How Quickly Can Seasonal Businesses Receive MCA Funding?

It was March 23rd when Elena's landscaping equipment trailer was stolen. Inside: $32,000 worth of commercial mowers, trimmers, blowers and tools she'd accumulated over three years. Her first major contract, a $48,000 corporate property maintenance job, started April 1st. Nine days away.

Without equipment, she'd lose the contract. Without the contract, her whole season was in jeopardy. The contract represented 40% of her projected summer revenue.

Insurance would eventually pay, but "eventually" meant 45-60 days minimum. The contract wouldn't wait. Her bank? She'd applied for a line of credit six weeks earlier and was still "under review."

Elena Googled "emergency business funding" at 11:17 PM on Wednesday night. By Thursday at 2:35 PM, she'd been approved for a $35,000 merchant cash advance. By Friday at 10:20 AM, the money hit her account. By Saturday afternoon, she'd bought replacement equipment from a dealer 90 miles away. On April 1st, her crews started the corporate contract on schedule.

From crisis to funded in 36 hours; from funded to operational in 24 more. This is the speed that makes Merchant Cash Advances unofficial emergency financing for seasonal businesses where timing means everything.

The 24-72 Hour Reality

For seasonal businesses, MCA funding timelines usually look something like this:

Hour 0-2: Application Most MCA applications take 15 to 25 minutes to complete online. You will provide the basic details of your business, ownership information, and upload or attach your bank statements and credit card processing history. Some providers are using services such as Plaid that link directly into your bank account, pulling in data instantly rather than requiring PDF uploads.

Elena started working on her application at 11:17 PM Wednesday and submitted it at 11:42 PM—25 minutes including hunting down her EIN and uploading three months of bank statements from her phone.

Hour 2-24: Initial Review and Approval Automated systems scan your submitted data for red flags: negative balances, returned payments, declining revenue trends, existing MCA obligations consuming too much cash flow. Once you pass automated screening, human underwriters review it during business hours.

Elena's application landed on an underwriter's desk at 9:15 AM Thursday. At 10:30 AM, she got an email: "Conditionally approved pending verification call."

Hour 24-36: Verification and Final Approval Underwriters call to verify business details, understand your situation in particular, and sometimes negotiate terms. If you are a seasonal business, explaining your revenue pattern is important: it helps show that your winter slowdown is normal, not a crisis.

Elena's call came at 1:45 PM Thursday. The underwriter asked about her seasonal revenue, the equipment theft, and the pending contract. By 2:35 PM, she had formal approval with the following terms:

• Advance: $35,000
• Factor rate: 1.34
• Payback: $46,900
• Holdback: 13%
• Estimated period: 6 months

Hour 36-72: Funding Once you accept terms and sign contracts electronically, funding occurs via an ACH transfer (slower, free) or wire transfer (faster, $25-50 fee). Most MCA providers fund within 24 hours of signed contracts. Some provide same-day funding in urgent situations.

Elena signed her contracts at Thursday 3:10 PM, chose next-day ACH funding and had $35,000 in her account Friday at 10:20 AM. Total time from initial application to funded: 35 hours, 3 minutes

What makes this speed possible?

Unlike traditional bank loans, which require committees and appraisals and a tremendous amount of documentation, MCAs move fast because they're evaluating different things:

Simple Underwriting: They mostly have one question: "Can your current cash flow handle the payments?" Your processing statements answer that question in minutes.

Technology-driven: the automated systems perform instant reviews of bank statements, processing history, and credit reports, flagging applications for human review only on an as-needed basis.

Minimum Documentation: Three months' bank statements and processing statements are usually adequate. No tax returns, business plans, collateral appraisals, or financial projections are required.

No Committees: Individual underwriters have authority to approve up to $100,000 without committee review to eliminate days of waiting for group decisions.

Seasonal Business Advantages

Seasonal businesses are often approved faster than year-round operations since their processing statements tell clear stories:

Example: A ski shop processing $180,000 from November to March shows capacity for spring MCA payments, even though April only shows $6,000. An underwriter who is familiar with seasonal patterns will recognize this.

