Merchant cash advance marketing guidelinesPrivate preview

Learn about marketing requirements for merchant cash advances (MCAs).

A merchant cash advance (MCA) is a purchase of a merchant’s future receivables, not a loan. Unlike loans, MCAs do not include features such as an absolute right to repayment, minimum payments, or a fixed term. When discussing MCAs, it’s important to avoid using loan-related terminology or concepts to ensure clarity and compliance.

This guide outlines the parameters for accurately and compliantly representing Stripe Capital MCAs in your marketing materials and other user-facing content.

Stripe must approve all marketing content before you go live with it. You can submit proposed marketing material to Stripe’s compliance team for review using the Compliance Intake Form.

Marketing materials to review and update

Website landing pages
Program FAQ
Financing offer emails sent by API (if applicable)
Other marketing emails that include MCAs
In-product notifications (banners, pop ups, etc.)

Terminology guidelines

Below are sets of acceptable and unacceptable types of terms for an MCA program. These terms aren’t exhaustive. They serve as general guidance to help you market MCAs transparently and reduce the likelihood of receiving revision requests during our user-facing copy review process.

	Acceptable	Unacceptable
How to describe an MCA product	MCAs aren’t loans. Refer to MCAs as “[merchant] cash advances”, “MCAs”, or “financing”.	Don’t state or suggest that the MCA is a loan or credit product.
How to describe the MCA transaction	MCAs are a sale of a merchant’s future receivables. Refer to such as “receivables purchased by Stripe”, “receivables sold to Stripe”, “unpaid receivables”, or “unpaid / unused advance amount”.	Don’t refer to receivables purchased as an “obligation”, “debt”, “amount owed”, or similar terms.
How to describe payment terms	Payment is made through withholding on transactions. Refer to this as the merchant “transferring receivables via withholding”, “transferring purchased receivables”, or “making payment toward the financing.” There should be no bank debits in an MCA program.	Don’t use terms like “repayment” or “repay”, which can imply a debt that is being repaid. Don’t use or refer to bank debits.
How to describe the duration of an MCA	MCAs don’t have a finite term (for example, there’s not a “maturity date” or “final payment” date), and there can be no enforced payment schedule for MCAs, including minimum payments.	Don’t use terms like “due”, “past due”, “minimum payment”, “late payment”, “default”, “payment window”, or any terms that suggest there’s a payment schedule.
How to describe servicing of MCAs	MCAs aren’t subject to “collections.” Except in limited scenarios, slow downs of payments (including stopping payment of the MCA altogether) aren’t events of default.	Don’t use terms like “collections.”
How to handle non-payment	MCAs involve assuming the risk that if a merchant’s business slows down, the MCA provider doesn’t get paid.	Don’t suggest that Stripe can set off unpaid advance amounts from the Stripe balance, linked bank account, or otherwise pursue such amounts absent a breach of the user’s financing agreement.

Besides the change of financing type, there are other notable differences with the MCA program compared to the loan program:

Though personal credit checks still aren’t required for Stripe Capital loans, the MCA program involves a soft pull on consumer credit of the business representative. So even though personal credit still isn’t impacted if a user takes financing, claims that the Capital program doesn’t involve a personal credit check are no longer valid and should be removed.
Though personal guarantees still aren’t required for Stripe Capital loans, personal guarantees are established with beneficial owners of users as part of accepting MCA financing. Any representations that the Capital program doesn’t require a personal guarantee should be removed.

Financial partner disclosures

All marketing collateral must mention our financial partner that provides merchant cash advances, YouLend. Since the Stripe Capital program is inclusive of both loans provided through Celtic Bank and MCAs provided through YouLend, there are different requirements on the way you can provide disclosures, depending on the type of copy:

Offer email disclaimers

The following only applies to platforms that are using Stripe’s Capital API to send financing offer emails. Platforms using hosted, no-code emails (sent by Stripe) don’t need to take any actions regarding offer emails.

Financing offer emails are required to include certain disclosures about the originating entity. Because Stripe’s Capital API also powers financing offers from partners in Stripe’s Lending Network, emails need to include different disclaimers depending on which Partner is offering the financing.

To determine which disclaimer to include at the bottom of an offer email, use the disclaimer_variant field in the Capital API and the table below:

disclaimer_variant	Disclaimer text
celtic_us_loan	Loans are issued by Celtic Bank and powered by Stripe. All loans subject to credit approval.
youlend_us_mca	All financing requests are subject to a final review prior to approval. Financing is provided by YouLend.
youlend_uk_mca	All financing requests are subject to a final review prior to approval. Financing is provided by YouLend.

Disclaimers on other user-facing materials

All other user-facing materials that talk about your capital program or financing offerings must include the following disclaimer:

Stripe Capital offers financing types that include loans and merchant cash advances. All financing requests are subject to a final review prior to approval. Stripe Capital loans are issued by Celtic Bank, powered by Stripe. YouLend provides Stripe Capital merchant cash advances.

Description of financing product differences

Merchant cash advance: A merchant cash advance is a purchase of a merchant’s future receivables by YouLend. It’s not a loan or credit transaction. Purchased receivables are withheld from the merchant’s payment processing volume in a percentage specified in the YouLend Advance Agreement. Unlike a loan, there’s no fixed payment schedule or periodic debits. Instead, a merchant’s payments vary based on payment processing volumes.
Loans: Business-purpose term loans are made by Celtic Bank to eligible merchants. These loans have a maximum term, and periodic payments. If withholdings from payment processing receivables don’t meet a minimum amount (typically on a 30 or 60-day basis), shortfalls are debited from a linked bank account.

Sample copy

This is only applicable if you send offer emails from the Stripe Capital API. You don’t need to take any action if you use Stripe hosted no-code emails for loan offers.

