Source and method
Every amount, term, and funding speed on this site traces back to a published figure or a stated assumption we own. This page lists both, shows what we pulled back in the 2026 review, and names what we keep out of public copy.
Last reviewed August 2026. Review cadence: Quarterly, and immediately whenever a published source revises a figure a range depends on.
We shortened several ranges rather than defending older, looser numbers. Each row shows what the site said before, what it says now, and the reason.
| Program | What changed | Before | Now | Why |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Working Capital | Maximum term | Up to 24 months | Up to 18 months | Standards tightened and 24 month paper stopped being the common outcome for a single unit operator. Publishing the ceiling as if it were typical set the wrong expectation.Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System / Federal Reserve Banks |
| Working Capital | Decision speed | 24 hours | 1 business day | An hour count implies a clock that keeps running overnight and through weekends. Underwriting desks do not.Foody Finance market review |
| Buildout and Expansion | Maximum term | Up to 120 months | Up to 84 months | A 10 year term on a buildout generally requires real estate collateral or an SBA structure. Stated as a general range it overpromised.U.S. Small Business Administration / National Restaurant Association |
| Merchant Cash Advance | Funding speed | As fast as 2 days | 1 to 3 business days | Bank verification and account validation add a step that a 2 day claim quietly skipped.Federal Trade Commission / Foody Finance market review |
| Equipment Financing | Coverage | 100 percent of equipment cost | 80 to 100 percent, down payment possible | Full coverage happens, but it depends on time in business, credit profile, and whether the equipment is new or used. The caveat belongs next to the number.Equipment Leasing and Finance Foundation / Equipment Leasing and Finance Association |
| Equipment Financing | Speed claim | Same day funding | Same day decisions | A decision and a wire are different events. Vendor invoicing and equipment delivery sit between them.Equipment Leasing and Finance Association |
| All factor rate programs | Cost display | Factor rate only | Factor rate plus total dollars repaid | A factor rate is not an interest rate and cannot be compared to one. Total dollars is the number an operator can act on.Federal Trade Commission / Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Regulation Z |
regulatory
U.S. Small Business Administration
Program rules set the outer bound on SBA loan amounts and maturities we publish: up to 10 years for working capital and equipment, up to 25 years when real estate secures the note.
Informs: SBA Loans amount range, term range, and the 30 to 90 day timeline
https://www.sba.gov/funding-programs/loans/7a-loanspublished
U.S. Small Business Administration
Approval volume and average loan size by program, updated weekly through the current fiscal year. We read it to keep the typical SBA request size honest rather than quoting the program ceiling as if it were common.
Informs: SBA Loans typical amount, not the maximum
https://www.sba.gov/document/report-weekly-lending-reportpublished
Federal Reserve Banks
Application, approval, and denial rates by firm age, revenue band, and product type, plus how often applicants receive only part of what they asked for. This is the single biggest reason our ranges are stated as estimates with underwriting caveats.
Informs: Partial approval language, credit and revenue qualifiers on every program page
https://www.fedsmallbusiness.org/reports/survey/2025/2025-report-on-employer-firmspublished
Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System
Quarterly read on whether banks are tightening or loosening standards for small business credit lines and term loans. Tightening quarters are why we shortened the top end of several term ranges instead of holding the older, looser numbers.
Informs: Working Capital and Business Line of Credit term and approval expectations
https://www.federalreserve.gov/data/sloos.htmpublished
Equipment Leasing and Finance Association
New business volume, approval percentage, and average days to fund across reporting equipment finance companies. It is the best public proxy for how fast an equipment file actually clears and how often it clears at all.
Informs: Equipment Financing approval expectations and funding speed
https://www.elfaonline.org/data/mlfi-25-monthly-leasing-and-finance-indexpublished
Equipment Leasing and Finance Foundation
Annual investment forecast by equipment vertical, including the share financed rather than bought outright. We use it to frame coverage as 80 to 100 percent with a down payment caveat instead of implying full coverage is standard.
Informs: Equipment Financing coverage percentage and down payment language
https://www.leasefoundation.org/industry-resources/horizon-report/published
National Restaurant Association
Operator level data on margins, labor cost pressure, and capital spending intent. It sets the revenue and time in business context our program pages assume, and it is why buildout timelines are written in months rather than weeks.
Informs: Buildout and Expansion timeline, revenue and time in business framing
https://restaurant.org/research-and-media/research/research-reports/state-of-the-industry/published
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Price movement on the equipment operators actually finance. Rising equipment prices move the amount ranges, not the terms, so we adjust the two separately.
Informs: Equipment Financing amount ranges
https://www.bls.gov/ppi/regulatory
Federal Trade Commission
Guidance on merchant cash advance marketing, including the difference between a factor rate and a periodic interest rate. We publish factor rate programs in total dollars, never as an implied APR.
Informs: Merchant Cash Advance cost presentation
https://www.ftc.gov/business-guidance/small-businessesregulatory
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Regulation Z
The identity our calculators solve when they convert a payment schedule into a rate, so a modeled cost on this site is computed the same way a disclosure would be.
Informs: Every calculator under /resources
https://www.consumerfinance.gov/rules-policy/regulations/1026/22/market observation
Foody Finance market review
We read publicly posted program sheets, rate cards, and term summaries that any operator can find without signing anything. We do not publish figures drawn from a partner agreement, a submission portal, or a private rate sheet.
Informs: Sanity check on every range before it is published
/disclosuresWe work with funding partners, and some of what they share with us is theirs, not ours. Here is what stays out of public copy, and why leaving it out does not weaken anything above.
Compensation and referral relationships are disclosed in full on disclosures. The arithmetic behind the cost of waiting receipt lives on methodology.
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