MCA Lawyer Near Me: Find Legal Help for Merchant Cash Advance Lawsuits, Bank Freezes, and MCA Debt

MCA Lawyer Near Me

If a merchant cash advance company is draining your business account, you do not have time to wait. If your bank account was frozen this morning, if you were served with an MCA lawsuit, if a UCC lien just appeared against your company, or if daily ACH withdrawals are pulling your business under, the next few days matter more than almost anything else you will do this year. These situations move fast. Judgments can be entered, accounts can be restrained, and receivables can be intercepted before most owners even understand what is happening.

Credible Law is a national legal referral network that connects small business owners with experienced merchant cash advance defense attorneys and debt-resolution professionals. We are not a law firm and we do not provide legal services ourselves. What we do is help you reach an attorney who handles MCA disputes, bank levies, and aggressive collection activity, often quickly, so a qualified lawyer can review your situation and explain your options. There is no cost to be connected, and a case review is confidential.

Need to speak with an MCA defense attorney now? Call 888-201-0441 for a free, confidential case review. We will connect you with a merchant cash advance defense attorney who can evaluate your lawsuit, frozen account, or daily withdrawals.

This guide explains, in plain language, what an MCA lawyer does, the warning signs that you need one immediately, the most common legal problems business owners face, and the defense strategies attorneys actually use. It also covers what is happening right now in the law, including a wave of court rulings and regulator actions that have changed the landscape for both sides. The goal is simple: help you understand your real options so you can make an informed decision quickly. For an overview of how a case typically unfolds once a funder files, see our explainer on the MCA lawsuit process.

What Does an MCA Lawyer Do?

A merchant cash advance lawyer is an attorney who defends business owners against the funders, brokers, and collection firms behind MCA agreements. While the headline keyword is “MCA lawyer near me,” the reality is that most of this work is national in nature, because most MCA contracts route disputes through a handful of states regardless of where your business sits. A capable MCA defense attorney focuses on a specific, recurring set of problems:

• Lawsuit defense. Responding to a summons and complaint, filing an answer with affirmative defenses, and contesting the funder’s claims before a default judgment can be entered.
• Settlement negotiation. Negotiating reduced lump-sum payoffs or structured resolutions directly with the funder or its counsel, often using litigation leverage to lower the number.
• ACH disputes. Addressing unauthorized or excessive daily and weekly withdrawals, coordinating with your bank, and challenging debits that violate the agreement or applicable law.
• UCC lien issues. Disputing or seeking the removal of UCC-1 financing statements that cloud your business credit and tie up your receivables.
• Arbitration defense. Representing owners in private arbitration when the contract forces disputes out of court.
• Default and confession-of-judgment defense. Moving to vacate judgments entered without a trial, including judgments obtained through confessions of judgment.
• Emergency bank-freeze response. Acting quickly when a restraining notice or levy hits your operating account, which is often the most time-sensitive part of any MCA matter.

In practice, an attorney’s first job is triage: figure out what stage your matter is in, whether a deadline is about to pass, and whether your accounts are at immediate risk. From there, the lawyer maps a strategy. If you want a deeper look at the tools attorneys rely on, our overview of merchant cash advance legal defenses walks through the most common approaches in more detail.

Signs You Need an MCA Lawyer Immediately

Some MCA problems can wait a few days. Many cannot. The following situations are time-sensitive, and several of them can escalate within 24 to 72 hours. If any of these describe your business, it is reasonable to seek legal guidance right away rather than wait and see:

• You were served with a lawsuit or received a summons and complaint. There is a hard deadline to respond, often 20 to 30 days depending on the court. Missing it usually leads to a default judgment.
• Your business bank account was frozen or restrained. A restraining notice or levy can lock up your operating funds before you are even notified the judgment exists.
• You are getting aggressive collection calls. Repeated calls, threats to contact your customers or processor, and demands for immediate payment are signals that enforcement may be near.
• A bank levy hit your account. merchant cash advance bank levy process.
• You received personal guarantee threats. The funder is signaling it intends to pursue your personal assets, not just the company’s.
• Daily or weekly ACH withdrawals are crushing cash flow. stop MCA ACH withdrawals immediately.
• A UCC lien was filed against your company. This can block new financing and signal that the funder is positioning to intercept receivables.
• You suspect a judgment was entered without a trial. Confession-of-judgment filings can produce a judgment with no lawsuit, no hearing, and no notice until it is already done.

