Term funding — commonly called a business term loan — provides an agreed sum up front and is repaid on a schedule set before it begins. Its whole advantage is that you know what is due and when, from the first month to the last.
Illustrative diagram of the structure. Amounts, costs and repayment periods are decided at underwriting, and nothing here is an offer of credit.
Four properties, and every one of them is a form of the same idea: nothing about the arrangement changes after it starts.
A term arrangement provides an agreed amount up front and is repaid over an agreed period on an agreed schedule. It is the structure most people mean when they talk about business borrowing, and it is what other structures get compared against.
Its advantage is planning. A fixed payment on a known date can be built into a forecast, a lease negotiation or a hiring decision. Its corresponding cost is rigidity: the payment is the same in a quiet month as in a strong one, which is precisely the trade a sales-linked structure makes in the other direction.
Term funding is subject to underwriting and approval. Amounts, costs and repayment periods are decided at review and differ between businesses. Nothing on this page is an offer of credit.
None of the four funding routes is better than the others in the abstract. They put the uncertainty in different places, and the right one is whichever puts it where your business can carry it.
Written without timings, because a timeline that depends on how quickly documents come back is not a timeline anybody should publish.
What the funding is for, how much is needed and when. A specific purpose with a figure attached reviews far better than a general request for capital.
The business, its ownership and its trading history, submitted as one file rather than in pieces over a fortnight.
Business bank statements, and processing statements where card volume is part of the revenue picture. Complete months rather than screenshots.
Trading performance, how consistent it is, time in business, existing obligations, and whether the business can support a fixed commitment through a slow period as well as a strong one.
Approved, declined, or approved on an amount or a schedule different from the one discussed. Terms arrive with the decision rather than ahead of it.
Everything set out in writing before anything is signed — the amount, the schedule, the total cost and what happens if it is settled early.
Nothing here is an offer of credit. Availability, amounts, costs and repayment periods are decided at underwriting and differ between businesses. No approval, amount or timeframe is promised on this page, and any figure discussed before a decision is an illustration.
The value of having four funding routes inside one relationship is not the choice — it is that nobody has a reason to push you toward the one they happen to sell. A seasonal business asking about a fixed schedule usually needs a different conversation, and that is the conversation it gets.
Two of these are comparisons, because deciding between structures is the hard part and choosing a provider is not.
Equipment FinancingA fixed amount provided up front and repaid over a set period on a schedule agreed at the start. It is the structure most people picture when they think of business borrowing, and it is commonly called a business term loan. The defining features are that the amount, the schedule and the end date are all known before anything begins.
Almost entirely. Term funding is borrowing repaid on a fixed schedule to a known end date, and the cost is expressed as a rate. A merchant cash advance is not borrowing at all — it is a purchase of future card receipts, remitted as a share of sales, with a fixed total cost and no fixed end date.
The practical difference is what happens in a quiet month. A term payment is due whether or not the sales arrived. An advance remits less and takes longer. Which of those two risks suits a business is the real question, and it depends on how predictable its revenue is.
What it is attached to. Equipment financing is tied to a specific asset — the terminals, the POS setup, the install around them — and the equipment forms part of the arrangement. Term funding is not attached to a purchase; it is a sum the business uses as it decides. If what you actually need is hardware, the equipment route is usually the more direct one.
Often, and unlike an advance it is a question worth asking, because interest on a term structure usually accrues over time — so settling sooner can genuinely reduce what is paid. Whether it does, and whether an early settlement charge applies, depends on the specific agreement. Ask before signing and have the answer written into the documents rather than said in a call.
Decided at review, on the business. No rate, cost, amount or repayment period appears on this page, because those are set by an underwriting decision about a specific business rather than by a marketing page. If a figure is quoted to you before your file has been reviewed, treat it as an illustration and ask what it is based on.
How the business trades and whether it can support a fixed commitment. In practice that means trading history, how consistent the revenue is, how long the business has been going, what it already owes, and — where card volume is part of the revenue picture — the processing activity behind it. Personal guarantees and credit history commonly form part of a commercial review; whether and how they apply is specific to the arrangement.
No, and nobody honest will tell you otherwise. Term funding is subject to underwriting and approval. An application may be approved, declined, or approved on an amount or a schedule different from the one discussed. Nothing on this page is an offer of credit.
Funding and processing are separate services, and a review is about the business rather than about which processor it uses. Where both sit inside one relationship the review starts from a trading picture that already exists, which usually makes for a shorter conversation and a more accurate one.
Fixed amount. Fixed schedule. Known end.
Restaurant-ready POS, pay-at-table handhelds and equipment with no upfront cost for qualifying merchants. We start with a statement analysis — nothing changes until the numbers make sense.
Promotional terms and eligibility apply. Estimates only. Final pricing requires statement analysis and approval.
