Given the scenario that a business owner does have a choice between these two options, realistically a traditional bank loan would cost less. However, the short term advance has several things working in it's favor that the bank loan couldn't provide. Availability of funds within just a few days aside, the fact that most of the risk lies with the funder is a huge boon for the business owner. In addition to that, the fact that given business remains steady or increases, the client could fit ten six-month terms into the same amount of space as the 5 year loan, effectively making ten times the amount of money available in the same five year period. In comparison, the bank probably could not extend a $500k loan over a five year term unless there was a lot of collateral to use, and even then they might be weary. While obviously the actual cost of money goes to scale, the larger amount of funds provided allows for more business growth at a faster pace (given that the client could actually use that much money).