If your accounts are already frozen or a withdrawal just cleared, treat it as an emergency. Our emergency MCA lawyer resource explains what a same-day response can look like, and you can call 888-201-0441 to be connected with an attorney who handles urgent matters.

Common Merchant Cash Advance Legal Problems

Most MCA disputes fall into a recognizable set of problems. Understanding which one you are facing helps you ask better questions and recognize which deadlines matter. Below is a practical breakdown.

MCA Lawsuits

When a funder claims a business has defaulted, it can file a breach-of-contract lawsuit, frequently in New York, to collect the remaining “purchased amount” plus fees. Because many agreements contain forum-selection and choice-of-law clauses pointing to New York, business owners in Texas, Florida, or California regularly find themselves defending cases far from home. Our pillar on merchant cash advance lawsuits covers venue, deadlines, and what an answer should include.

Bank Levies

After a judgment, a funder can levy your business bank account, pulling funds directly to satisfy the debt. Levies often arrive without warning and can sweep an account in a single day. Acting fast on a business bank levy defense can sometimes limit the damage or support a motion to release restrained funds.

Frozen Accounts

A restraining notice can freeze your account even before money is removed, locking up payroll and vendor payments. If this happens, the timing of your legal response is everything. See how to unfreeze a bank account after an MCA and MCA froze my bank account for what owners typically do first.

UCC Liens

Most MCA agreements authorize a UCC-1 financing statement against your receivables or general business assets. A lien can damage your business credit, block new funding, and let a funder notify your customers or processor. Attorneys evaluate whether a filing is overbroad, unauthorized, or tied to an unenforceable agreement, and whether it can be challenged or released as part of a resolution.

Confessions of Judgment

A confession of judgment (COJ) is a clause or separate affidavit in which a business owner agrees in advance that the funder may obtain a court judgment without a lawsuit, hearing, or notice. For years this was the MCA industry’s instrument of choice. In August 2019, New York amended CPLR § 3218 to prohibit filing confessions of judgment in New York against defendants who do not reside in the state. That reform ended the most abusive out-of-state practice, but it did not abolish COJs: they remain enforceable against New York–based merchants, and similar “cognovit note” structures still appear in states such as Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Virginia. Our deep dive on confession of judgment abuse in MCAs explains how attorneys move to vacate these judgments.

Default Judgments

If you miss the deadline to respond to a lawsuit, the court can enter a default judgment, giving the funder the power to levy accounts and pursue assets. Default judgments are not always final, though. Depending on the facts, an attorney may be able to move to vacate one, particularly where there were service defects, jurisdictional problems, or the judgment rests on an agreement that may be unenforceable.

Stacked MCA Debt

Many owners take a second, third, or fourth advance to keep up with the first. “Stacking” multiplies daily withdrawals until they exceed what any business can sustain. Untangling stacked positions usually requires a coordinated strategy across multiple funders rather than negotiating one at a time. Our resource on merchant cash advance debt relief addresses how attorneys approach multiple-position situations.

MCA Arbitration

Some agreements force disputes into private arbitration instead of court. Arbitration has its own rules, costs, and timelines, and the strategy differs from litigation. An attorney experienced with MCA arbitration can evaluate whether the clause is enforceable and how best to present defenses in that forum.

Personal Guarantees

Personal guarantee provisions can expose your home, savings, and personal credit if the business cannot pay. Attorneys scrutinize whether a guarantee was validly executed, whether it was triggered, and whether the underlying agreement is enforceable in the first place, since an unenforceable contract can undermine the guarantee built on top of it.

Can an MCA Lawyer Stop ACH Withdrawals?

