For instance, suppose I take out a $25K loan with a $2.5K fixed fee. Now 15% of my sales go toward repayment. Let's say I pull in a little over $30K in sales a

For instance, suppose I take out a $25K loan with a $2.5K fixed fee. Now 15% of my sales go toward repayment. Let's say I pull in a little over $30K in sales a month. The loan will be repaid in about six months, and my effective APR is 20%! Might as well put it on a credit card! Not everyone has a credit card with a $25,000 limit on it. That really is the point of factoring future receivables like this. Stripe has visibility into your income that a traditional lender does not have, and can use this data to make loans that traditional banks and credit card companies would not make. That has value to people with more limited credit options than you apparently have, and is well worth the fees that Stripe is charging to the businesses that need it.