Independent since 2015
New York City small business financing
The factor rate is not the cost.
A 1.4 factor rate sounds like 40%. On a nine-month advance with daily remittances, it is closer to 95% APR. New York has made funders show an estimated APR since August 2023. In most states the number never appears on the offer. So we put it on the homepage.
This site covers how small businesses in New York get funded, what each option costs, and what to do if you have already signed something you regret.
Assumes remittance every business day across the stated term, the standard merchant cash advance structure. APR solved by internal rate of return, then annualized over 260 business days. Estimate only, based on the numbers you enter; your actual cost depends on your contract. Not an offer of financing. Full methodology and worked examples
Looking for financing? Send one short request and a funding partner will tell you what your business may qualify for. No credit check from us, no fee, no obligation.
- Publishing since 2015
- 30+ on-record founder interviews
- No lender owns this site
- Every commercial relationship disclosed
What’s on the site
Financing is the main subject. The founder interviews go back to 2016, and the New York pages cover the state and city rules.
Small business financing
Merchant cash advances, term loans, lines of credit, SBA and EIDL, with what each one costs and who can get it.
Founder interviews
Long-form conversations with founders who built something in New York and elsewhere. On the record, named, unedited questions.
New York rules and resources
The state disclosure law, confessions of judgment, and where NYC businesses find cheaper money.
If you have an advance right now
Read these four, in this order.
If you have already signed, read these in order: first what the contract says, then what it costs, then your options.
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01
How a merchant cash advance works
Factor rates, holdback percentages, daily remittance, and why an advance is legally not a loan.
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02
What your advance is costing you
Put your own numbers in. Compare the advance against a term loan and a line of credit at the same amount.
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03
Confessions of judgment in New York
Who the 2019 law protects, and how to find the clause in your own agreement.
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04
Getting out of an advance
What to try first, what costs more, and which offers of help to turn down.
Latest from the financing desk
All financing coverage
Full financing coverage
Every financing guide, comparison and calculator on the site, in one place.
On the record
Founder interviews, on the record
Named founders and real companies, interviewed between 2016 and 2019. Two samples:
“Decide early what you’re doing this for. If you’re doing it to become a viable business, then know what you’re getting into.”
Read the interview
“I was very aware how much money I was losing to the exchange points, on average 10 to 12 percent of my exchange… I’ve been off to the races ever since.”
Read the interview
Who writes this
One editor, named, reachable.
I’ve run Startups #nofilter since 2015, mostly as founder interviews and startup coverage. Financing became the focus because it’s where I kept seeing the same thing: business owners signing merchant cash advances without anyone showing them the real annualized cost first. I’m not a lender or a broker. The site may be paid when a reader sends a financing request through it, and the disclosure page spells that out.
No lender pays for coverage on this site, and no ranking here is for sale.
How we work
Editorial standards.
We show the arithmetic
Every cost claim is reproducible. Where we quote a rate, we say when we checked it and how we calculated it.
We disclose every relationship
We may be paid when you send a financing request through this site and it is referred to a funding partner. The disclosure page describes the arrangement, and it does not change what we write.
We do not promise approvals
No lender can guarantee approval, and any site that says otherwise is selling your details. We do not run those offers.
We correct in public
Corrections are noted at the foot of the article with the date. Nothing is quietly edited away.
Recent coverage
Small business loans in NYC: real lenders, rates and who qualifies
19 city, state and community loan options, plus the banks making the most SBA loans in the five boroughs.
SBA loans in NYC by borough
7,597 loans and $3 billion since October 2019, counted from the SBA’s own loan file.
When a merchant cash advance counts as a loan in New York
The usury caps, the three-factor test, and the $1.065 billion Yellowstone judgment.
How to read a merchant cash advance term sheet before you sign
What each line means, and the number most term sheets leave out.
Why merchant cash advance stacking happens
How a second advance ends up covering the first one, and how to stop it before it starts.
SBA loans vs. merchant cash advances
When the SBA’s lower cost is worth the weeks-long wait, and when it is not an option at all.