Once you have repaid about half of your advance you can apply to top up. On a 20-week advance that point is week 10; on a 26-week advance it is week 13. Here is exactly how it works and exactly what it costs — including the part most providers leave out.
How a top-up works
Your existing advance is settled in full out of the new one, and you receive the difference. A first top-up can be up to 1.5× your original advance, so a customer who took £50,000 can typically top up to £75,000. Most customers can top up up to three times.
What it costs — read this part twice. When you top up, the entire remaining balance of your current advance is settled, including the part of the fixed cost you have not yet paid. There is no rebate for settling early. A new factor rate and a new 5% arrangement fee then apply to the whole new advance.
A worked example
You took £50,000 over 20 weeks at a 1.48 factor: £74,000 repayable, £3,700 a week. At week 10 you have paid £37,000 and £37,000 remains.
| If you top up at week 10 | Amount |
|---|---|
| Outstanding on the first advance | £37,000 |
| Settled out of the new advance | −£37,000 |
| New advance | £75,000 |
| Arrangement fee on the new advance (5%) | −£3,750 |
| Cash to you | £34,250 |
You have now paid the full £26,500 cost of the first advance in 10 weeks rather than 20 — the same pounds, for half the use of the money. In plain terms: topping up at the halfway point roughly doubles the effective annual cost of the first advance.
That can still be the right call. But it is only the right call if the new money earns more than that, and you should decide it with the number in front of you rather than after the fact.
When a top-up makes sense
- You have a specific, costed use for the extra money — a stock buy, a contract, a piece of equipment — and a return you can point to.
- Your trading has grown since the first advance, so the new weekly payment is a smaller share of your takings than the old one was.
- You have run the arithmetic above and the extra money clears it.
When it does not
- You are topping up to cover the repayments on the current advance. If that is where you are, call us and let us talk about it rather than fund it.
- You do not yet know what the extra money is for.
We will never top you up without talking to you first, and we will show you this arithmetic on your own numbers, in pounds, before you sign anything.
Already funded by us and coming up to the halfway point?
Call and we will run your numbers both ways — top up, or run to term.