For small-business owners in the Lehigh Valley and everywhere

Know what that money really costs before you sign.

Type in the offer you were sent. Fair Capital turns the factor rate and daily payments into an estimated APR, shows every dollar it takes, and lines it up against SBA and community lender examples. Then it shows you the road to fairer money.

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A typical offer, decoded

Amount funded
$50,000
Factor rate
1.35
Daily payment, 180 business days
$375
Total you pay back
$67,500
Estimated APR
91.1%

Same $50,000 at the SBA 7(a) maximum rate for that size, repaid monthly over 8 months, costs about $2,560 in interest instead of $17,500. Run your own numbers.

Education only. Fair Capital does not lend, broker, or arrange financing and receives no payment from any lender.

Why this exists

36% vs 17%

of Black-owned employer firms that applied for a loan, line of credit, or cash advance got none of the financing they sought, compared with white-owned firms. Federal Reserve Small Business Credit Survey, 2026 report (2025 survey), data appendix.

32% vs 8%

of Black-owned firms that did not apply said the main reason was they expected to be turned down, compared with white-owned firms. Same survey and appendix.

60%

of firms that borrowed from online lenders said the actual cost was higher than they expected. Same Federal Reserve report.

$1.065B

judgment in New York's case against cash advance funder Yellowstone Capital, with over $534 million in small-business debt cancelled for more than 18,000 businesses nationwide. New York Attorney General, 2025.

Survey figures are for employer firms. The Black-owned samples are small, so the ranges are wide (the 36% estimate has a 95% confidence range of 26% to 48%).

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True-Cost Analyzer

Enter the terms from your offer or contract. Results update as you type.

The offer
How it gets paid back

Estimated APR

91%

Compounded, that is an effective annual rate of about 148%.

Total cost of this money
$17,500
Cost per $1 you receive
$0.35
Payoff time
about 8.3 months
Out of your account every business day
$375

What you pay back over time
Show as a table

Same money, fairer doors

Comparison of your offer with an SBA 7(a) example and a community lender example
MeasureYour offerSBA 7(a) exampleCDFI example

How the APR is calculated
  1. Cash you actually receive = amount funded minus any fees taken out of it.
  2. Payment schedule. We lay out every payment on its real schedule: one per business day (or per week), until the full payback is collected. The last payment can be partial.
  3. Internal rate of return. We solve for the periodic rate r that makes the cash you receive equal to the present value of every payment: received = Σ paymentk ÷ (1 + r)k. This is the same actuarial idea used for APR disclosures.
  4. Estimated APR = r × payments per year (for example 260 for five business days a week, 52 for weekly). The effective annual rate = (1 + r)payments per year − 1, which shows the effect of compounding.
  5. Holdback offers are estimated as holdback % × monthly card sales, spread across business days in a month. If your sales change, your real cost and payoff time change too.

The math is checked against two independent methods (a manual bisection solver and a standard root finder) on six test cases, including $50,000 at a 1.35 factor repaid daily over 180 business days (estimated APR 91.1%). Numbers are estimates, not a disclosure from any funder. A cash advance is often structured as a purchase of future sales rather than a loan, and its contract terms matter.

Red flags to look for in your contract

Check any you find. This is general education, not legal advice. Have an attorney review any contract before you sign.

02

Capital-Readiness Score

Ten quick questions. Your answers stay on this page and are gone when you close it. This is a self-check, not a credit decision.

0/100

Answer the questions to see your score.

Saves as a PDF from your browser's print window. Nothing is uploaded.

03

Fair capital in the Lehigh Valley

Organizations we confirmed on their own websites. Listed in no particular order. We have no partnership with any of them and receive nothing from them.

Want help getting capital-ready?

PRISM works with owners on the business side of being ready: clean numbers, a clear plan for the money, and the systems that keep both current. We do not arrange financing and never sell your information.

Talk to PRISM