This is one of the most common and most urgent questions owners ask. The honest answer is: it depends on the facts, and it is not as simple as “just revoke the ACH.” Daily and weekly ACH debits are the lifeblood of the MCA model, and funders treat any interruption as a default trigger. Here is what business owners and their attorneys generally weigh:

• ACH revocation issues. You can instruct your bank to stop honoring ACH debits, but doing so unilaterally can be treated by the funder as a breach and an event of default, which may accelerate the full balance and prompt immediate enforcement.
• Lender retaliation. Funders frequently respond to a blocked debit by filing suit, recording a UCC lien against receivables, or contacting your payment processor. Anticipating that reaction is part of the strategy.
• Banking coordination. Some owners open new operating accounts or work with their bank on ACH blocks. Timing and documentation matter, and a misstep can create new exposure.
• Emergency strategies. Where the debits no longer reflect actual revenue, or where the agreement may be unenforceable, an attorney may be able to challenge the withdrawals, demand reconciliation, or seek relief through the courts.

Because every move carries a counter-move, most attorneys advise against shutting off ACH access on your own before getting legal guidance. If withdrawals are pushing you toward insolvency, see reverse MCA ACH withdrawals and the MCA took money from my account, then speak with a lawyer before acting.

What to Do if an MCA Company Froze Your Business Account

A frozen or restrained account is a genuine emergency because it can halt payroll, rent, and vendor payments overnight. The legal mechanics usually look like this:

• Restraining notices. After obtaining a judgment, a funder can serve a restraining notice on your bank, freezing funds up to roughly twice the judgment amount even before any money is withdrawn.
• Levies. A levy is the next step, where the marshal or sheriff actually directs the bank to turn over restrained funds to satisfy the judgment.
• Emergency response timing. The window to act is short. The sooner an attorney can evaluate the judgment, the more options may exist, including moving to vacate a defective judgment or seeking release of restrained funds.
• Litigation procedures and court actions. Depending on the jurisdiction, an attorney may file an order to show cause, a motion to vacate, or a separate proceeding to challenge the underlying judgment.

Note an important procedural point from recent New York case law: in Capitalize Group LLC v. Empire Core Group LLC (Westchester County Commercial Division, September 2025), the court reinforced that vacating a confession of judgment generally requires a separate plenary action rather than a simple motion. That distinction affects cost and strategy, which is exactly why a frozen account is not a do-it-yourself problem. Start with MCA froze my bank account and how to unfreeze a bank account after an MCA, then call 888-201-0441 to be connected quickly.

MCA Lawsuit Defense Strategies

There is no single defense that fits every case. Experienced MCA defense attorneys assemble a strategy from several possible angles, depending on the contract language, the funder’s conduct, and the jurisdiction. The most common approaches include:

• Procedural defenses. Improper service, missed filing requirements, defective affidavits, and other technical errors are common in high-volume MCA litigation and can be grounds to dismiss or vacate.
• Jurisdiction and venue. Challenging whether a New York court (or whichever forum the funder chose) actually has the authority to hear the case against an out-of-state business.
• Usury and recharacterization arguments. Arguing that the “purchase of receivables” is really a disguised loan that exceeds the lawful interest rate. New York applies a three-factor test from LG Funding, LLC v. United Senior Properties, asking whether the agreement has a genuine reconciliation provision, a finite term, and recourse if the business goes bankrupt. Recent appellate decisions such as Crystal Springs Capital v. Big Thicket Coin (2023) and Oakshire Properties v. Argus Capital Funding (2024) have allowed agreements failing this test to be recharacterized as loans, which can make a usurious contract unenforceable.
• Reconciliation defenses. If the funder ignored a contractual right to true-up payments against actual sales, that can support an argument that repayment was “absolute” rather than contingent, a hallmark of a loan rather than a true receivables purchase.
• Contract disputes. Disputing the alleged default, the accounting of what was actually advanced versus collected, or the enforceability of specific clauses.
• Settlement leverage. Even where a full defense is uncertain, raising credible legal challenges often creates leverage to negotiate a substantially reduced payoff.

These are general legal concepts, not predictions about any specific case. Which defenses apply, and whether they succeed, depends entirely on your contract and facts. For more, see merchant cash advance defense and merchant cash advance legal defenses. You can read the federal usury concepts behind these arguments at the Cornell Legal Information Institute.

