The daily payment on a Westline merchant cash advance is a fixed dollar amount withdrawn from your business bank account every business day, Monday through Friday, until the total payback is reached. The amount is calculated at signing, locked in for the term, and shows up in your account on a predictable schedule.
It's not a percentage that flexes with sales. It's not a monthly bill. It's a daily debit that doesn't change. Understanding the math and the cash-flow implications before you sign is the difference between an advance that helps your business and one that strangles it.
The Formula
Daily payment = Total payback ÷ Term in business days.
A 6-month advance is roughly 130 business days (52 weeks × 5 days × 0.5). A 9-month is ~196. A 12-month is ~261.
Worked examples
$30,000 advance @ 1.25 factor, 6-month term
Total payback: $37,500
Business days: ~130
Daily ACH: $289
Monthly equivalent: ~$6,353
$75,000 advance @ 1.30 factor, 9-month term
Total payback: $97,500
Business days: ~196
Daily ACH: $497
Monthly equivalent: ~$10,930
$150,000 advance @ 1.35 factor, 12-month term
Total payback: $202,500
Business days: ~261
Daily ACH: $776
Monthly equivalent: ~$17,065
When the Daily Payment Hits Your Account
The ACH withdrawal is initiated by the funder and posts to your business bank account each morning, Monday through Friday excluding federal holidays. There's no payment for you to make — it's automatic.
If your account doesn't have the funds, the ACH may bounce. NSF fees from your bank typically apply. The funder usually retries the ACH and may charge an additional fee for the failed attempt. Repeated NSFs can trigger default provisions in the advance agreement, accelerating the remaining balance.
This is why getting the daily payment right relative to your cash flow is critical. A daily that's too aggressive turns a financing tool into a daily landmine.
How Much Daily ACH Can Your Cash Flow Handle?
A practical rule of thumb: the daily ACH should not exceed 12-15% of your average daily business deposits. Higher than that and the squeeze on operating cash becomes painful — bills slip, payroll cuts get tight, you start juggling.
Calculation:
- Take your last 3 months of business bank deposits.
- Divide total deposits by 90 days = average daily deposit.
- Multiply by 0.12 to 0.15 = your safe daily-ACH ceiling.
A business doing $90,000/month in deposits = $3,000/day average = $360-$450/day safe ceiling. An advance with a $400 daily ACH fits. An advance with $700/day daily ACH does not — you'll feel it.
What Happens If Sales Drop Mid-Term
The daily ACH doesn't flex with sales. A slow week still means $497/day comes out (in the second example above). This is the trade-off of fixed-ACH structures: predictability vs. flexibility.
Three options if sales drop and the daily becomes a problem:
- Reconciliation request — some funders allow a temporary reduction in daily ACH if revenue documentation shows a material drop. Not standard. Ask before signing whether reconciliation is available, what threshold triggers it, and what documentation is required.
- Refinance into a longer term — pay off the current advance with a new advance at a longer term and lower daily ACH. Cost goes up (you're paying a new factor rate), but the daily pressure relaxes.
- Switch to weekly or bi-weekly remittance — some funders offer weekly ACH instead of daily. Same total payback, less frequent debits. Often available for seasonal businesses.
Of these, reconciliation is the cheapest if available. Refinancing is the most expensive but most flexible.
A Cleaner Comparison: Daily ACH vs. Percentage-of-Sales
Some MCA funders use a percentage of daily credit card sales instead of fixed ACH. Pros and cons:
- Percentage-of-sales: payment flexes with revenue. A slow Tuesday is a small payment. Big Friday is a big payment. Total stays constant, timeline stretches/compresses with revenue. Better fit for restaurants and retail with heavy seasonality.
- Fixed daily ACH: predictable and easier to budget. Better fit for businesses with steady deposits across a mix of cash, ACH, card, check.
Westline defaults to fixed daily ACH but offers weekly/bi-weekly options for businesses with documented seasonality. Percentage-of-sales structures are available for restaurants and retail with heavy card-volume revenue if requested.
The Practical Bottom Line
Before signing an advance, calculate three numbers:
- Daily ACH amount (should be in the offer document)
- Your average daily business deposit (from the last 3 months of bank statements)
- Daily ACH as a percentage of average daily deposits
If that percentage is under 12%, the deal probably fits your cash flow. 12-15% is tight but workable for healthy businesses. Over 15% and you should renegotiate the term, the amount, or pass on the deal entirely.
Need help running the math on a specific offer? Send us the numbers — funding amount, factor rate, daily ACH, term length, last 3 months of bank deposits — and we'll lay out the percentage-of-cash-flow math line-by-line. Apply with Westline and we'll structure the daily ACH inside your real cash flow.
Sources & References
- Bank denial and small business credit access figures cited in this piece are derived from the Federal Reserve Small Business Credit Survey. Approval rates for small business credit applications at large banks have ranged from approximately 13%-31% across recent survey years, depending on bank category and reporting period.
- Small business finance landscape and lending program data: SBA Office of Advocacy.
- Merchant cash advance industry standards and disclosure practices: Small Business Finance Association (SBFA).
- Commercial financing disclosure regulations referenced (NY FAIR Act, CA SB 1235/666/362, VA, UT) are summarized from the published statutes; consult counsel for specific compliance application.