like iwoca's Flexi-Loan means you only pay for what you draw.
- Walk away if a broker quotes you a rate before seeing a single bank statement. Nobody can price an MCA accurately without your card data. If they do, they are guessing or anchoring you high.
- Think twice if most of your income is cash or bank transfer rather than card. MCAs are built around card receivables, so a low card mix means a small, expensive offer.
Want us to tell you who'd actually fund you?
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Related reading
Frequently asked questions
Sources and further reading
- Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), on the regulatory perimeter for commercial finance
- British Business Bank, Small Business Finance Markets report
- UK Finance, business lending data
- GOV.UK, business finance support
- YouLend, published funding ranges and approval rates
- 365 Finance, product terms and repayment cap
- Capify UK, merchant cash advance and business loans
- Fleximize, revenue-based business loans
- iwoca, Flexi-Loan terms
- Funding Circle, business term loans
- CapExpand reviews on Trustpilot
- CapExpand Ltd, Companies House (No. 14433858)
CapExpand Ltd (Company No. 14433858) is a commercial finance introducer, not a lender. We are not currently authorised or regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and do not provide financial advice. All information on this page is for educational purposes only. Funding is subject to status and lender criteria. CapExpand will receive a commission from providers at no extra cost to you.