Find a MCA Attorney in Tampa

If you are a Tampa business owner staring at a frozen bank account, watching daily ACH withdrawals empty your operating capital, or holding notice that an out-of-state funder has domesticated a judgment at the Hillsborough County Clerk of Court, you need accurate information fast — and there is a great deal of inaccurate information about Florida MCA defense circulating online.

This page explains what Florida law actually provides, which defenses are real, and which widely repeated claims do not hold up. Credible Law does not provide legal advice or represent clients. It connects business owners with an independent MCA defense attorney licensed in Florida.

Why Tampa businesses end up here

Tampa’s economy runs on industries with lumpy cash flow. Construction firms front materials ahead of a season. Healthcare practices wait on insurance reimbursement. Maritime and logistics operations at the port absorb fuel costs during delays. Restaurants swing hard between tourist season and February.

When the gap opens, funders offer capital in days rather than weeks, priced through a factor rate that obscures the annualized cost — our MCA calculators convert a factor rate into a figure you can compare against conventional financing. The first advance is usually survivable. The problem is stacking: a second funder advancing against the same revenue stream, then a third, each taking a daily withdrawal, until combined debits consume most of what comes in.

By the time a business looks for a lawyer, the account is frozen or close to it. If that is where you are, start with how to unfreeze a business bank account. If the withdrawals are the crisis, see how to stop MCA daily withdrawals. For the broader picture, what happens when you default on a merchant cash advance covers the sequence from missed payment forward.

What Florida’s disclosure law does — and what it does not

The Florida Commercial Financing Disclosure Law is real and relevant, but it is widely misrepresented. Getting this right matters, because acting on the wrong version of it wastes the time that actually counts.

The basics. The FCFDL was signed June 26, 2023 and codified at Fla. Stat. §§ 559.961–559.9615. It took effect July 1, 2023 and applies to transactions consummated on or after January 1, 2024. It is not a 2026 law. If your advance was funded before January 1, 2024, the disclosure requirements do not reach it at all.

What it requires. Under § 559.9613, a provider must give written disclosure at or before consummation — the total amount of financing, the amount actually disbursed after any withheld fees, itemization of deductions, and related terms. Section 559.9614 separately prohibits certain broker conduct, including collecting advance fees.

What it excludes. Under § 559.9612, transactions above $500,000 fall outside the disclosure requirements entirely. Florida is one of several states with a commercial financing disclosure statute — our guide to merchant cash advance laws by state covers how the others compare.

A disclosure violation does not void your advance. Section 559.9615 gives the Florida Attorney General exclusive enforcement authority and states expressly that the law creates no private right of action. It further provides that a violation does not affect the enforceability or validity of the underlying transaction. You cannot sue a funder under this statute, and you cannot use it to unwind your agreement. Any page telling you a missing “Total Cost of Financing” disclosure makes your contract void from the start is telling you something the statute forecloses.

So what is it worth? Real, but as leverage rather than as a defense. Penalties run $500 per incident up to $20,000 aggregate, rising to $1,000 per incident up to $50,000 for violations continuing after written notice from the Attorney General. A documented pattern of non-compliance is a regulatory problem a funder would prefer not to have attached to a file it is trying to collect, which is why it tends to surface in MCA settlement discussions rather than in motion practice.

Complaints go to the Florida Attorney General. The Florida Office of Financial Regulation is the appropriate channel for concerns about unlicensed commercial collection activity.

The defense that actually does the work: usury recharacterization

The strongest argument available to most Florida businesses is not the disclosure statute. It is whether the advance is a loan at all — the threshold question behind most MCA legal defenses.

Every MCA agreement claims to purchase future receivables rather than lend money. That framing is what keeps it outside Florida’s usury statutes. If a court looks past the label and finds a loan, the analysis changes completely — Florida caps interest at 18 percent for amounts up to $500,000, and rates above 25 percent implicate criminal usury.

Courts examine whether the transaction carries genuine receivables risk. Three features drive it:

• Reconciliation. A real purchase adjusts to actual revenue — slow month, smaller payment. Many agreements contain reconciliation provisions that are absent in practice or conditioned on documentation no operating business can produce on schedule.
• Indefinite term. A genuine purchase ends when the receivables are collected, not on a fixed date.
• No recourse. If the business fails through no fault of its own, the funder should absorb the loss. Absolute repayment rights and broad personal guarantees point the other direction.

