Beyond Merchant Capital, the Brisbane-based Merchant Cash Advance provider wound up business in 2021 after its overseas backers withdrew funding. Discover more providers of small business loans in Queensland / Brisbane here.

What Does it Mean for the Merchant Cash Advance Market?

A merchant cash advance, which is funding based on a retailer’s electronic point–of-sale revenue, remains one of the most accessible finance options for SMEs seeking a bad credit business loan. Unfortunately, following the closure of another MCA provider Merchant Cash in 2020, this only goes to reduce the options for SMEs seeking this type of funding.

Capify remains the most established and reputable merchant cash advance lender in Australia and has a long track record of assisting SMEs with such financing.

In June 2023, Lightspeed, who provide one of the best POS systems in Australia, expanded its Lightspeed Capital solution to Australia and New Zealand. Providing a merchant cash advance solution which is exclusively available to businesses using its POS software.

The following review is for educational purposes only and isn’t fully up to date with the above!

🌐 Website:	https://beyondmerchantcapital.com.au
®️ Logo:
📝 ABN:	48 604 670 662
📝 Credit License:	604 670 662
💰 Loan Amount	$10,000 – $300,000
⏲️ Loan Term	3 months – 24 months
💸 Unsecured Loans?	Unsecured Loans are Available (As is a Cash Advance)
⌚ Lender Requirements	Merchant Cash Advance: In business for 6 months with card sales of $10,000 a month. Unsecured Business Loans: Operating for at least 6 months and a monthly turnover of at least $10,000 a month.
📃 Required:	Personal and Bank Information, Credit Card Sales
⏱️ Response Time:	1-2 Days
🌝 Easy to Apply:	Yes, fully online (expedited application here)

The Nitty-gritty

💌 Online Reviews:	97% highly positive reviews out of 60 found online.
🏆 Awards and Recognition:	None to date
💳 Minimal Interest Rates:	Cash advance
⚖️ Advantages	Cash Advance Solutions Fast Approval Very Positive Client Reviews
⚖️ Disadvantages	Not as Known as some Competitors Not Much Information on Website Unclear Interest Rates
⚖️ Compare Beyond Merchant Capital	Compare Beyond Merchant Capital with 20+ Australian Lenders on Lend.com
Review Table of Contents	Company Story Client Reviews Review summary and Ratings

Overall Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Apply for Loan (Expedited for Quicker Results)

Company Story:

Beyond Merchant Capital was established in 2016 as a provider of working capital for small business in Australia. In fact, Beyond Merchant Capital was specifically launched in response to the demand of small to medium size businesses for working capital in Australia and the company’s vision is to become the market leader in providing innovative lending solutions throughout Australia.. 

Due to the fact that traditional funding options are very limited to SMEs, Beyond Merchant Capital provides a flexible payment model to get funded. The company offers unsecured business loans and a merchant cash advance.

Beyond Merchant Capital has extensive lending experience in the cash advance industry, having founded successful cash advance businesses in several countries worldwide. Their shareholders include Merchant Capital who are in turn backed by Capricorn Capital Group and RMI Holdings Ltd. The Capricorn Group is associated with the broader Yellowwoods Group, which includes Hollard Insurance (In Australia: Real, Guardian, Woolworths, MediBank, RSPCA, AUSURE among others). The investment group, RMI, has underlying investments including MMI, Discovery Holdings and OUTsurance (In Australia Youi Insurance).

The Chief Executive Officer of the company is Larry Prosser, who has more than 30 years of experience in financial services. With a background in Commercial Banking, Insurance and the Specialised Lending Sector, Larry has vast experience in working specifically with SMEs – providing them with tailored Financial Services, Cash Flow Management and Operational Performance Improvement.

Beyond Merchant Capital is located in Milton, Queensland, one of the inner suburbs of Brisbane, Australia.

Credibility Score: ⭐⭐⭐ 

Beyond Merchant Capital – Products & Services

There are two straightforward financing solutions available from Beyond Merchant Capital. As their name would suggest the firm can provide SMEs with a merchant cash advance but what you may not know is that the company offers unsecured business loans too.

Unsecured Business Loans

An unsecured business loan with Beyond Merchant Capital can be for up to $300,000 and for small businesses from a wide range of industries. The loan terms are usually between 3-12 months and the application can be completed in under 10 minutes. Once complete, the company should decide whether to approve your request or not in under 24 hours The company is proud to boast an 80% approval rating and 80% repeat customers who come back to Beyond Merchant Capital for financing later down the line. To qualify for an unsecured business loan, borrowers are asked to have been operating for a minimum of 6 months and turning over $10,000 a month. .