Elena's landscaping company showed $8,000 in March processing, but her previous year's April-October statements averaging $42,000 monthly demonstrated her seasonal reality. The underwriter approved based on her upcoming season capacity-not her current week's deposits.

The Urgency Premium

Some MCA providers do offer "emergency funding" or "same-day funding" for additional fees ($200-500) or slightly higher factor rates. For seasonal businesses facing time-sensitive situations, these options exist:

Same-Day Funding: Apply by 10 AM, get approved by 2 PM, receive wire transfer by 5 PM. Costs extra but delivers money within business hours.

Weekend Approvals: Some providers process applications seven days a week, though funding still requires banking business days.

Pre-Approval: Seasonal businesses can get pre-approved during their off-season, with funding available instantly when needed during peak season preparation.

The Pre-Season Strategy

Smart seasonal operators utilize this speed strategically by getting pre-approved before capital needs arise:

Carlos owns a retail fireworks business. In April, before his busy season, he sought MCA pre-approval. A provider underwrote his prior July's processing ($340,000 in two weeks) and pre-approved him for up to $80,000 with 120 days to activate funding if the need arose.

When his supplier offered a 20% discount for early May payment, Carlos activated his pre-approved funding inside 18 hours and captured the discount, worth $12,000, far more than his MCA cost.

Real Timeline Examples

Pumpkin Patch (August funding needed)

Monday 9 AM: Application submitted

Monday 3 PM: Approved

Tuesday 11 AM: Contracts signed

Wednesday 10 AM: $42,000 Funded

Total time: 49 hours

Beach Rental Shop (April funding need)

Thursday evening: application

Friday morning: Approved

Friday afternoon: Signed

Monday morning: $28,000 Funded

Total time: 62 hours - weekend delay

Wedding Photography Business (March funding)

Tuesday 2 PM: Application

Tuesday 8 PM: Initial approval

Wednesday: 10 AM Verification call

Wednesday 2 PM: Final approval and signing

Thursday 9 AM: $15,000 Funded

Total time: 43 hrs.

When Speed Doesn't Happen

Some situations slow MCA funding:

Existing MCA Obligations: If bank statements show multiple existing MCAs, providers need time to evaluate your ability to handle additional payments.

Declining Revenue Trends: When your revenue is declining on a month-over-month basis, underwriters need to know why before they are willing to approve.

Incomplete documentation: statements missing or bank deposits not clear.

Very Large Amounts: Requests over $100,000 often require senior underwriter review, adding 24-48 hours.

New Businesses: Less than six months of processing history may be subject to additional underwriting documentation and review.

The Speed vs. Cost Trade-Off

Yes, Elena paid $11,900 for access to $35,000 for six months—roughly 68% APR. That's expensive.

Yet her $48,000 contract generated $19,200 net profit (40% margins). Even after the $11,900 MCA cost, she profited $7,300 while securing the equipment she needed for her entire season.

The bank loan she applied for six weeks earlier? Still "pending review" when her contract would have been lost.

The insurance claim? Paid 52 days later, weeks after she'd have lost the contract.

The Seasonal Speed Verdict

For seasonal businesses where windows open and close rapidly, supplier offers expiring in days, equipment emergencies before the season starts, opportunities requiring immediate action, the 24-72 hour funding speed of MCA represents the difference between capturing opportunities and watching them vanish.

The cost is real and substantial. But so is the cost of missing your season, losing contracts, or operating without critical equipment during your narrow window of profitability.

When you have four months to make 75% of your annual revenue, waiting 90 days for bank approval means you miss the season entirely. Paying premium rates for 48-hour funding means staying in business.

For seasonal operations, speed isn't just convenient-it's existential. MCAs deliver that speed reliably, making them the de facto emergency and opportunity financing for businesses racing against calendars and seasons that wait for no one. Sometimes fast and expensive beats slow and cheap. To seasonal businesses, that "sometimes" is called "your entire business model."