Where a funder holds an unconditional right to repayment regardless of sales, the transaction looks like a loan. Whether that argument prevails depends entirely on the specific contract language, which is why the first step is having an attorney read the agreement against these factors rather than assuming the outcome.

Judgments domesticated in Hillsborough County

Many MCA agreements contain forum selection clauses placing disputes in New York, and some contain a confession of judgment provision allowing a funder to obtain judgment without a hearing. The funder then domesticates that judgment in Florida under the Uniform Enforcement of Foreign Judgments Act, filing at the Hillsborough County Clerk of Court so it can be enforced locally.

Domestication is a defined procedure, not automatic. Challenges typically raise defects in service, personal jurisdiction, due process problems with how the judgment was obtained, or public policy grounds. The deadlines are short and they are the most important thing on this page. Once the window to contest closes, a defective judgment becomes far harder to disturb, and the enforcement machinery moves quickly afterward.

If a lawsuit has been served rather than a judgment domesticated, the response clock is running from service — see MCA lawsuit defense for how that sequence works. For what happens when a judgment goes unchallenged, our resource on the legal consequences of MCA default covers the full range.

Frozen accounts, garnishment, and daily withdrawals

For most Tampa business owners the emergency is not the lawsuit — it is the morning the account will not clear payroll. Whether the account sits at Truist, Suncoast Credit Union, Wells Fargo, or Regions, the practical effect is identical.

Three distinct mechanisms get confused with one another, and they require different responses:

• Contractual ACH withdrawals. Debits authorized in the original agreement. Revoking authorization involves written notice to the bank under NACHA rules. Funders sometimes disregard revocation or shift to pulling through card processing, which raises separate legal questions.
• Garnishment following a judgment. This requires a court order. If the underlying judgment is defective, the garnishment can be challenged — but the attack is on the judgment.
• Processor interception. Redirecting merchant card receipts. Whether this is authorized depends on the agreement and the processor relationship.

Which applies determines what an attorney can actually do, and how fast.

UCC liens on your business assets

Nearly every MCA agreement includes a UCC-1 filing creating a blanket lien on business assets. These appear in searches, cloud your ability to obtain conventional financing, and frequently remain on file at the Florida Division of Corporations long after an obligation is settled. Where a filing was unauthorized, the obligation satisfied, or the statement materially defective, Florida law provides a route to compel termination — see how to remove a UCC lien.

For contractors the exposure is sharper, because equipment is the operating asset the business cannot function without. Preventing MCA equipment seizure covers what can be done before a lien becomes a seizure.

Subchapter V — check eligibility before you count on it

When negotiation fails, federal reorganization is the remaining option, and MCA bankruptcy options lays out the chapters available. Tampa businesses file in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Middle District of Florida.

Filing triggers the automatic stay, which halts collection activity immediately — ACH debits, garnishments, equipment seizure, pending lawsuits. For a business under pressure from several funders simultaneously, it is often the only thing that stops all of it at once.

But the debt ceiling is not what most pages say it is. A great deal of published material still cites $7.5 million. That figure expired on June 21, 2024. The limit reverted to the original Small Business Reorganization Act threshold as adjusted for inflation — $3,424,000 as of January 1, 2026. The Bankruptcy Threshold Adjustment Act of 2026 (S. 3977) would restore $7.5 million permanently, but it had not been enacted as of this writing.

For a stacked business this is not academic. Combined MCA obligations plus equipment financing and existing secured debt can clear $3.4 million faster than owners expect, and exceeding it means Subchapter V’s faster, cheaper process is unavailable — leaving traditional Chapter 11. Get an eligibility assessment early, before more advances close the door.

One point owners consistently misunderstand: a business bankruptcy does not discharge your personal guarantee. Guarantees survive the business case and remain enforceable against you individually. That exposure requires separate planning.

Industry considerations

Construction firms carry the sharpest equipment exposure — UCC liens against trucks and specialized tools can halt operations outright, and a lien can complicate licensing and bonding. Trucking companies facing MCA debt face a compounded version, since vehicles typically carry liens from both conventional lenders and funders, making priority the threshold question.

