If your company does a considerable amount of its business in credit card and debit card sales, the chances are that you’ve already heard about merchant cash advances. If you aren’t familiar with MCAs, though, they are in essence a type of loan available exclusively to businesses (usually merchants or vendors) that accept credit or debit cards.

These types of loans are especially common for restaurants and retail stores. If such a business had a major expense they had to cover—whether for new equipment, inventory, or the like—they could apply for an MCA instead of a traditional bank loan. If approved, the MCA would be delivered in a lump sum amount, same as a traditional loan.…