Can an MCA Lawyer Remove a UCC Lien?

Sometimes, yes, depending on how and why the lien was filed. A UCC-1 financing statement is a public notice that a creditor claims an interest in your business assets or receivables. MCA funders use them aggressively, and they can do real harm even before any lawsuit. Attorneys look at several issues:

• Fraudulent or unauthorized filings. If a lien was filed without authorization, or is broader than the agreement allows, it may be challengeable.
• Financing and credit damage. An active lien can block new loans or lines of credit, which is often the most immediate business consequence and a strong reason to address it promptly.
• Business credit damage. Liens appear in commercial credit reports and can affect vendor terms and underwriting.
• Lien disputes. Where the underlying agreement is unenforceable or already resolved, an attorney can demand a UCC-3 termination to clear the filing.
• Settlement leverage. Release of a UCC lien is frequently part of negotiating a global resolution with a funder.

Whether a lien can be removed depends on the facts, the agreement, and the funder’s cooperation or a court order. An attorney can review the filing and advise on the realistic path.

MCA Lawyer vs. MCA Debt Settlement Company

When owners search for help, they run into two very different kinds of providers: licensed attorneys and non-attorney “debt settlement” or “debt relief” companies. The distinction matters, especially when a lawsuit is involved. Here is how they compare:

Capability	Licensed MCA Lawyer	Debt Settlement Company
Can represent you in court	Yes — can file an answer and litigate	No — cannot appear or litigate for you
Can be sued for defaulting? Protected by privilege	Attorney-client privilege applies	No privilege; communications may be discoverable
Negotiation authority	Negotiates with full legal leverage	Negotiates without litigation backing
Litigation defense	Core function	Not offered
Regulatory and compliance risk	Bound by bar rules and ethics	Varies; some practices have drawn scrutiny

The most important practical difference: only a licensed attorney can defend you in a lawsuit, file motions, and assert privileged, confidential advice. If a funder has sued you or frozen your account, a settlement company cannot step into the courtroom on your behalf. That is why owners facing active litigation are usually directed to an attorney. If a negotiated resolution is the goal, a merchant cash advance settlement lawyer can pursue a reduced payoff while preserving the option to litigate if talks fail.

How to Find the Best MCA Lawyer Near You

“Near me” is natural to search, but for MCA cases, geography is less important than experience. Because most agreements push disputes into a few specific courts, the right attorney is often one who knows those forums and this niche, not simply the closest office. When evaluating an MCA lawyer, look for:

• MCA-specific experience. Merchant cash advance litigation is a specialized field with its own contracts, defenses, and case law. General business attorneys may not handle it regularly.
• Litigation background. If you have been sued, you want someone who actually tries and resolves cases, not only negotiates.
• Knowledge of the relevant venue. Many cases land in New York courts; familiarity with those judges and procedures is valuable.
• Emergency availability. Frozen accounts and looming deadlines require fast response, sometimes the same day.
• National reach. Because of forum-selection clauses, an attorney who can handle multi-state matters is often more useful than a purely local one.

This is exactly why a referral network can help. Rather than guessing whether the nearest firm handles MCA work, Credible Law connects you with attorneys who focus on these disputes. There is no cost to be connected, and your initial case review is confidential. Call 888-201-0441 to get started, or explore a merchant cash advance lawsuit lawyer if you have already been served.

States With High MCA Lawsuit Activity

MCA litigation is concentrated in a handful of states, both because that is where many funders are based and because contracts route disputes there. Understanding the geography helps explain why your case may be filed somewhere unexpected.

New York

New York is the epicenter of MCA litigation. Most agreements include New York forum-selection and choice-of-law clauses, and the state’s courts and enforcement tools make it attractive to funders. New York also led the reckoning: in January 2025, the New York Attorney General secured a judgment and settlement exceeding $1 billion against a major cash-advance operator for predatory loans disguised as merchant cash advances, canceling hundreds of millions in debt for more than 18,000 small businesses, vacating over 1,100 judgments, and requiring the release of UCC liens. If your case is here, our New York MCA lawsuits guide and New York MCA defense attorney resources explain venue and confession-of-judgment issues. Many cases also originate in Brooklyn and surrounding boroughs.