Healthcare practices took advances against insurance receivables, and reimbursement timing, denials, and clawbacks are realities most funder revenue projections ignore. That mismatch is itself evidence for the reconciliation argument.

Restaurants and hospitality groups face the same problem seasonally. An operation earning the bulk of its revenue between January and April cannot carry an August payment sized to March receipts — and if the agreement never adjusts, it is not behaving like a purchase of receivables. Businesses elsewhere in Florida can start with our Orlando MCA defense resource.

Frequently asked questions

Does a missing disclosure void my MCA under Florida law?

No. Fla. Stat. § 559.9615 gives the Attorney General exclusive enforcement authority, states the law creates no private right of action, and provides that a violation does not affect the enforceability or validity of the underlying transaction. A disclosure violation can be raised with the Attorney General and can carry weight in settlement discussions, but it is not a claim you can bring and it does not cancel your obligation.

Does the Florida disclosure law apply to my advance?

It applies to transactions consummated on or after January 1, 2024. Transactions above $500,000 are excluded from the disclosure requirements under § 559.9612. If your advance predates 2024, the statute does not reach it.

My funder is in New York and my business is in Tampa. Which state’s law applies?

It depends on the agreement’s choice-of-law and forum provisions and on which body of law is being invoked. This is a genuinely contested area and one of the first things an attorney will analyze. Do not assume either answer.

Can an MCA funder freeze my account at Suncoast or Truist?

Not without legal authority. Contractual ACH withdrawals are a different mechanism from a post-judgment garnishment. A garnishment requires a court order, and if the underlying judgment is defective, the challenge runs at the judgment.

What if a New York judgment was filed against my business in Hillsborough County?

That is domestication under the Uniform Enforcement of Foreign Judgments Act. It can be challenged — typically on service, jurisdiction, due process, or public policy grounds — but the window is short. This is the most time-sensitive situation on this page.

Is my MCA actually a disguised loan?

Possibly. Courts look at whether reconciliation genuinely adjusts payments to revenue, whether the term is indefinite rather than fixed, and whether the funder truly bears the risk of business failure. Where a funder holds an unconditional right to repayment regardless of sales, the loan argument is strongest. It turns on the specific contract.

Am I eligible for Subchapter V?

The debt limit is $3,424,000 as of January 1, 2026 — not $7.5 million, despite what many pages still say. The higher limit expired June 21, 2024. Combined noncontingent liquidated secured and unsecured debts must fall below the current figure.

Will bankruptcy stop the daily withdrawals?

Yes. The automatic stay takes effect on filing and halts collection activity, including ACH debits, garnishments, seizures, and pending lawsuits.

Does bankruptcy protect me personally if I signed a guarantee?

No. A business filing protects the entity. Personal guarantees survive and remain enforceable against you individually.

How do I remove a UCC-1 lien after settling?

Demand a termination statement from the secured party. If they refuse, Florida law provides a correction-statement mechanism and, where necessary, court intervention to compel termination.

Florida and federal resources

Statute

• Fla. Stat. § 559.9613 — disclosure requirements
• FCFDL legislative history — HB 1353 staff analysis

Regulators and complaints

• Florida OFR Consumer Complaint Portal — unlicensed commercial collection activity
• Florida Office of the Attorney General — exclusive enforcement authority for the FCFDL; the correct channel for a disclosure complaint

Courts and lookups

• Thirteenth Judicial Circuit — administrative orders
• U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Middle District of Florida
• Hillsborough County Clerk of Court — check for a filed claim or domesticated judgment
• Florida Division of Corporations (Sunbiz) — UCC filing search

Federal reference

• U.S. Trustee Program, Subchapter V — current debt limit

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Talk to a Florida MCA defense attorney

Deadlines drive these cases. A response date, a domesticated judgment, a garnishment already served — each runs on a short clock, and the options narrow as they pass.

Credible Law is a referral network, not a law firm, and does not provide legal advice or representation. It connects Florida business owners with independent, licensed attorneys who handle merchant cash advance disputes. There is no cost to be matched with counsel — start with a free case review.

Call (888) 201-0441.