A merchant cash advance takes daily debits at effective rates that often exceed 50%, structured around the borrower's failure. A real-estate-secured bridge loan is short-term debt priced transparently — 10–18% — and structured around a clear exit. For a business that owns real estate, the bridge is almost always the cheaper, safer path.
MCAs price in factor rates and daily ACH pulls that compound quickly against cash flow. A bridge loan is a defined-term instrument secured by an asset, with a refinance or sale planned from day one.
Run the real math. A $250,000 advance at a 1.4 factor means $350,000 repaid — often inside 12 months, pulled daily whether or not you sold anything that day. The same $250,000 as a 12-month bridge near 13% is roughly $32,500 in interest, and you control the repayment instead of an automated debit draining the account.
The structural difference matters even more than the rate. An MCA is built to be refinanced by the next MCA; a bridge loan is built to be refinanced out — into a bank or SBA loan — and exited cleanly.
If you own real estate, you have collateral that earns you a fundamentally different cost of capital. The first step is recognizing you're not limited to the products that market to you most aggressively.
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Related: Bridge loans · Lending in Nevada