California

California has its own active MCA market and one of the earliest commercial financing disclosure laws, enforced by the Department of Financial Protection and Innovation. Owners in Los Angeles and San Diego frequently face both in-state and out-of-state funders.

Florida

Florida sees heavy MCA activity, particularly around Miami, and adopted commercial financing disclosure requirements that took effect in 2024. Many Florida businesses are still sued under New York choice-of-law clauses.

Texas

Texas enacted House Bill 700 in 2025, a disclosure law focused specifically on sales-based financing (the MCA product), effective that September and administered by the Office of Consumer Credit Commissioner. Owners in Dallas and across the state increasingly see these protections, though forum clauses can still send disputes elsewhere.

Illinois

Illinois, and Chicago in particular, is a significant market with growing scrutiny of high-cost commercial financing. Disclosure legislation has been considered, reflecting the national trend.

New Jersey

New Jersey hosts many funders and active litigation. Like other states, it has weighed sales-based financing disclosure bills as the regulatory wave spreads.

A broader point worth knowing: as of early 2026, roughly ten to eleven states, including California, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Kansas, Louisiana, Missouri, New York, Texas, Utah, and Virginia, require some form of commercial financing disclosure. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has confirmed that the California, New York, Utah, and Virginia disclosure laws are not preempted by the federal Truth in Lending Act. The trend is clearly toward more transparency, but the patchwork of confession-of-judgment rules, venue clauses, and usury standards is exactly why state-specific legal guidance matters.

Industries Most Commonly Sued by MCA Companies

MCAs are marketed hardest to businesses with steady card or receivable volume but uneven cash flow, which is why certain industries appear again and again in MCA litigation:

• Trucking and transportation. Fuel costs and slow-paying freight brokers create cash gaps that MCAs fill, then strain.
• Restaurants and food service. High card volume makes them prime targets, but thin margins make daily debits brutal.
• E-commerce and online retail. Inventory cycles and ad spend drive owners to fast capital that becomes hard to service.
• Brick-and-mortar retail. Seasonal swings and inventory needs lead to stacking.
• Construction and contractors. Payment delays between milestones collide with fixed daily withdrawals.
• Hospitality. Hotels and event businesses face seasonality that fixed repayment schedules ignore.
• Medical and dental offices. Insurance reimbursement lags create the exact cash-flow mismatch MCAs exploit.

If you operate in one of these fields and the daily withdrawals no longer match reality, you are not alone, and the recurring pattern is itself part of why courts and regulators have grown skeptical of how these products are sold and collected.

When Bankruptcy or Restructuring Enters the Picture

For some businesses, especially those buried under stacked positions, the realistic options include restructuring or business bankruptcy. Bankruptcy is a serious step with long-term consequences, and it is not right for everyone, but it can stop collection activity through the automatic stay and create a framework to address multiple debts at once. It also interacts with MCA agreements in nuanced ways, because how a court characterizes the advance (sale versus loan) can affect how the claim is treated. This is a decision to make only with a qualified attorney who can weigh it against settlement, litigation, and the health of the business. Credible Law can connect you with professionals who handle both MCA defense and business restructuring so you can compare paths before committing to one.

Signs Your MCA Agreement May Be Challengeable

Not every MCA contract is enforceable as written. Courts have increasingly looked past the “purchase of receivables” label to ask whether an agreement actually functions like a loan. While only an attorney can evaluate your specific contract, the following features are the ones courts and defense lawyers focus on most. The more of these your agreement shows, the more worth reviewing it may be:

