Understanding Your Analysis
Stacking Detection & MCA History
Stacking — a merchant taking advances from multiple funders at once — is the most expensive thing a manual review can miss. ClearStaq recognizes the repayment patterns of 100+ known MCA funders directly in the transaction data and turns them into a position-by-position picture.
The Stacking Detection Alert
On any document's Bank & Debt Summary tab, a stacking alert fires when MCA activity is detected:
- Detected MCA Positions — how many distinct advance relationships are active (e.g. 3)
- Known Lenders — identified by name from transaction patterns (e.g. Lending Services, Braintree Funding, Snap)
- Est. Monthly Debt Service — what the merchant is already paying out per month across all positions (e.g. $86,733)
- Debt-to-Revenue Ratio — debt service as a share of revenue
- Stacking Risk — LOW / MEDIUM / HIGH banding
The same tab shows monthly averages for context: estimated revenue, average daily balance, average deposits, negative days, and NSFs.
MCA History (client level)
Open a client and go to the MCA History tab for the full picture across all their statements:
MCA Positions
Every detected position, tracked automatically as statements are uploaded.
MCA Monthly Breakdown — per lender, per month
For each detected funder, a month-by-month table showing:
| Column | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Work Days | Banking days in the month (the denominator for daily-payment math) |
| Withdrawal # / Total Withdrawal | Payment pulls by this funder — count and dollar total |
| Withhold % | Effective share of revenue this funder is taking |
| Deposit # / Total Deposit | Advance disbursements received from this funder |
| Frequency | Detected payment cadence — Daily, Weekly, Bi-Weekly, One-Time |
This is how you answer the questions that decide a renewal or a new position: Is the merchant current on their existing advances? Did payments stop mid-month? Is there a new funder in the picture since last quarter? What's the real combined withhold?
How detection works
ClearStaq classifies transactions against known funder patterns — names, ACH descriptors, payment processors used by funders (e.g. recognizable strings like "BRAINTREE FUNDING 7P45SY" or "LendingServices AUTH PAYME") — plus cadence analysis that distinguishes advance repayment pulls from ordinary vendor payments. Detected MCA transactions are:
- Counted as positions, not revenue — advance deposits are excluded from True Revenue
- Tagged in the Transactions explorer under the Merchant Cash Advance category
- Rolled up into the alert and the monthly breakdown
Interaction with True Revenue
This matters more than any single feature: a merchant with $100K of monthly deposits and three active advances might have $40K of actual sales. Because stacking detection and True Revenue share the same engine, the revenue you size against is already net of advance proceeds.
FAQ
Which funders can ClearStaq identify? 100+ known MCA funders and growing — recognition is based on transaction descriptors and repayment patterns, so new funders are added continuously without you doing anything.
What if a funder isn't recognized by name? The repayment pattern (daily/weekly fixed pulls) is still detected and counted as a position — it shows without a brand name attached.
Does a paid-off advance still show? The monthly breakdown shows the months it was active. If pulls stopped, you'll see the payment activity end — which itself is signal (paid off vs. defaulted is visible in how it ends).
Is stacking detection on every plan? It's included from StaqPro up (and in the free trial). StaqCore includes parsing and basic fraud flags only.
Can I get stacking data via the API?
Yes — the analysis.completed webhook payload includes the debt rollups, and the full position data is in the Raw Output JSON.