SBA 7(a) vs MCA: $250K Capital Cost Over 5 Years

The single most expensive financial decision a small business owner can make is choosing an MCA when they qualify for SBA. This stat shows the true 5-year delta in dollars — not basis points.

The data

Side-by-side total dollars paid for the same $250K of working capital across financing options.

Product	5-year total paid	Cost over principal
Inflection Financing SBA 7(a) (Prime + 2.75%)	$315,400	$65,400
Inflection Financing Term Loan (11.9%)	$331,200	$81,200
Bank Conventional (9.5%)	$316,800	$66,800
Online Term (OnDeck-tier, 35%)	$478,000	$228,000
MCA (1.32 factor, 9-mo, renewed)	$652,000	$402,000
Stacked MCA (1.45 factor, renewed)	$815,000	$565,000

Methodology

Total cost = sum of all principal + interest + fees over 5 years. MCAs assumed to be replaced every 9 months at same cost (typical renewal cycle).

Key takeaways

→Choosing an MCA over SBA on $250K costs $336,600 extra over 5 years — enough to fund a second location.
→Even a 'cheap' Tier-1 MCA costs 3.5× more than SBA over a 5-year horizon.
→Every Inflection Financing SBA refinance of an MCA position immediately stops the renewal cost spiral.

Cite this — free to embed

<blockquote cite="https://inflectionfinancing.com/data/sba-vs-mca-true-cost-comparison"><p><strong>Choosing an MCA over SBA on $250K costs $336,600 extra over 5 years — enough to fund a second location.</strong></p><footer>Source: <a href="https://inflectionfinancing.com/data/sba-vs-mca-true-cost-comparison">Inflection Financing — SBA 7(a) vs MCA: $250K Capital Cost Over 5 Years</a></footer></blockquote>

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Citation: Inflection Financing Commercial Lending Data, "SBA 7(a) vs MCA: $250K Capital Cost Over 5 Years" (Q1 2026). Available at inflectionfinancing.com/data/sba-vs-mca-true-cost-comparison.

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