Glossary
Window dressing
Also called: statement period inflation, balance manipulation
One-sentence definition
Window dressing is when a merchant inflates account balance at statement-period boundaries — typically depositing large funds near the end of one period and withdrawing them at the start of the next — to game underwriting metrics.
Key takeaways
- Targets the average-daily-balance metric many funders use.
- Visible as large deposits in the final days of a statement paired with corresponding withdrawals in the first days of the next.
- Common pattern, easy to execute, easy to detect with pattern-matching.
Why it matters for MCA underwriting
Average daily balance is a common input to underwriting boxes. A merchant who can inflate the balance for the last three days of one period and the first three days of the next can meaningfully shift the figure that matters to the funder. The underlying business reality has not changed.
When window dressing is missed, the funder underwrites a balance the merchant cannot sustain.
How Vyaso detects window dressing
Vyaso identifies statement-period boundaries and looks for large deposits in the closing days of a period paired with matching withdrawals in the opening days of the next. The flag includes the implicated transactions and the inflation estimate.