How Much Do Merchant Cash Advance Leads Cost? A Broker's Buyer's Guide (2026)
MCA leads run from pennies for aged records to $60-plus for a real-time exclusive — and the sticker price is the least important number. What each lead type actually costs, the cost-per-funded-deal math that matters, how to vet a vendor, and the red flags that mark a recycled list.
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Key Takeaways
- Published late-2026 seller prices: aged records $0.15–$1.00 each, shared real-time leads $15–$35, real-time exclusive leads $50–$75 (one seller lists a flat $60), full submissions with bank data around $5–$7, and live transfers quoted per call up to $200 or more at the top end.
- The number that matters is lead spend per funded deal, not price per lead. A $60 exclusive that funds beats a $0.20 record that never picks up.
- Exclusivity is a claim, not a guarantee. Ask whether the seller resells the same record later as an aged list — and get the answer in writing.
- Before you buy, verify three things: DNC/TCPA scrubbing, phone verification, and a replacement policy for bad numbers. No sample data, no order.
If you fund merchant cash advances — as a funder, an ISO, or a broker — you have asked this question, and you have probably gotten a useless answer. Lead sellers quote a per-lead price. Your business runs on a per-funded-deal cost. Those are different numbers, and the gap between them is where bad lead budgets go to die.
This guide is written from the buyer's side of the table: what each lead type actually is, what sellers publish for it, the math that turns a rate card into a budget, and the vetting checklist that keeps a recycled list out of your dialer. Prices below are published seller prices found in late 2026, attributed where they come from — sellers change rate cards often, so treat them as the current range, not a permanent price list.
The quick answer: MCA lead prices at a glance
| Lead type | Typical published price | What you are buying |
|---|---|---|
| Aged records | $0.15–$1.00 each | Businesses that inquired weeks or months ago, sold in bulk |
| Shared real-time leads | $15–$35 each | Fresh inquiry sold to several buyers at once |
| Real-time exclusive leads | $50–$75 each | Fresh inquiry sold to one buyer only |
| Full submissions | About $5–$7 each | Application data, sometimes with bank-statement summaries |
| Live transfers | Quoted per call, up to $200+ | A vetted merchant connected to you live by phone |
Where these ranges come from: LoanLeads.io publishes real-time exclusive leads at $60 each with shared slots at $35, $25, and $15, and aged records at $0.20–$1.00. MCA Leads Pro puts the overall spread at a few cents to $200-plus per lead depending on type, freshness, exclusivity, and qualification. Master-Leads publishes subscription equivalents of about $0.15 per aged record, $0.30 per fresh record, and $5 per full-submission lead. Badass MCA Leads lists 100 daily leads at $1.00 each and leads with bank statements at $7.00 per submission. An older seller roundup still circulating puts exclusive leads at $50–$75 each. The spread across sellers is the point: identical-sounding products are priced very differently, which is why the vetting section below matters more than any single price.
What each lead type actually is
Aged leads. Records of businesses that applied or inquired 30 to 120 days ago and did not fund — or funded elsewhere and are being resold. They are cheap because most of the intent is gone: the owner already solved the problem, got declined, or stopped answering unknown numbers. Aged lists are a volume game. Sellers quote contact rates around 35–50% with a multi-touch sequence and conversion in the 0.5–3% range; treat those as seller claims, not benchmarks, and test them on a small order first.
Shared leads. A fresh inquiry sold to three to five buyers at the same time. You pay less than exclusive, but you are racing every other buyer to the phone. Speed-to-call is everything — the first caller often wins, and the fourth caller gets a merchant who is already annoyed. Shared leads suit teams with a fast dialer and a same-minute response process. They punish slow teams.
Real-time exclusive leads. A fresh inquiry delivered to one buyer, usually within minutes of submission. This is the most expensive record type for a reason: no race, full attention, and the merchant's intent is at its peak. The catch is the definition of exclusive. Some sellers mean exclusive forever. Others mean exclusive for a window — then the record joins the aged pool and gets resold. Ask which one you are buying.
Full submissions. Leads that arrive with application data attached — business details, revenue figures, time in business, and sometimes bank-statement summaries. These sit between raw records and live transfers: you can underwrite before you call, which saves dialer time but costs more per record than aged data. The $5–$7 submissions in the table above are this category.
Live transfers. A call center vets the merchant and connects them to your team live. Highest intent, highest price, and the price is usually quoted per connected call rather than published on a rate card. Live transfers suit teams that close on the phone and can staff for inbound calls during the seller's hours. If your team cannot pick up immediately, do not buy them.
The math that matters: cost per funded deal
Stop budgeting on price per lead. Budget on lead spend per funded deal: total lead spend divided by funded deals. Three illustrative examples show why the cheapest lead is rarely the cheapest deal.
Example 1 — exclusive. You buy 100 real-time exclusive leads at $60 each: $6,000 in lead spend. If 2 of them fund, your lead spend per funded deal is $3,000. If 4 fund, it is $1,500. The entire economics of the exclusive tier hang on that funding rate.
Example 2 — aged. You buy 5,000 aged records at $0.20 each: $1,000 in lead spend. If 1 funds, your lead spend per funded deal is $1,000 — cheaper than the exclusive example. If none fund, it is infinite, and you have also burned a week of dialer time. Aged math only works with disciplined volume and a real multi-touch sequence; a single pass over the list is money out the window.
Example 3 — full submissions. You buy 150 submissions at $5 each: $750. If 1 funds, your lead spend per funded deal is $750. Submissions look cheap in this math because the application data lets your team skip the unqualified calls — but only if the data is real. Fake or thin submission data collapses straight back to aged economics with a higher price tag.
