Merchant Cash Advance in London
London's trading rhythm, weekday City lunches, West End weekends, seasonal tourism, means takings swing week to week, and a merchant cash advance repays as a share of those takings rather than a fixed sum. CoreFi is a broker, and we take your card turnover to funders on our panel who actually understand London's hospitality and retail economy. Advance size, factor rate and split percentage are all set by the funder once they assess your business.
Soho, Shoreditch, Borough Market, Islington: London runs on card-first trading, and its rhythm is distinctive even by UK standards. A restaurant near the City fills at lunch on weekdays and empties at weekends; a Shoreditch bar does the opposite; a Borough Market food stall lives and dies by tourist footfall through the season. A merchant cash advance takes an agreed percentage of every card transaction until a fixed total is repaid, no fixed monthly instalment, so a business with that kind of swing repays faster in a strong week and slower in a quiet one automatically.
CoreFi is a commercial finance broker, not a lender. We look at your trading pattern, work out whether an advance is genuinely the right tool, and if it is, match you to funders on our panel whose criteria fit. We do not decide whether an advance is offered or on what terms; that is entirely the funder's call.
- 1
Send us your merchant statements
Tell us what the business does, what the funding is for and roughly the timescale, and share a few months of merchant statements showing your card takings.
- 2
We shop your case around the panel
We put your file to funders whose criteria fit your London turnover and trading pattern, then set out exactly what each one costs once the factor rate and split are applied.
- 3
Accept an offer and the advance lands
Once you choose an offer, the funder runs its own checks before paying out, and repayments then come away automatically as the agreed share of each card transaction.
What actually gets repaid, using real numbers
Say a Shoreditch cafe takes £25,000 a month on cards and is offered a £20,000 advance at a factor of 1.3. The fixed total repayable is £26,000, set at the outset regardless of how quickly it clears. The funder then takes an agreed slice of every card transaction, commonly somewhere between 5 and 20 per cent, until that £26,000 is cleared. There is no interest accruing over time the way a loan works, which makes the cost easy to state upfront, but it also means paying it off faster does not usually reduce the total. That single fact, no discount for speed, is the one borrowers most often miss when comparing an advance to a term loan.
Card-heavy is the filter, not turnover size
The businesses we place most often here are card-first by nature: restaurants and bars from Soho to Shoreditch, salons across Islington, independent retail on the high streets, quick-service food operators near transport hubs. A business invoicing other businesses on 30 or 60-day terms is nearly always better served by invoice finance instead, and thin card volume simply will not raise a useful advance regardless of how healthy the business otherwise is. London's density of card-first trading is precisely why funders are comfortable underwriting here, from Borough Market stallholders to multi-site hospitality groups.
Why speed usually beats headline cost in this market
A fit-out gap between leases, a deposit on a second site, stock for a peak tourist season, equipment that fails mid-service: London's rents and wage costs mean these gaps are expensive to sit in, and an advance can often be arranged faster than a bank process allows. That is the trade-off worth being honest about. An advance is usually more expensive in total than a term loan for the same cash, and we will run that comparison with you before you commit to anything, because the right answer sometimes is the cheaper, slower option.
What a funder checks, and what CoreFi actually is
Card turnover comes first, evidenced by several months of merchant statements, sized from the monthly average. Then stability: trading history at the site, a seasonality pattern the funder can read, and whether the trend is up or down. Multi-site operators can often raise against combined turnover, and a strong site in an expensive postcode reads better to a funder than the same takings behind cheaper rent. CoreFi is a trading name of JG Core Ltd; arranging unregulated commercial finance for limited companies does not require FCA authorisation, and we do not present ourselves as FCA authorised or regulated.
Frequently asked questions
How much could a London hospitality business actually raise?
Roughly up to a month's card turnover is the usual ceiling, sometimes more for an established multi-site operator. A restaurant taking £60,000 a month on cards might be offered an advance in that region, but the funder sizes it from your evidenced average, not a rule of thumb.
Is an advance cheaper or more expensive than a bank loan?
Usually more expensive in total. A factor rate of 1.2 to 1.4 is the broad market shape, so £30,000 advanced could mean £36,000 to £42,000 repaid. We compare that against what a term loan would cost for the same cash before you commit, because sometimes the loan genuinely is the better answer.
What happens in a quiet trading month?
Repayments fall automatically, because they are a percentage of card takings rather than a fixed instalment. That is the whole point of the product for a seasonal or footfall-driven London business; a strong month simply clears the balance faster without reducing what is owed.
Do I need to switch card machine providers to get an advance?
Usually not. Most funders collect repayment through your existing card acquirer or via a separate fixed daily split. A small number of advances are tied to a specific provider, and we flag that upfront if it applies to your case.
Is this the right product for my business?
Only if you are genuinely card-heavy with a short-term need. Invoice finance usually costs less if your revenue is billed rather than taken on card, and a business loan usually costs less for a longer-term need. We will say so plainly rather than push you toward the wrong product.
Is CoreFi FCA authorised?
CoreFi arranges commercial finance for businesses, principally limited companies. Broking unregulated commercial finance to limited companies does not require FCA authorisation, and we do not hold ourselves out as FCA authorised or regulated.
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