reference to fig6 wherein s is equal to the anticipated cumulative sales in other words the merchant would have been advanced an amount of money equal to value s accordingly if at the close of the funding period the merchant 39 s actual sales are represented by u201c better than expected u201d curve 62 than the merchant has in effect overpaid the lender and is entitled to a refund from such lender if on the other hand the merchant 39 s sales are represented by u201c worse than expected u201d curve 64 then the merchant has in effect underpaid the lender and additional monies are due to such lender a grocery chain receives funds on 50 of its expected monthly card volume on the first monday of each month through participation in a 50 30 program the grocery chain then uses the cash to cover monthly payroll rent utilities and other costs which oftentimes require such chain to use a credit line or to delay payment the matching of borrowers with lenders and bids with asks allows funds to be advanced to the grocery chain at an attractive discount to par value in one preferred embodiment the discount is set at a competitive rate where historical data supplied by a merchant processor network e g mastercard is used by participating investors to price the risk the grocery chain may participate in an u201c industry vertical program u201d which aggregates demand across grocery merchants to achieve a more favorable u201c pool u201d rate i e by increasing the.