Merchant Cash Advance

A Merchant Cash Advance from Beyond Merchant Capital allows you to take an advance payment against your business’s future POS income. You receive a lump sum, which is then repaid automatically using a percentage of your daily EFTPOS transactions. This makes it a great option for businesses who have fluctuating daily sales. Just like an unsecured business loan, funding is possible between $10,000 – $300,000. As you pay back a percentage of your future sales, there is no fixed term on your loan – you’ll pay back the loan faster when your daily POS transactions are higher and slower when your daily POS transactions are lower. If you’re still unsure on what a Merchant Cash Advance is, then take a look at the video from Beyond Merchant Capital below.

Take your business to the next level. Whether it’s an unsecured business loan or merchant cash advance, apply for financing between $10,000 to $300,000 online in minutes. No security required.

Product Score: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Beyond Merchant Capital Client Review

-TrustPilot Australia: 60 Reviews, 87% Excellent, 10% Great, 3% Bad – 4.7 / 5 Total Score.

-SocialSurvey: 16 reviews, 15 positive, 1 negative, 4.2 / 5 Total Score.

-Facebook: 4 Reviews, 5 / 5 Total Score

Analysis of Client Reviews:

Out of 80 reviews we have discovered online for Beyond Merchant Capital, there are three negative experiences reported. 

One of the negative reviews relates to a borrower not being approved and felt the process was a waste of time – this is a very common complaint in the lending sector so not much to say on this. Another negative review certainly appears to carry some weight – they felt they were lied to by Beyond Merchant Capital in the sales process as they were informed a 2-year repayment schedule would be fine. After documents were signed it became clear that this wouldn’t be the case. We don’t know if this was ultimately resolved but Beyond Merchant Capital have responded to the complaint saying they would be in touch within 2 hours to try and work through the issues. It sounds like something certainly went wrong here but it’s good to see how proactive Beyond Merchant Capital have been in looking to resolve it.

This of course has to be weighed against the 97% positive experiences where clients report a quick response to questions and great help from a professional team. Others were very happy about the terms and conditions of their loans. It is rare to see such a high percentage of positive reviews,especially when you take into consideration that most people aren’t particularly satisfied with their financial services providers. We have to remember this is from only 80 reviews though – some of Australia’s top-rated business lenders have 10x this amount and more.

Client Reviews Score: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Beyond Merchant Capital Website Review

Beyondmerchantcapital.com.au is a professional and easy-to-navigate site. Product information is easy to digest and clearly displayed. There are a number of testimonials that readers can view and get a real-life understanding for how Beyond Merchant Capital has been able to drive businesses forward by providing the capital they needed. 

There’s plenty of information about Beyond Merchant Capital’s company journey and how they got to where they are now, providing reassurance that this is a lender that is legitimate and trustworthy.

Beyond Merchant Capital advertises its integration with Xero, meaning potential borrowers can sync up their business finances with ease and drastically speed up the application process. The FAQs section is detailed and covers topics such as loan terms, costs and security & privacy.

Website Score: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Beyond Merchant Capital Loan Compatibility

• Startup: For both loan products, Beyond Merchant Capital asks borrowers to have been trading for a minimum of 6 months.
• Bad credit: Makes it more difficult to attain an unsecured business loan but a merchant cash advance could still be possible.
• Sole trader: Yes, Beyond Merchant Capital can fund sole traders.
• Established business: Yes, established businesses can certainly apply.

Compatability Score: ⭐⭐⭐

Pricing & Rates

Like a number of online lenders, Beyond Merchant Capital prefers to use a factor rate as opposed to an interest rate, i.e. you are informed of the total amount you are to repay at the onset of the loan, as opposed to the interest it will accrue. On the plus side, this makes it very easy to understand and budget for but it can sometimes mean the lender charges a little more. If you are comfortable with the repayment term agreed and don’t think you’ll be able to pay the loan off early, then a factor rate should work out OK. If you believe you might be able to pay your loan off sooner than you originally agreed, then you may prefer a loan priced with an interest rate, providing it has no early repayment penalties.

This is what Beyond Merchant Capital has to say in its FAQs about fees:

“Following our assessment, we can tailor a loan to suit the needs of your business.  Usually you can choose either a fixed or variable repayment structure, an upfront fee with a lower rate or even choose to pay your origination fee across a period of time with your repayments.  Each loan attracts a fixed factor fee which is repaid as part of your daily scheduled payments.  We don’t charge any additional fees – there are no direct debit costs, discharge costs or any other hidden fees.”

Basically, you will be charged an origination fee + a fixed factor fee (which replaces the interest rate). The origination fee should be somewhere between 2.5% – 3% and is a fee charged by all of the most popular business lenders, such as Prospa and OnDeck.

Fees Score: ⭐⭐⭐⭐