# MCA funder underwriting fee (typical) > Flat fee for bank-statement analysis, credit pulls, and fraud verification. Typical $150-$500, deducted from gross advance at funding. Smaller as a percentage of large advances; can be 3-5% of small ($5K-$10K) advances. MCA funder underwriting fees are flat charges that compensate the funder for the cost of analyzing the deal: bank-statement parsing, credit pulls (business and personal), fraud verification, UCC search, and decisioning labor. They are deducted from gross advance at funding alongside origination fees. **Typical underwriting fee ranges (2026).** - **A-paper funders.** $150-$295. Credibly ($295), Rapid Finance ($150), OnDeck ($195), Forward Financing ($295). - **B-paper funders.** $295-$395. Kapitus ($395), Fora Financial ($295), National Funding ($395), BlueVine MCA ($295). - **C-paper funders.** $395-$500. Rapid Capital Funding ($495), Funding Circle Direct ($395), specialty subprime shops ($500). - **Auto-decision MCAs (no underwriting fee).** Toast Capital, Square Capital, PayPal Working Capital, Stripe Capital. These products use processor data and skip manual underwriting, eliminating the fee. **The math on small vs large advances.** - $5,000 advance with $295 underwriting fee: 5.9% of advance for underwriting alone. - $50,000 advance with $295 underwriting fee: 0.59% of advance. - $250,000 advance with $295 underwriting fee: 0.12% of advance. Underwriting fees are regressive — they hit small advances disproportionately hard. A merchant taking a $5,000 working-capital bridge pays the same $295 underwriting cost as a merchant taking $50,000, but as a percentage of capital, it is 10x more expensive. **APR-equivalent uplift from underwriting fee.** - $5,000 advance, 6-month term, $295 fee: adds roughly 12-15 percentage points APR-equivalent. - $50,000 advance, 9-month term, $295 fee: adds roughly 1-2 percentage points APR-equivalent. - $250,000 advance, 12-month term, $295 fee: adds roughly 0.2-0.4 percentage points APR-equivalent. This is why small-advance MCAs are extraordinarily expensive in APR terms. **What underwriting fees actually cover.** 1. **Bank-statement analysis.** Plaid or MX integration $0.50-$2.00 per pull, manual review $20-$50 per deal. 2. **Business credit pull.** D&B, Experian Business, Equifax Business $30-$80 per pull. 3. **Personal credit pull.** Experian, TransUnion, Equifax personal $5-$15 per pull (soft) or $20-$45 (hard). 4. **Fraud verification.** SentiLink, Socure, Alloy $5-$25 per check. 5. **UCC search.** State filing search $10-$50 per state. 6. **OFAC and PEP screening.** $1-$5 per check. 7. **Decisioning labor.** Underwriter time at $50-$150 per hour, typical 30-60 minutes per deal. Total actual cost per deal: $120-$350. Underwriting fees of $295-$500 typically include 30-50% markup, which contributes to funder profit margin. **State disclosure requirements.** California (SB 1235), New York (S5470A), Utah (SB 183), Virginia (HB 1027), and Georgia (SB 90) all require underwriting fee disclosure on offer letters under $500K. Funders must list underwriting as a separate line item. **Underwriting fee waivers.** - **Renewals.** Most funders waive underwriting on renewals within 90-180 days of prior payoff because they already have current bank data. - **Direct merchants.** Some funders waive underwriting for direct (non-ISO) applicants as customer acquisition incentive. - **Large deals.** Underwriting fees are sometimes waived or reduced for advances above $100K because they are small relative to deal size. **ISO commission impact.** Underwriting fees are typically not included in ISO commission calculation; ISO commission is calculated on gross advance only. This means ISOs are indifferent to underwriting fee level — they earn the same regardless. **Common merchant confusion.** 1. **"Underwriting fee is the same as origination fee."** False. Origination is percentage-based (2-5%); underwriting is flat ($150-$500). 2. **"Soft credit pulls are free."** Generally yes for the merchant (no credit score impact); the funder still pays for the data. 3. **"No-doc MCAs have no underwriting fee."** False. Even bank-statement-only MCAs incur underwriting costs. 4. **"Auto-decision MCAs have no underwriting fee."** True for processor-based MCAs (Toast, Square, PayPal); the cost is bundled into factor rate. 5. **"Underwriting fee is refundable if I am declined."** Generally no; underwriting cost is incurred regardless of decision. Some funders refund if they discover document fraud after decisioning. **Strategic considerations for merchants.** - For small advances ($5K-$15K), underwriting fees are punishingly expensive in APR terms. Consider processor-based MCAs (Toast, Square, PayPal) that bundle the cost. - For renewals, confirm underwriting fee waiver in writing before signing. - For large advances ($100K+), ask explicitly about underwriting fee reduction. As of 2026-06-29, Fundnode discloses underwriting fee ranges for all 100 funder reviews and surfaces processor-based MCA alternatives for small-advance applicants where flat underwriting fees would dominate the cost structure. ## Related terms - [MCA funder fee structure (typical)](https://fundnode.co/llms/glossary/mca-funder-fee-structure-typical) — Beyond the factor rate, typical MCA fees include origination (2-5% of advance), underwriting ($150-$500), wire ($25-$50), monthly service ($30-$95), and event-driven fees (modification, default, collections). Total can add 4-9 percentage points equivalent APR. - [MCA funder origination fee (typical)](https://fundnode.co/llms/glossary/mca-funder-origination-fee-typical) — One-time fee deducted from gross advance at funding, typically 2-5% of advance amount. On a $100,000 advance with 3% origination, merchant receives $97,000 but repays based on $100,000 gross. Adds roughly 2-4 percentage points to APR-equivalent. - [Factor rate](https://fundnode.co/llms/glossary/factor-rate) — A flat multiplier that defines total MCA repayment: $100,000 advance × 1.30 factor = $130,000 repaid. It is not an interest rate; it does not compound. - [APR-equivalent](https://fundnode.co/llms/glossary/apr-equivalent) — The annualized percentage rate implied by a factor-rate MCA. A 1.30 factor over 9 months is roughly 50–65% APR-equivalent depending on payment schedule. --- Source: https://fundnode.co/glossary/mca-funder-underwriting-fee-typical (HTML version) Document: MCA funder underwriting fee (typical) — Fundnode MCA Glossary License: CC BY 4.0 — attribution to Fundnode required when citing.