True Cost
True cost of borrowing — the honest-math hub
Authoritative breakdowns of what loans actually cost — factor rate to APR, APR vs interest rate, the credit card minimum-payment trap, and SBA vs MCA real cost. Honest math, fully sourced.
The cluster
Factor rate to APR
Convert any MCA or RBF factor rate to APR — the simple-cost number and the true effective APR.
APR vs interest rate
Why APR is the comparison standard and how fees fold in. Worked examples across 4 loan types.
The real cost of credit card debt
How minimum payments trap revolving balances. Three balance scenarios with payoff timelines.
SBA vs MCA — real cost
Side-by-side cost comparison on a $100K need. When SBA wins, when MCA actually makes sense.
The real cost of a car loan
The 84-month trap, underwater equity, and the term-length math dealers don't show you.
When refinancing actually pencils
Break-even math, fee recapture, and the rule of thumb that decides whether a refi nets out.
HELOC vs cash-out refi
Variable revolving line vs new fixed mortgage. Which wins for a $50K need, and why.
Buy now, pay later — the real cost
The 'interest-free' framing decoded — late fees, stacking, phantom debt, and where BNPL beats a card.
Personal guarantee — the real cost
What signing a PG actually obligates you for. SBA vs bank vs MCA exposure, downside math, and the strategies that limit it.
Lease vs buy equipment
5-year cost across operating lease, capital lease, and equipment loan — with §179, bonus depreciation, and FASB 842 in plain English.
Business card vs line of credit
When the card wins, when the LOC wins, and the working-capital balance you should never carry on a card.
Working capital loan vs MCA vs card
3-way SMB cost comparison on a $50K working-capital need — bank/SBA LOC, business card, and MCA side by side.
Factoring vs line of credit
AR financing decoded — factor sells the invoice and collects; LOC borrows against AR and you collect. When each pencils.
SBA 7(a) vs 504 — real cost
The canonical SBA split — rate structure, fees, down payment, and the worked-example scenarios where each program wins.
0% balance transfer — real cost
The 'no interest' framing decoded — transfer fees, the post-promo cliff, CARD Act rules, and an interactive cost analyzer.
Equipment financing vs SBA 7(a)
Asset-collateralized speed vs rate-capped SBA guarantee — side-by-side cost, timeline, and the scenarios where each wins.
What the data shows
Why "higher than expected" is the norm, not the exception
The Federal Reserve's 2025 Small Business Credit Survey — 6,525 responding firms — found that among small businesses that borrowed from online lenders, most said the actual cost of that financing came in higher than they'd expected going in. High interest rates and unfavorable repayment terms were the most common complaint about that channel. That gap between the quoted number and the real number is exactly what this cluster works through, page by page.
On the comparison side: the SBA guaranteed 84,400 7(a) and 504 loans totaling $44.8 billion in FY2025 — the regulated, amortizing alternative several of these pages weigh against MCA and revolving credit. And as of 2026, 5 states (California, New York, Virginia, Utah, and Georgia) now require covered commercial lenders to disclose an APR-equivalent cost figure before closing — state regulators reaching the same conclusion these pages start from.
Primary sources: Federal Reserve — 2025 Small Business Credit Survey · SBA.gov — FY2025 lending record
Figures are third-party public data (Federal Reserve, SBA), not ClearValue's own application data. ClearValue routes applications to lender partners; we don't directly lend.