Everything we wish owners knew before they signed
No sales pitch in these. Just how merchant cash advances actually work, what happens when they stop being affordable, and what you can do about it.
56 guides
How advances work
The mechanics behind factor rates, holdbacks and daily debits.
Daily vs weekly MCA payments: what actually changes
Weekly is not cheaper. What changes is where the money leaves your week. The same advance run on both schedules, plus the returned item math.
Read the guideFactor rate vs APR: converting the number your broker quoted
A factor rate hides the term, and the term sets the real annual cost. Here is the conversion worked step by step on a hypothetical advance.
Read the guideHow MCA repayment works, from the wire to the last debit
An advance does not amortize. Here is what happens week by week from funding day to the final debit, and where the schedule catches owners out.
Read the guideHow one advance becomes four: the arithmetic of stacking
Nobody plans to hold four positions. Here is the month by month math of how a second advance turns into a fourth, with the running daily totals.
Read the guideMerchant cash advance vs business loan, side by side
Two products, two legal structures, two very different outcomes when revenue dips. A line by line comparison of advances and conventional loans.
Read the guideThe full invoice: what a merchant cash advance really costs
The factor rate is one line. Here is the whole accounting on a hypothetical advance, including the charges that never appear on any statement.
Read the guideWhat a merchant cash advance actually is, term by term
An MCA is written as a purchase of future revenue, not a loan. Here is what each defined term in the contract does to your daily cash flow.
Read the guideYour holdback says 15 percent. Check what it is actually taking.
The holdback in your contract and the share of revenue leaving your account are rarely the same number. Here is how to calculate the real one.
Read the guideWays out
Restructuring, settlement, consolidation and what separates them.
Bankruptcy and MCA debt: when it becomes the last option
A plain look at how business bankruptcy treats merchant cash advance debt, what Chapter 7, 11 and Subchapter V do, and what to try first.
Read the guideCan you settle MCA debt yourself?
An honest look at negotiating your own MCA balances: what it takes, where owners succeed, where it goes wrong, and how to decide.
Read the guideHow long MCA relief takes, stage by stage
Realistic time ranges for each stage of an MCA settlement or restructuring, what speeds a file up, and what reliably slows one down.
Read the guideHow to negotiate with an MCA funder without making things worse
The four numbers to have before you dial, who you are actually talking to, what not to say, and what the written agreement has to contain.
Read the guideMCA consolidation: three different products sold under one word
Consolidation can mean a refinance, a negotiated single payment, or a reverse consolidation. How to tell which one you were offered before you sign.
Read the guideMCA hardship programs: what a funder is really offering you
Hardship plans are discretionary, temporary and documented in an addendum. What the four common shapes look like and what you sign when you accept.
Read the guideMCA restructuring vs settlement: which problem are you actually solving?
One lowers the payment, the other lowers the balance. A side by side look at cost, timing, credit impact and the four questions that decide it.
Read the guideRefinancing out of MCA debt: what actually qualifies
What it takes to refinance a merchant cash advance, which lenders will look at your file, and the math that tells you whether it helps.
Read the guideReverse consolidation: how the structure works and why the relief is borrowed
A reverse consolidation deposits cash to cover your debits and collects more, for longer. Walk the money week by week before you sign one.
Read the guideThe reconciliation clause: the paragraph most advance holders never read
Your MCA contract likely lets you true up the debit when receipts fall. What the clause says, how to invoke it, what to send, and what a refusal means.
Read the guideWhat MCA restructuring actually changes about your payments
MCA restructuring changes the debit, not the balance. What a funder can adjust, what they ask for first, and what restructuring cannot fix.
Read the guideWhat MCA settlement is and why a funder would ever agree to one
MCA settlement reduces the balance, not the schedule. How funders decide, what release language costs you, and how forgiven business debt is taxed.
Read the guideFalling behind
What actually happens when payments stop, step by step.
Can an MCA company freeze your bank account?
What a funder can and cannot do to your bank account, why a judgment changes everything, and what to do if an account is already restrained.
Read the guideCan you stop MCA daily payments? What your contract actually allows
What your MCA contract says about reducing daily debits, what happens mechanically when one fails, and the legitimate ways to change the terms.
Read the guideChanging your payment processor while an advance is outstanding
Moving card volume away from a funder's split is a contract breach in almost every MCA agreement. Here is what it triggers and what works instead.
Read the guideMissed an MCA payment? The realistic timeline of what follows
Day by day and week by week: what a funder does after a returned debit, when each step usually lands, and what resets the clock at every stage.
Read the guideWhat an MCA default actually does to your credit
Most MCA funders never report to a bureau. Default still reaches your credit file, just through UCC filings, collections and judgments instead.
Read the guideWhat happens if you default on a merchant cash advance
A map of every consequence an MCA default can produce: fees, acceleration, receivables liens, lawsuits, judgments, and what cannot happen.
Read the guideWhen your merchant account gets held during MCA trouble
A split, a processor reserve and a court levy are three different things that stop your money. Telling them apart decides what you can do about it.
Read the guideWho is actually calling you: the MCA collections process from the inside
A past due advance moves through five different desks, each with its own leverage. Knowing which one is calling tells you how much time you have.
Read the guideContracts and courts
Liens, judgments, guarantees and lawsuits explained plainly.
Can an MCA company garnish your wages? Myths versus mechanics
What an advance company can and cannot reach, why garnishment requires a judgment first, and how state law changes the answer completely.
