What to check before you sign.
Read the agreement, not the summary page. Three things matter more than a headline number: what type of financing this is, how long you are paying, and what you pay in total.
Everything below can be checked in a few minutes, and each one has cost somebody real money for being skipped.
Type
Working capital, a line of credit, equipment financing, a term loan, SBA, an advance, factoring. They are not interchangeable, and the name at the top of the agreement tells you which set of rules you are under.
A merchant cash advance is not a loan. Invoice factoring is not a loan. Both can be reasonable, and both read differently from a loan. If you are buying a truck, cash against receipts is almost always the wrong shape, no matter how quick it is.
Check that the type on the agreement matches what you actually asked for. If it does not, ask why before anything else.
Term
How long you pay, and how often. Daily, weekly, or monthly. A short term means larger pulls, and larger pulls are what make an otherwise fine deal painful in February.
Match the term to the life of what you are buying. Inventory you turn in sixty days can carry a short term. A machine you will run for six years should not be paid off out of next month's receipts.
Then run the payment against your worst normal month, not your best one. If it only clears in a strong month, the term is wrong.
Total cost
The number that matters is what leaves the business in total, not the rate printed on a page. Take the amount you receive, the total you will repay, and the number of payments, and put them side by side for every option.
Ask specifically about anything deducted before the money lands: origination, packaging, or similar items. Money withheld up front changes the real amount you got, which changes the real cost of the whole thing.
Then check early payoff. Some agreements reduce the cost if you clear the balance early. Others fix the amount to be collected at the start, so paying early saves you nothing. That one clause can be worth more than a point of rate.
The clauses people skip
How payments are taken. An automatic debit against your operating account behaves differently from an invoice you pay. Know which account it hits and on which days.
What counts as a default, and what happens next. Read it once now rather than for the first time during a bad week.
Personal guarantees. Whether one is required, who signs it, and what it covers. This is a normal ask in commercial financing, and it is still worth reading closely.
Whether the agreement restricts taking additional financing, and what happens if you do. Stacking is where a manageable position turns into an unmanageable one.
Who you actually pay. The lender is named on the option and in the agreement. If you cannot tell who the lender is from the document, stop and ask.
Questions worth asking out loud
What is the total I repay, and over how many payments? What happens if I pay this off in month three? What happens if a payment fails? Is there anything deducted before the funds land? Can I take other financing while this is open?
A straight answer to each of these takes a minute. If any of them turns vague, that is information too.
You are not required to sign. Options appear in your account when they exist, and you compare them there next to the agreements, on your own clock.