• No genuine reconciliation provision. If the contract does not let you true-up payments against your actual sales, or gives the funder sole, unchecked discretion over reconciliation, courts have treated that as a sign of a loan. This is the single most common issue raised in successful usury arguments.
• Fixed daily or weekly payments that never adjust. A real receivables purchase rises and falls with revenue. A flat, unchanging debit regardless of sales looks like loan repayment.
• A finite, fixed term. If repayment is expected within a set period no matter what, rather than continuing only until receivables are actually collected, that cuts against a true purchase.
• Repayment due even in bankruptcy or business failure. If the funder is entitled to the full amount regardless of whether the business survives, the risk that defines a genuine purchase is missing.
• An effective cost far above the legal interest cap. When the implied annualized cost dwarfs the lawful limit (25% in New York for criminal usury), recharacterization as a usurious loan becomes a live defense.
• Reconciliation requests that were ignored. If you asked the funder to adjust payments when revenue dropped and were met with threats instead of a true-up, that history can support your case.

These factors track the framework New York courts apply, and they are why recent rulings have allowed some agreements to be recharacterized as loans, an outcome that can make a contract unenforceable. None of this is a guarantee about your contract; it is a reason to have a merchant cash advance defense attorney read the actual document. Keep your full agreement and payment records, since the language and your transaction history are what an attorney will analyze first.

What to Gather Before Your Case Review

You can make your first conversation with an attorney faster and more productive by pulling together a few documents in advance. If your account is frozen or a deadline is looming, do not wait to assemble everything, call first, but having these ready helps:

• The full MCA agreement(s). Every advance, including any you stacked, plus any addenda, personal guarantees, and the confession-of-judgment affidavit if one exists.
• Any lawsuit papers. The summons and complaint, plus the envelope or proof of how you were served, since service defects can matter.
• Bank statements showing the withdrawals. These document what was actually advanced versus what has been collected, which is central to both reconciliation and accounting disputes.
• Notices of judgment, restraint, or levy. Anything from a court, marshal, sheriff, or your bank about a freeze or judgment.
• UCC filing notices. Any record of a UCC-1 lien filed against your business.
• Collection communications. Emails, texts, voicemails, and letters, especially anything threatening, since abusive collection conduct has been the basis for regulator action against funders.
• A short timeline. When you took the advance, when revenue dropped, when you contacted the funder, and when problems started. A few bullet points are enough.

With these in hand, an attorney can usually tell you fairly quickly what stage you are in, what deadlines apply, and what realistic options exist. When you are ready, call 888-201-0441 for a free, confidential review.

Where to Verify This Information

Because this is a high-stakes financial and legal topic, it is worth knowing the authoritative sources. The Federal Trade Commission has taken enforcement action against MCA operators, including a permanent industry ban and multimillion-dollar judgment against the operator of RCG Advances (formerly Richmond Capital Group) for misrepresenting financing terms, making unauthorized withdrawals, and abusing confessions of judgment. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau tracks small-business lending and commercial financing disclosure issues. For statutes and legal definitions, the Cornell Legal Information Institute is a reliable reference, and you can search federal court filings through PACER. Background on the model commercial financing framework is available from the Uniform Law Commission, and the U.S. Small Business Administration offers guidance on safer financing alternatives such as SBA loans and lines of credit.

Frequently Asked Questions About MCA Lawyers

Do I need an attorney for MCA debt?

Not always, but it depends on the situation. If you have simply fallen behind and want to negotiate, you may be able to start that conversation yourself. If you have been sued, served, levied, or threatened with a confession of judgment, a licensed attorney can defend you in ways a non-lawyer cannot, including filing court documents and asserting legal defenses. When in doubt, a free case review costs nothing and clarifies whether legal help is warranted.

Can an MCA lawyer stop collections?

An attorney may be able to slow or challenge collection activity, but no lawyer can guarantee that collections will stop. Depending on the facts, options can include disputing the debt, contesting a judgment, negotiating a resolution, or, in some cases, the automatic stay that arises in bankruptcy. What is realistic depends entirely on your contract and circumstances.

Can MCA lenders freeze my bank account?

After obtaining a judgment, a funder can typically serve a restraining notice and then levy your business account. In some cases involving a confession of judgment, this can happen with little or no advance notice. If your account has been frozen, time is critical, so see can an MCA freeze my bank account and seek guidance quickly.

What happens if I ignore an MCA lawsuit?

