---
title: "How to Calculate Cost Per Funded Loan | FunnelFi"
url: https://funnelfi.ai/guides/how-to-calculate-cost-per-funded-loan
description: "The exact formula for cost per funded loan, worked examples for MCA, SBA, and mortgage, and the pre-qualification lever that changes the denominator."
lang: en
---

How-To

# How to Calculate Cost Per Funded Loan

Cost per funded loan (CPFL) is your all-in acquisition cost divided by loans that actually funded, the single number that tells you whether your channel math is working.

Schedule Demo: https://funnelfi.ai/schedule-call

See pricing: https://funnelfi.ai/pricing

## The Formula

CPFL = (media + lead cost + pre-qual cost + attributable rep cost) ÷ funded loans

Same cohort window on both sides. Wait long enough for time-to-fund to elapse before locking the number.

## What Belongs in the Numerator

- **Media / lead cost:** the raw spend to get the lead into the CRM.
- **Pre-qualification cost:** per-lead pre-qual API charge.
- **Enrichment cost:** any third-party data appended pre-decision.
- **Rep cost:** fully loaded hourly rep cost × hours worked on the channel.
- **Underwriting cost:** if you allocate underwriting time to acquisition.

Media-only CPFL is a marketing number. Fully loaded CPFL is a finance number. Lenders that scale profitably tend to plan against the finance version.

## Worked Examples

| Product | Cost per lead | Fund rate | CPFL (media only) | Typical commission | CPFL as % of commission |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| MCA | $40 | 5% | $800 | $2,400 | 33% |
| Equipment finance | $55 | 7% | $786 | $1,800 | 44% |
| SBA | $80 | 3% | $2,667 | $8,500 | 31% |
| Non-QM mortgage | $120 | 4% | $3,000 | $9,000 | 33% |

## The Pre-Qualification Lever

Consider the MCA line above. 100 leads × $40 = $4,000 media, 5 funded loans, $800 CPFL. Add pre-qualification at $1.25 per screened lead. 40 leads DNQ, 60 Qualified leads work at a 7.5% fund rate, 4.5 funded loans. Cost stack: $4,000 media + $125 pre-qual = $4,125. CPFL: $917 media-only.

Wait, CPFL went up? Yes, on _this cohort_. The point isn't the single-cohort math; it's what the reps did with the reclaimed hours. They worked a second cohort of Qualified leads that would otherwise have been left cold, and blended CPFL across the quarter drops materially. The metric that always improves is **fund rate per hour of rep time**, and that's the one that actually determines whether you can grow.

## Frequently Asked Questions

- What's a good cost per funded loan?
  It depends on the loan's commission or margin. The healthiest benchmark is CPFL as a percentage of commission, aim for CPFL under 40% of commission for a scalable channel.
- Should I include rep salaries in CPFL?
  For channel-level economics, include the fully loaded cost of rep time attributable to the channel. Media-only CPFL flatters the number.
- How does pre-qualification lower CPFL?
  By shrinking the number of leads a rep works to fund the same loan volume. Same numerator, smaller denominator, lower cost per unit of rep time, CPFL falls even though media cost is flat.
- Should I measure CPFL by source?
  Yes. Blended CPFL hides the reality that a few sources subsidize a lot of bad ones. Source-level CPFL is where budget decisions get made.
- How is CPFL different from CAC?
  CAC is customer acquisition cost, the cost to acquire any customer. CPFL is the cost to fund one loan, which is the loan-level unit lenders actually optimize.

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