These are illustrations, not promises. Your funded rate depends on your offer, your speed, your team's skill, and the seller's actual data quality. Run every new seller on a small test order, measure lead spend per funded deal over at least 30 days, and only then scale. Any seller who will not let you test small is telling you something.
What drives the price
Exclusivity. One buyer versus several is the single biggest price lever. Exclusive costs roughly double shared at the same freshness, and the premium is only worth it if your team actually calls fast enough to use the head start.
Freshness. Minutes-old intent costs more than month-old intent, and the decay is steep. A real-time lead delivered in 5 minutes and one delivered in 5 hours are not the same product even at the same price — ask about delivery speed, not just lead age.
Qualification depth. A name and phone number is a record. A record plus revenue, time in business, monthly deposits, existing advances, and bank-statement summaries is a submission. Each verified field adds cost and removes wasted calls. Decide which fields your underwriting actually needs before paying for all of them.
Targeting and filters. Narrow boxes — minimum monthly revenue, time in business, advance size, industry, state — cost more because the seller fills fewer orders from the same pool. Broad boxes are cheaper and noisier. Match the filter to your real funding box, not your aspirational one.
Volume and terms. Aged pricing is heavily volume-tiered: one seller's published tiers run from $0.35 at 2,000 records down to $0.15 at 50,000. Minimum orders are common — 1,000 to 5,000 records for aged, smaller for real-time. Volume discounts only help if you can actually work the volume before it ages further.
How to vet a lead vendor: the checklist
Run this checklist before the first paid order, and keep the answers in writing.
- DNC and TCPA scrubbing. Ask exactly how the seller scrubs against the Do Not Call registry and what proof they provide. Your dialer inherits the compliance risk of the list you buy — a seller's claim is not a shield, so confirm your own scrubbing process covers purchased lists and check with counsel if you are unsure.
- Phone verification. Was the number verified, and when? A record with an unverified number is a guess, not a lead.
- Sample data. Get a real sample of records in the exact format you will receive, with the fields you are paying for. If the sample is thinner than the sales pitch, the order will be too.
- Replacement policy. What happens with disconnected numbers, wrong businesses, and duplicates of records you already own? Get replacement credits in writing, with a deadline for claiming them.
- Resell policy. Is this record exclusive forever, exclusive for a window, or shared? When, if ever, does it enter the seller's aged pool? This is the question that separates honest sellers from list recyclers.
- Field list. Get the exact fields per lead type. Compare sellers on identical fields, not on headline prices for different products.
- Refund and pause terms. Can you pause a subscription? Is there a minimum term? What happens to undelivered volume? Subscription lead plans with monthly minimums are where small teams quietly bleed.
Red flags: how to spot a recycled list
"Exclusive" with no resell answer. If the seller dodges the resell question, assume the record will be resold. Price it as shared.
No sample data. A seller confident in their data shows it. A seller who will only describe it is selling the description.
No replacement credits. Every list has bad numbers. A seller who will not replace them is pricing the bad numbers into your order.
Freshness claims with slow delivery. "Real-time" that arrives in a daily batch file is aged by delivery. Measure delivery time on your test order.
Performance guarantees. No seller can guarantee funded deals — funding depends on your offer and the merchant's file. Guarantees of funded outcomes are a sales tactic, not a business model.
Stale contact data at scale. If your test order shows a high disconnected rate, stop. Do not "work through it" — the list is the product, and a bad test order predicts a bad full order.
The alternative to buying: inbound leads
The other way to get MCA demand is to earn it: content that answers the questions merchants actually search, a fast application, and a funding process merchants trust. Inbound leads cost time and content instead of a per-lead fee, and they arrive pre-sold on your shop rather than auctioned to five competitors. The tradeoff is speed — inbound compounds over months, while a purchased list dials tomorrow. Most durable MCA shops run both: purchased leads for immediate pipeline, inbound for a pipeline they own. If you are a business owner on the other side of this — looking for funding rather than leads — the application below is the inbound path: one application, a decision in hours, and your last 3 months of business bank statements are the main document you will need.
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Frequently asked questions
How many MCA leads does it take to fund one deal?
There is no honest fixed number — it depends on lead type, your speed, and your offer. That is why you should measure lead spend per funded deal on a test order instead of trusting a seller's conversion claim. As a budgeting habit, assume the worst of the seller's claimed range until your own numbers prove better.
Are aged MCA leads worth it?
They can be, for teams with a real multi-touch process and the capacity to work volume. They are a poor buy for a small team that can only make one pass — the economics depend on persistence, and a single dial over 5,000 records will not find the deals in it.
Do exclusive leads convert better than shared leads?
Usually, because there is no race to the phone — but only if your team calls fast. An exclusive lead called three hours late has lost most of its advantage. Speed matters more than the label on the list.
Are MCA lead prices negotiable?
Often, especially on volume and on subscription plans — but negotiate on identical fields and terms, not on headline price alone. A cheaper lead with no replacement policy and a 24-hour delivery delay is not a discount.
What fields should an MCA lead include?
At minimum: business name, owner contact, phone, monthly revenue or deposits, time in business, and whether the business has existing advances. Submissions add application data and sometimes bank-statement summaries. Pay for the fields your underwriting uses; skip the rest.
Can I resell leads I bought?
Only if your purchase agreement allows it — most do not. Assume you cannot resell, and check the agreement before sharing records with anyone outside your team.
This guide is published by Coast to Coast Funding Group, a brokerage that works MCA files every day — which is why it is written from the buyer's side of the lead market, not the seller's. If you want the merchant's side of the same math, our MCA true-cost guide breaks down factor rates into real repayment dollars, and our MCA vs. business credit card comparison shows when a card beats an advance outright.
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