Eligibility
How much business funding can I qualify for?
Revenue-based funders size offers on your monthly deposits; banks size them on capacity to repay. Here is what actually moves the number, why two businesses with the same revenue get different answers, and what to fix to qualify for more.
How much business funding can I qualify for?
For revenue-based products, funders size the offer on your monthly business deposits, commonly a multiple of one month, with the multiple set by deposit consistency, average daily balance, negative days, existing positions and time in business. Credit and asset products are sized on capacity to repay instead. Across the network, amounts run from $10,000 to $10,000,000 depending on the product. A partial approval is normal: only 42 per cent of applicants in the Federal Reserve’s 2025 survey received the full amount they sought.
How a funder decides the number
There are two completely different methods, and which one applies to you depends on the product, not on how much you ask for.
Revenue-based products — merchant cash advances, working capital loans, short-term loans — are sized on your monthly business deposits. The funder reads three to four months of statements, works out a reliable monthly figure, and offers a multiple of it. The multiple is set on your file, and the strength of your bank conduct moves it as much as the size of your revenue does.
Credit and asset products — lines of credit, term loans, equipment and SBA — are sized on capacity to repay: cash flow after existing debt service, collateral where it exists, and the financial statements behind it. Revenue matters, but as an input to a coverage calculation rather than as a multiplier.
What the amount depends on, by product
| Product | Amount range | Sized on |
|---|---|---|
| Merchant cash advance | $10,000 – $1,000,000 | Monthly card and deposit volume |
| Working capital loan | $10,000 – $1,000,000 | Monthly business deposits |
| Short-term loan | Up to $3,000,000 | Deposits, with verification at larger sizes |
| Business line of credit | $10,000 – $2,000,000 | Credit profile and cash flow |
| Equipment financing | Full purchase amount | The invoice, and the asset’s value |
| Receivables financing | $20,000 – $25,000,000 | Your aged receivables and your customers’ credit |
| Business term loan | $20,000 – $10,000,000 | Cash flow coverage and financials |
| SBA loan | $50,000 – $10,000,000 | Full underwriting; 7(a) alone caps at $5,000,0003 |
What moves your multiple up or down
Two businesses with identical revenue routinely receive different offers. These are the levers, roughly in order of how much they matter:
- Deposit consistency. Steady beats large. A predictable month is worth more than a spectacular one followed by a quiet one.
- Average daily balance. An account that lives near zero between deposits signals that a daily remittance will bounce.
- Negative days and returned items in the last thirty days. The fastest way to shrink an offer.
- Existing positions. Each open advance reduces what the next funder will advance, because they are sharing the same daily cash.
- Time in business. A two-year file with the same deposits as a seven-month file usually sees a better multiple.
- Industry. Sectors with lumpy or seasonal receipts are read more conservatively.
- Credit. Rarely gates a revenue-based offer, but often improves the pricing and sometimes the size.
Worked examples
The multiples below are illustrative, chosen to show the mechanism. They are not quotes, and yours is set on your file.
| Monthly deposits | File | Illustrative offer |
|---|---|---|
| $40,000 | 14 months trading, no negative days, no open positions | Around one month of deposits |
| $40,000 | 7 months trading, six negative days last month, one open advance | Materially less, or declined until the account is clean |
| $100,000 | 3 years trading, strong balance, no positions | More than one month of deposits, and a lower factor |
The point of the middle row is the one owners find hardest to hear: the same revenue produces a different answer depending on what the account looks like around it. Fixing the account is usually faster than finding a different lender.
What reduces the amount you are offered
- Undisclosed positions. Found at funding, they do not reduce the offer — they end it.
- Non-revenue deposits counted as revenue. A transfer from savings or a previous advance inflates the average, and underwriters subtract them.
- A declining trend. Three months walking downward invites a smaller, shorter offer unless you can show the reason and the recovery.
- Seasonality read at the wrong point. Applying at the bottom of your season with no history to show the peak.
- Asking for the wrong product. A number that looks impossible as an advance is often straightforward as equipment financing or receivables financing.
Why partial approvals are normal
In the Federal Reserve’s 2025 Small Business Credit Survey, only 42 per cent of applicants received the full amount of financing they sought.1 A partial approval is the ordinary outcome, not a judgement on your business.
What matters is deciding in advance what you would do with less. If $60,000 buys the inventory and $35,000 buys most of it at a slightly worse unit price, the smaller offer still works. If the project only functions at the full number, say so early — a specialist can structure around it, stage it, or tell you honestly that it is not there this quarter.
How to qualify for more
- Thirty clean days. No negative days, no returned items. The single highest-return action available to most files.
- Route everything through the business account. Revenue in a personal account is revenue an underwriter cannot count.
- Retire or consolidate existing positions before asking for new money — see business debt consolidation.
- Apply at the right point in your season, with the prior year’s peak visible in the statements if you have it.
- Bring a reason. A signed contract, a purchase order or a supplier quote turns an abstract request into a fundable one.
Whatever number comes back, ask for it in writing with the total repayment and the payment schedule beside it. A growing number of states now require providers to disclose exactly those figures before you sign.2
Ready to see a real number rather than an illustrative one? One application, about five minutes, soft credit inquiry only. Business loan requirements covers what you will need to have ready.
Common questions
How much can I borrow based on my monthly revenue?
Revenue-based offers are commonly sized around a multiple of one month of business deposits, but the multiple is set on your file rather than published as a rule. Deposit consistency, average daily balance, negative days and existing positions move it as much as the revenue figure itself does. A specialist can give you a real number from three months of statements in about a day.
Does asking for more hurt my chances?
Asking for a number your deposits cannot support invites a counter-offer or a decline rather than an approval, and it costs you time. It is better to say what the money is for and let the specialist size it. If the project only works at the full amount, say that too, so it can be structured or staged.
Why was I approved for less than I asked for?
Usually one of four reasons: deposits are lower or lumpier than the revenue figure suggested, there are negative days in the recent statements, an existing position is taking part of the same daily cash, or non-revenue deposits were counted out of the total. All four are visible in the statements before you apply.
Can I get more funding later?
Often, yes. Many revenue-based agreements allow a renewal once a set share of the balance is repaid, and a clean repayment history usually improves both the amount and the factor. What hurts is taking a second position from a different funder without disclosing it.
Is there a maximum?
It varies by product: up to $1,000,000 for merchant cash advances and working capital loans, up to $3,000,000 for short-term loans, up to $2,000,000 for a line of credit, up to $25,000,000 for receivables financing, and up to $10,000,000 for term and SBA loans, with the SBA 7(a) programme itself capped at $5,000,000.
Sources
- 2026 Report on Employer Firms: Findings from the 2025 Small Business Credit Survey — Federal Reserve Banks, 3 March 2026
- State Commercial Financing Disclosure Laws — Venable LLP, March 2026
- 7(a) loans — U.S. Small Business Administration
See what you qualify for
One application, about five minutes, soft pull only. A funding specialist comes back with the offers you qualify for — and explains every term before you sign.