Best Business Debt Settlement Lawyers
Best Business Debt Settlement Firms for New York (2026 Rankings)
Daily and weekly withdrawals can be devastating for cash flow, especially when you have several cash advances stacked up and withdrawn together every week. You may be current, in default, or already sued. A business debt attorney can review your merchant cash advance agreements and payment history, and negotiate a written settlement, or defend you if a lawsuit is filed, but cannot promise a reduction. That review can cover any reconciliation rights, claimed balance, fees, personal guarantees, alleged default, any judgment, bank restraint, or UCC filing.
If you have more than one merchant cash advance running, they should all be reviewed together. You need to list each funder, when it is paid back, how often it withdraws from your business bank account and what balance is left. Keep in mind that getting a new advance is not the same as settling a current one.
When a funder says you are in default, you want to start by pulling the actual notice and the original agreement, then look at your payment history for the whole period the funder says you owe. Talk through your options and the consequences before you stop or reduce payments, or agree to sign new terms.
Most MCAs are structured as purchase of future receivables and collected from your business bank account daily or weekly. There may be a UCC filing attached, so check the documents you sign. Factor rates are payment multiples, not APRs. Some agreements will use a daily or weekly estimate with an adjustment based on actual receipts afterward. Every MCA review should include looking at the agreement, the debit history, and the record of reconciliation, and you should keep all three together.
Whether a merchant cash advance is legally a loan or not in New York depends on its terms, not how it is labeled. Knowingly collecting more than 25% a year on a loan in New York can be criminal usury, a felony. If you think an MCA is charging a usurious rate, you need to get all of its documents reviewed by an experienced lawyer. A suspected violation does not automatically cancel the debt.
New York also has an eye on MCA funders. New York has a special disclosure law for lenders, including MCAs that offer advances up to $2.5 million. The state’s Attorney General obtained a judgment for $1.065 billion against the MCA lender Yellowstone Capital in January 2025, forgiving over $534 million in business debt. In June 2026 the New York Attorney General sued the arbitration platform Rapid Ruling. Rapid Ruling has adjudicated almost 3,000 MCA disputes in its first three years, and a small business was missing from about 97% of them.
Of course, the Federal Trade Commission can also file MCA cases. Its 2022 case against the MCA lender Richmond Capital is one example. While its true that some types of commercial financing are exempt from usury laws, it’s not true that every MCA by every lender is exempt in every situation.
It’s not always easy to recognize a confession of judgment, and you may find out the hard way that you signed one with your merchant cash advance. Watch for a confession of judgment in your papers, but whether it can be used lawfully or not does not turn on whether it is written down - there’s a separate law for each state. New York requires its own affidavit and covers residence and filing requirements. In New York, a confession of judgment can be filed only within three years after it is signed, and only in the county where you lived or had a place of business. Virginia bans them in covered sales-based financing. You need to find all of those papers and have them reviewed by an experienced business debt lawyer without delay.
If you’re already being sued, you have to act fast. The court, the case number and the deadline to answer should be in the papers you were served. Always check to see if you were sued both as an individual and a company. If you call the lender to negotiate, the court deadline doesn’t move. Most contract suits in New York need to be filed within six years.
Avoid getting stuck with legal fees your company can’t afford by asking the hard questions before you need a lawyer to be there for you. Confirm what attorney at the firm is responsible for representing you, whether all your entities and their owners and affiliates are covered, and whether the scope of service includes negotiation only or includes litigation if it comes to that, so that you know exactly what you are paying for. If you do not use an attorney licensed in your jurisdiction, ask about local counsel for that court and whether it would affect the fee before you agree to be represented. The engagement letter should explain clearly what is covered, what fees and expenses you may be charged for, how and when you must pay, and any right to arbitrate disputes over attorneys fees and bills. New York State’s fee dispute program will hear civil disputes over attorney fees and costs between $1,000 and $50,000, but can’t if a lower or higher amount is involved unless both sides agree to it.
Before you sign off a debt settlement, have your taxes looked at. Unless you have an exception like bankruptcy or insolvency, the IRS may treat canceled or settled debt as income for that year.
It doesn’t stop collection or a lawsuit just because you asked for a review, spoke to a lawyer or called for a consultation - but ask about urgent matters like freezing a bank account at the outset.