MyCashline review: merchant cash advances and short-term funding for UK businesses

MyCashline is a London-based provider of fast, short-term unsecured funding for small and medium-sized businesses, including merchant cash advances and short-term business loans. The MyCashline website now redirects to MCL Finance, which is the name the business currently trades under. MCL Finance is one of the lenders on our panel, and as an independent broker we can put its offer side by side with the rest of the market before you commit. You can read more on MyCashline's own website.

01About MyCashline (MCL Finance)

According to its own website, the business was founded in 2018 with the aim of removing barriers that hold back SME growth. It is based at Portland Place in central London and says it has funded more than 1,000 UK businesses.

Two things stand out in how it describes itself. First, it says every application is looked at by a person rather than decided purely by an algorithm. Second, it offers dedicated account managers, which can matter if you expect to come back for a top-up later. It also states that an initial decision does not affect your credit score, so you can see where you stand before a fuller check takes place.

If you have an old agreement or bank statement that says MyCashline, it is the same business. Smart Funding Solutions is an independent broker and is not part of MyCashline or MCL Finance.

02What MyCashline funds

MCL Finance describes its range as fast, flexible unsecured funding. Its site lists small business loans, unsecured business loans, merchant cash advances, short-term loans and cash flow loans. In practice these are variations on the same idea: a lump sum to cover working capital, repaid over a short period.

Product	What it is for	Typical size	Typical term
Merchant cash advance	Working capital repaid from future card takings	£5,000 to £250,000	1 to 24 months
Short-term unsecured loan	Stock, wages, bills, seasonal gaps or growth	£5,000 to £250,000	1 to 24 months
Top-ups and further drawdowns	Extra funding for existing customers	Case by case	Case by case

With a merchant cash advance, repayments are taken as a share of your card sales, so they rise in busy weeks and fall in quiet ones. With a short-term business loan, repayments are fixed. Which works better depends on how predictable your takings are.

03Who MyCashline suits (and who it may not)

MCL Finance publishes clear minimum criteria. On its site it says applicants should:

• be a UK-based business
• be a private or limited company
• have turnover of at least £15,000 a month
• have been trading for at least one year

It names retail, hospitality, healthcare and manufacturing among the sectors it supports. That makes it a realistic option for a shop, restaurant, clinic or small manufacturer with steady monthly income that needs cash quickly, for example to buy stock ahead of a busy season or to bridge a gap before a large customer pays.

It is less likely to suit a start-up, a business turning over less than the monthly minimum, or anyone looking to spread repayments over several years. If you need £100,000 or more for an asset or a long-term project, a longer loan or asset finance is usually a better match than a short-term advance. The amount offered can also vary with each application, so the top of the range is not available to every business.

04What MyCashline looks at

MCL Finance does not publish a full document list, but short-term and merchant cash advance providers typically ask for:

• recent business bank statements, often the last three to six months
• card terminal statements, if repayments are to come from card sales
• company details and information about the directors
• details of any existing finance, especially other advances taking a share of sales

Because a person reviews each case, context helps. A short explanation of a dip in sales or a one-off cost can make a difference. Directors are usually asked for a personal guarantee on unsecured short-term funding, so read the guarantee carefully and take advice if you are unsure.

05Pros and cons

Pros

• Speed: the site says funding can be arranged on the same day.
• No property security needed for its unsecured products.
• Human underwriting rather than a purely automated decision.
• Top-ups and further drawdowns are available to existing customers.
• Initial decisions do not affect your credit score, according to the lender.

Cons

• Short terms of up to 24 months mean higher regular repayments than a longer loan.
• Short-term and sales-linked funding usually costs more than a bank loan in total.
• The monthly turnover minimum rules out smaller and newer businesses.
• Directors may need to give a personal guarantee.

06Applying through a broker vs going direct

You can apply to MCL Finance directly. The risk with going straight to one provider is that you only ever see one price and one structure. Short-term funding varies a lot in total cost, repayment pattern and how it treats early settlement, so the first offer you see is not always the best one for your business.

When you come to us, we search the market across our panel of more than 300 lenders, look at your bank statements and card takings once, and approach the lenders most likely to say yes on sensible terms. That might be MCL Finance, or it might be a longer unsecured loan, a revolving facility or invoice finance. It is free to enquire; any broker fee is disclosed separately before you proceed. You can start with our Instant Quotes tool to compare lenders in minutes.

07Alternatives to MyCashline

• iwoca: often a better fit if you want a flexible credit line you can draw on and repay as needed, rather than a single advance.
• Capify: another specialist in merchant cash advances and short-term loans, worth comparing on structure if most of your income comes through card sales.
• Bizcap: worth a look for fast working capital where your trading profile falls just outside other lenders' criteria.

If you already have an advance and the repayments are squeezing cash flow, our guide to refinancing a merchant cash advance explains the options.