You can determine which financing product is being offered through the financing_type attribute of the Capital Financing API, which will be either cash_advance for Merchant Cash Advances or flex_loan for Loans.

We suggest taking a look at the samples below for insights on how to market MCAs.

MCA offer email (first offer)

Subject line:	You’re eligible: fast financing with [Platform name] and Stripe
Preheader:	Get funding in as little as one to two days
Body Copy:	Based on [customer name]’s strong performance, you’re prequalified for a merchant cash advance offer through Stripe Capital. Here are the details: Financing of up to [XX,XXX] USD [X,XXX] USD fixed fee paid over time Allocate up to [XX]% of sales toward payments You can use this financing for whatever your business needs, such as buying inventory, investing in marketing, or managing cash flows. View your offer [add button or link to offer] How it works Select the amount that’s right for you. The application only takes a few clicks, and applying won’t affect your personal credit score. Receive your funds. If your application is approved, funds are deposited into your bank account as soon as the next business day. Pay as you get paid. Your financing, plus a fixed fee, is automatically paid through a percentage of your sales, so you can pay more when business is busy and less if things slow down. This offer is available until [add date]. If you have any questions, you can learn more about the program here [add link to your landing page or How it works], or reply to this email to get in touch with our partners at Stripe. – The [Platform name] team
Footer:	This email was sent to [customer email address]. If you’d rather not receive this kind of email, you can unsubscribe from future financing offer emails. [add unsubscribe link] All financing requests are subject to approval. Financing is provided by YouLend.

Loan offer emails

The approved emails you send for loan-only offers don’t require changes.

Program landing page

Example: Stripe Capital | Loans and Cash Advances for Small Businesses

H1 Header	Get fast funding for your business – with [Platform Name] Capital
H1 Subhead	Quick access to funds to help grow your business–without the hassle of traditional loans.
CTA 1	Contact sales
CTA 2	Explore the docs
H1 Image	[Platform Name] Capital UI

H2 Header	How it works
H2 Subhead	Fast funding and flexible payments
Value Prop 1	Simplified application process - apply in a few clicks! Eligibility is based on factors like your payment volume and history on [Platform Name].
Value Prop 2	Get funds quickly. If you’re approved, receive your funds in as little as one to two business days directly into your linked account.
Value Prop 3	Clear terms–no surprises. You’ll view terms up front when you select the offer amount that’s right for your business, so you’ll know exactly what to expect from [Platform Name] Capital.
Value Prop 4	Pay as you earn for stress-free financing. With [Platform Name] capital, you automatically pay the loan or merchant cash advance with a fixed percentage of your daily sales until the total amount is paid.

H3 Header	Use funds to support your business’s growth
H3 Subhead	If approved, access flexible financing for anything your business needs.
Value Prop	Invest where it matters most, whether that’s purchasing equipment or new inventory, investing in marketing, or managing cash flows, [Platform Name] Capital gives you the financial support to grow.
Value Prop	Tailored solutions for your business – funding offers are based on your business’s performance data, providing personalized offers to meet your specific business needs.
Value Prop	Customize the size of your financing offer based on your business needs.You’ll only pay the cost of your financing plus one flat fee that never changes, there are no compounding interest charges or late fees.

Financial Disclaimer	All financing requests are subject to a final review prior to approval. Stripe Capital loans are issued by Celtic Bank, powered by Stripe. Stripe Capital merchant cash advances are provided by YouLend.

Wording guidelines

You can’t reference “repayments”
“Loan” is only mentioned in conjunction with “cash advance”
Mention of Celtic and YouLend as financial partners
If you want to optimize SEO around the word “loans”, you must do so compliantly, similar to the following example: “Pay as you earn. You’ll automatically pay the loan or merchant cash advance with a fixed percentage of your daily sales until the total amount is paid.”

Other user-facing materials

To inform users about the difference between MCA and loan products, you must show the following information on any program-related details pages (for example, FAQs and help center articles) or marketing emails related to your program (excluding offer emails, if applicable). You can either include the copy sections directly, link to How Stripe Capital works, or link to a similar page hosted by your platform.

Financing types

Each offer specifies the type of financing being offered, which might be a loan or merchant cash advance. You can’t request a particular financing type under the Stripe Capital program.

Merchant cash advance: A merchant cash advance is a purchase of a merchant’s future receivables by YouLend. It’s not a loan or credit transaction. Purchased receivables are withheld from the merchant’s payment processing volume in a percentage specified in the YouLend Advance Agreement. Unlike a loan, there’s no fixed payment schedule or periodic debits. Instead, a merchant’s payments vary based on payment processing volumes.
Loans: Business-purpose term loans are made by Celtic Bank to eligible businesses. These loans have a maximum term, and periodic payments. If withholdings from payment processing receivables don’t meet a minimum amount (typically on a 30 or 60-day basis), shortfalls are debited from a linked bank account.

Financing payments

Stripe Capital financing is generally paid through withholding from payment processing receivables at a rate specified in your financing agreement. Depending on your financing type, there may be periodic minimum payment requirements and a finite term.

Specifically, if you took out a loan, you must pay a minimum amount toward your loan every payment period.

No impact to your personal credit

Applying for financing through Stripe Capital might require a personal credit check under some circumstances, but this credit check doesn’t affect your personal credit score. If a personal credit check is required you will be notified during the application process. All offers are determined based on a number of factors, including order volume and your history of orders through [Platform Name].

Wording guidelines

Financing types (loan and MCA) are defined
Loan features (for example, minimum payments) are still included, but associated with statements that describe the features that are specific to loan financing
Acknowledges that a personal credit check might be applicable