Beyond Merchant Capital Review (2021)

Beyond Merchant Capital’s small business loans have the following features which make them stand out from other SME online lenders:

Beyond Merchant Capital keep eligibility for a loan very simple, the lender will approve your loan as long as you satisfy the minimum application requirements. This means the business needs to have been trading for at least 6 months, as you will need to show at least six months of bank statements.

This process allows the Fintech to see if the business averages at least $10,000 a month in revenue, a strong indicator the business has the financial health to honour the loan repayment terms.

The business will also need an ABN or ACN number, as you will need to show the loan is for business purposes and not personal reasons and give permission for the lender to allow them to check the credit score of the business and all directors. Directors will need to provide a personal guaranteed on the loan.

The loan amount you can borrow is $10,000 to $300,000 and you can expect Beyond Merchant Capital to approve about one month’s worth of turnover.  If you require a larger loan, the lender offers personal service with a customised solution, so you can expect a lending specialist to help you find the best option for your needs.

The payment term will vary depending on the financial health of the business, the loan amount, and your personal preference. Loans will typically be between 9 and 12 months.

Beyond Merchant Capital only have two sources of fees for their unsecured business loan, these are a one-off origination fee and a factor fee.

The origination fee is the upfront charge most lenders charge to process your application, while the lender does not advertise their origination fee,  2 to 3%, is an industry-standard in Australia.  Beyond Merchant Capital offers flexible origination fee arrangements, this can include larger upfront fees with lower loan rate or origination fee spreads across your repayment term. Your origination fee will be included as part of your factor rate.

The factor rate is the other cost you will have, the lender applies this factor rate instead of interest rates. The factor rate is a decimal figure, so to calculate how much you will need to pay, you multiply the principal loan amount by the factor rate. This type of payment does not compound and does not change like variable interest does, which means you can easily determine how you will pay each pay period.

Beyond Merchant Capital’s main financial product is merchant financing, which is commonly known as a merchant cash advance. This type of finance is a financing alternative to traditional loans for business owners as the business receives an advance (not a loan) in return for a percentage of business future earnings.  If your business makes the bulk of sales through EFTPOS transactions, then a merchant cash advance allows you to align your loan remittance to a portion of your daily or weekly card sales. This means you pay back more for the loan when sales are high and less when sales are low, making it a great option for business with seasonal cash flow such as retail and hospitality.

Beyond Merchant Capital’s Cash Advance have the same qualification as for their unsecured loans. As long as your business is a registered Australian business and has an average of $10,000 in turnover for the most recent 6 months, the odds are high that Beyond Merchant Capital will approve the loan. The lender approves about 80% of applications.

Beyond Merchant, capital will approve about a months worth of turnover as a cash advance.  A loan specialist from the lender can work with you to find an arrangement that suits your loan requirements. If you need more in the future, the lender allows for easy redraw.

Merchant cash advances do not have regular repayment commitments. Your business pays back an agreed percentage of credit card and debit card sales, so when sales are high you pay the loan faster, when sales slow, you pay less. You should expect the cash advance to be  80 to 100% of your monthly card turnover. As you are paying a % of your sales, you don’t need to be concerned with a meeting scheduled payment obligations nor do you need to pay the cash advance before the end of a loan term. This means there are no late fees. Your advance is closed when the required advance amount is paid off through a deduction of the % of card sales made by the business.

Beyond Merchant Capital gives you a choice of origination fee plans. You can agree to a larger origination fee, which can mean a better repayment rate or have your origination fee spread across the life of the loan. The loan specialist from the lender will explain to you how this works and take you through the benefits of each arrangement.

You can borrow up to 100% of your average monthly EFTPOS transactions, with 80% being the average. Of the amount you borrow, a small percentage will be taken from your EFTPOS sales on a daily or weekly basis before the rest is released to your bank account. A cash advance has no fixed term regardless there are no hidden fees. So all your costs are included in the interest rate that forms part of your EFTPOS remits.

As long as your business satisfies Beyond Merchant Capital minimum qualification requirements, then you can have a provisional approval straight away. Formal approval will usually be given within 24 hours, and delays will only occur if the lender finds any issues that warrant further investigation. Once the lender has given approval, you will have access to working capital within 24 hours. This means from the time you apply to the time you receive funding should all be done within 48 hours.

How you intend to use the loan or advance will affect which type of finance lending is best for your business.

Unsecured business loans and merchant cash advance for any purpose you like, as long as it is for your business. You cannot use the loan for personal purposes or non-business related reasons. While an unsecured business loan is suitable for any business, a merchant cash advance is only suitable for certain businesses. These businesses must make sales through EFTPOS, businesses that use EFTPOS normally include retail, hospitality (restaurants, hotels), spas, cinemas, auto repair shots.

Typical example one might use a business loan include:

• Purchasing stock
• Paying staff wages
• Buying/hiring equipment and inventory
• Managing business cash flow
• Payment of invoices

Beyond Merchant Capital was started in 2016 as a lender that provides cash advances to borrowers in several countries around the world. The business was formed as a partnership between RMI Holdings Ltd and Capricorn Capital Group, who share a wealth of experience in the Fintech industry. Beyond Merchant Capital Business loans aim to provide fast, simple and honest financial services backed with a superior user experience for the loan. These features aim to form part of the lender’s goal to break down barriers for a small and medium business who might struggle to get loans through traditional funding methods.