Payment % explained (daily card sales)

What it is, mechanically

Take £1,000 of card sales today on a 14% payment %. £140 is collected by the lender toward repayment; £860 settles to your bank as it normally would. Repeat tomorrow. There's no calendar payment, no direct debit, no missed payment risk, the deduction happens at source on every card transaction.

Typical UK ranges

• 8 to 10%, slow & steady, suits seasonal or volatile trade.
• 11 to 16%, typical default for most healthy SME applicants.
• 17 to 25%, fast repayment, only comfortable on consistent high-volume trading.

The 25% ceiling is the upper UK norm. Anything above that is rare and usually signals the lender is uncomfortable with the term length and trying to claw the advance back faster.

How it affects cashflow

The total cost of the MCA is fixed by the fixed cost (1.10 to 1.50 in our typical range), not the payment %. So a higher payment % doesn't cost more, it just clears faster. The trade-off is daily cash. At 25% payment %, a quarter of every card sale is being skimmed. On a quiet week, that hurts. At 8%, it's barely felt, but you'll be repaying for two to three times as long.

How lenders set it

Lenders model the payment % against your average daily card takings to target a specific repayment window, usually 4 to 9 months. They'll go lower if your volume is volatile (so you're not crushed in a slow week) and higher if your volume is consistent. You can usually negotiate it down by 2 to 3 points if you push, especially if you flag a known seasonal trough.

The payment % simulator lets you compare 8%, 14% and 25% side-by-side on the same advance, a useful sanity-check before accepting any quote.