FundingTracker vs a spreadsheet for tracking MCAs
A spreadsheet works for tracking one or two merchant cash advances if you update it after every debit and trust your own formulas. FundingTracker is built for the same job without the manual entry: it reads your bank transactions (read-only, through Stripe Financial Connections), matches each MCA debit to its advance, calculates the remaining balance and projected payoff date, and flags over-debits, missed postings and extra debits. The more advances and daily debits you have, the more time a spreadsheet costs and the easier it is to miss a problem.
- Choose a spreadsheet if you have one or two advances, a few minutes every debit day, and are comfortable building balance and business-day formulas.
- Choose FundingTracker if you have several advances, daily ACH debits, or stacked positions, and want debits matched to deals from bank data instead of typed in.
- Either way, a funder's written payoff letter is the number to rely on before refinancing, consolidating or paying off.
Side-by-side comparison
| Area | Spreadsheet | FundingTracker |
|---|---|---|
| Getting deal terms in | Type the funded amount, factor rate, total payback, payment, cadence and start date for each advance. | Upload the contract and AI extracts the deal fields; uploaded contracts are not used to train FundingTracker AI models. |
| Recording payments | Copy each debit from your bank statement or funder portal by hand. | Read-only bank transactions through Stripe Financial Connections are matched to each deal. |
| Remaining balance | Your own formula, usually total payback minus payments entered. | Total payback minus tracked payments, floored at zero. |
| Payoff date | Needs a business-day formula and manual updates when debits are missed. | Projected from the remaining balance, payment amount and payment cadence. |
| Over-debits and missed payments | Only caught if you compare expected and actual columns yourself. | Flags over-debits, missed postings and extra debits, with a dispute log. |
| Stacked advances | One tab per advance plus a summary you maintain. | All active positions in one view, with combined daily cash impact. |
| Documents | Kept in a separate folder or linked by hand. | Contracts, payoff letters, renewal offers and notes tied to each position. |
| Exports | The spreadsheet is the export. | Payment-history CSV, active-deal and accountant reports, and payoff quote request PDFs. |
When a spreadsheet is enough
If you have a single advance with a fixed weekly debit, a spreadsheet with total payback, a running total of cleared payments and a remaining-balance column is often all you need. The work is small, and you can see every number.
Keep one row per debit with the date, expected amount, actual amount and a note. Count a payment only after it clears your bank account, and keep returned payments and fees in a separate column so they don't silently change the balance.
Where spreadsheets get hard
- Daily ACH debits mean a new row for every advance on every business day.
- Over-debits, double pulls and skipped debits only show up if you compare expected and actual amounts line by line.
- With stacked advances, the combined daily cash impact lives in a summary tab that has to be kept in sync by hand.
- Contracts, payoff letters and renewal offers end up in email and folders, separate from the numbers.
Common questions
Can I track a merchant cash advance in Excel or Google Sheets?
Yes. List each advance with its total payback (funded amount × factor rate), payment amount, cadence and start date, then log every cleared debit. Remaining balance = total payback − cleared payments + any unpaid fees. It works well for one or two advances if you update it every debit day.
What does FundingTracker do that a spreadsheet doesn't?
It reads bank transactions through Stripe Financial Connections (read-only) and matches MCA debits to each deal, so payments don't have to be typed in. It projects payoff dates, flags over-debits, missed postings and extra debits, keeps contracts and payoff letters with each position, and exports payment history and reports.
Can FundingTracker move money from my bank account?
No. FundingTracker receives read-only transaction data through Stripe Financial Connections, does not store bank login credentials and cannot move money from the connected account.
Can I export my data from FundingTracker to a spreadsheet?
Yes. Payment history can be filtered and exported to CSV, and active-deal and accountant reports include paid, remaining and progress fields.