Read the guideConfession of judgment: what you signed and what it does
A COJ lets a funder enter judgment against you without a trial. What it is, what New York changed in 2019, and the narrow ways one gets challenged.
Read the guideIs a merchant cash advance a loan? What courts actually look at
The true sale versus disguised loan analysis, the three factors courts weigh, and why the answer still splits from one case to the next.
Read the guidePersonal guarantees in MCA contracts, and why most of them are narrower than you think
Most MCA guaranties are performance or validity guaranties, not promises to repay. The difference decides whether your house is in the conversation.
Read the guideRestraining notices and bank levies after an MCA judgment
A frozen account is a post judgment enforcement step, not something a funder can do on its own. What restrains, what levies, and what to do first.
Read the guideThe arbitration clause in your MCA agreement, paragraph by paragraph
How to read an MCA arbitration clause, which party it favors, what the Federal Arbitration Act means for it, and when it helps a merchant.
Read the guideThe UCC-1 filing behind your merchant cash advance
Every advance leaves a public lien on your business. Here is how to read yours, what it reaches, when it expires and how it gets removed.
Read the guideUsury and MCA contracts: when the cap applies and when it does not
Why usury caps reach loans but not true receivable purchases, what the annualized math looks like, and why the argument wins some cases.
Read the guideWhat to expect when an MCA funder sues your business
How a merchant cash advance lawsuit unfolds stage by stage, from the filing trigger through enforcement, and what shifts at each point.
Read the guideYou were served with an MCA summons. Here is the order of operations.
What to do in the first days after an MCA summons arrives, why the answer deadline controls everything, and how default judgments happen.
Read the guideBy industry
How advance debt behaves differently across trades.
Factoring and MCA liens: whose claim comes first on your freight receivables
How a factor and an advance company end up claiming the same broker settlements, what UCC priority rules decide, and how to untangle it.
Read the guideParts credit is the first thing an advance takes from a repair shop
An auto repair shop merchant cash advance rarely kills the bank balance first. It kills the parts account, and a shop on COD cannot start the ticket.
Read the guidePOS splits, lockboxes, and daily ACH: how restaurant advances really collect
The three ways a restaurant merchant cash advance takes its money, why gross batch holdbacks reach tip funds, and what to pull before you negotiate.
Read the guideReimbursement lag: why a merchant cash advance strains a medical practice
Payers settle on their own calendar. Here is how reimbursement lag collides with a daily advance debit, and where a practice still has room to move.
Read the guideRetainage, pay apps, and what a daily debit does to a construction company
Retainage holds your profit until the job closes. Here is how that collides with a construction merchant cash advance, and what it puts at risk.
Read the guideThe January problem: retail inventory cycles and advance debt
A retail store merchant cash advance funds fall inventory and gets repaid out of a post holiday quarter. Here is the cash conversion math behind that trap.
Read the guideUnderwritten in July, repaying in October: seasonality and HVAC advance debt
An HVAC contractor merchant cash advance is sized on peak season deposits and repaid out of shoulder season revenue. That mismatch is the problem.
Read the guideChoosing help
How to evaluate anyone offering to fix this, including us.
How to vet an MCA relief company before you sign anything
A practical checklist for choosing an MCA debt relief company: what to verify, what to ask, and which contract clauses actually matter.
Read the guideMCA debt attorney vs settlement company: which one your situation needs
The honest tradeoffs between an MCA debt attorney and a settlement company, what only a licensed attorney can do, and how the two are combined.
Read the guideMCA debt relief scams: where the calls come from and the red flags that matter
Why your phone started ringing, the specific red flags in MCA debt relief scams, and what to do if you have already paid someone who did nothing.
Read the guideWhat actually happens on an MCA debt consultation call
What an MCA debt consultation covers, the questions you will be asked, what documents help, and the things nobody can honestly tell you on a first call.
Read the guideWhat MCA debt relief costs, and how the fee structures differ
The four ways MCA relief companies charge, worked math on the same file, the federal advance fee rule, and the questions that get you a real number.
Read the guideRules and enforcement
State disclosure laws and federal enforcement activity.
California's commercial financing disclosure rules and the APR line
California's SB 1235 rules took effect December 9, 2022 and made providers state an annualized rate.
Read the guideFlorida's commercial financing disclosure law and what it shows you
Florida's disclosure law covers advances funded on or after January 1, 2024. Here are the six numbers it requires and what the law does not do.
Read the guideNew York's two MCA reforms: confessions of judgment and disclosure
New York restricted confessions of judgment in 2019 and began requiring cost disclosures in 2023. Both reach advances funded far outside the state.
Read the guideWhat federal enforcement against MCA funders actually changed
Regulators banned MCA operators for life over over-debiting, misstated terms and confessions of judgment. Here is what those cases mean for your file.
Read the guidePractical playbooks
Things you can do this week.
Protecting payroll while you work out advance debt
Payroll is the one bill that cannot slip. How to build an honest operating floor, negotiate from it, and avoid the transfer that creates liability.
Read the guideThe MCA document checklist to build before you call anyone
Eight documents decide how fast an advance file moves. Here is what each one reveals about your position and how to pull the ones you do not have.
Read the guide
Next step
Find out where you stand
Answer two questions about your advances and we will tell you what options are realistic for your situation. Free, confidential, no obligation.
About a minute
- Two questions about your positions
- No documents, no credit pull
- Nothing that touches your file
Services are not available in all states.