Ignoring a lawsuit is one of the most damaging mistakes an owner can make. If you do not respond by the deadline, the court can enter a default judgment, which then enables levies, liens, and asset enforcement, often without further notice. Even a strong defense is worthless if the deadline passes. Responding, or having an attorney respond, preserves your options.

Can MCA debt be settled?

Often, yes. Many MCA disputes resolve through a negotiated lump-sum payoff or structured settlement, sometimes for less than the full claimed balance. Credible legal defenses can increase leverage in those talks. Outcomes vary widely, and no specific result can be promised.

Can MCA companies garnish my business revenue?

Funders generally cannot garnish in the wage-garnishment sense, but through UCC liens and post-judgment enforcement they can attempt to intercept receivables and levy accounts. Challenging the lien or the judgment is how attorneys address this.

Can MCA lenders sue me in another state?

Yes. Most MCA agreements contain forum-selection clauses, frequently designating New York, that allow a funder to sue you far from where your business operates. Whether that clause is enforceable in your situation is a question an attorney can evaluate.

Is a merchant cash advance a loan?

MCAs are structured as purchases of future receivables, not loans, which is how funders position them outside many usury laws. However, courts increasingly recharacterize an MCA as a loan when it lacks a genuine reconciliation provision, has a fixed term, or requires repayment regardless of the business’s performance. New York’s three-factor test from LG Funding is the leading framework, and a successful usury argument can render a contract unenforceable.

What is a confession of judgment, and can it still be used?

A confession of judgment lets a funder obtain a court judgment without a lawsuit or hearing. Since New York’s 2019 reform, COJs cannot be filed in New York against out-of-state defendants, but they remain enforceable against New York residents, and similar instruments exist in other states. Attorneys can sometimes move to vacate a confession of judgment, particularly where there are defects in how it was executed or filed.

How much does an MCA lawyer cost?

Fee structures vary. Some attorneys charge flat fees for specific tasks, some bill hourly, and some use blended arrangements. Many offer a free initial consultation so you can understand the likely cost before committing. When Credible Law connects you with an attorney, you can discuss fees directly during your case review.

Can I be personally liable for my business’s MCA debt?

If you signed a personal guarantee, the funder may pursue your personal assets if the business defaults. Whether the guarantee is enforceable depends on how it was executed and whether the underlying agreement is valid, both of which an attorney can review.

How fast can I get help if my account is frozen?

Often the same day or the next business day. Frozen accounts are treated as emergencies. Call 888-201-0441 to be connected with an attorney who handles urgent MCA matters, or see our emergency MCA lawyer resource.

Will dissolving my LLC make the MCA debt disappear?

No. Dissolving the company does not erase the debt, and if a personal guarantee exists or the dissolution is seen as an attempt to evade creditors, it can make matters worse. Speak with an attorney before taking any step like this.

Is Credible Law a law firm?

No. Credible Law is a national legal referral network. We connect small business owners with experienced merchant cash advance defense attorneys and debt-resolution professionals. We do not provide legal services or legal advice ourselves, and being connected through us does not create an attorney-client relationship until you engage an attorney directly.

Talk to an MCA Defense Attorney Today

Merchant cash advance problems rarely improve on their own, and the most expensive mistakes, missed deadlines, ignored lawsuits, unilateral ACH shutoffs, usually happen when owners wait too long or act without guidance. You do not have to figure this out alone, and you do not have to commit to anything to learn where you stand.

Get a free, confidential case review. Call 888-201-0441 and Credible Law will connect you with a merchant cash advance defense attorney who can review your lawsuit, frozen account, UCC lien, or daily withdrawals and explain your options. No cost to be connected.

About this guide

Credible Law is a national legal referral network, not a law firm, and does not provide legal services or legal advice. This article is for general informational purposes only and is not legal advice. Reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. Laws and court decisions change and vary by state; outcomes depend on the specific facts of each case, and no result is guaranteed. For advice about your situation, consult a licensed attorney. Statutory and enforcement references in this article reflect publicly reported developments as of early 2026.Reviewed for accuracy by a licensed attorney in the Credible Law network. [Karsyn: add Melissa’s full name, tit