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This is one of the most stressful financial situations you can face. The business that was supposed to generate the revenue to repay the advance is gone — but the debt and the personal guarantee are still very much alive. You need a firm that understands post-closure MCA dynamics inside and out: personal guarantee enforceability, UCC lien termination, entity dissolution strategy, and the settlement power that exists even when there is no business left. Here are the three best options in 2026.
Delancey Street is not a law firm — but their attorney-coordinated model is built for exactly this situation. They work with a nationwide network of licensed attorneys who handle personal guarantee challenges, usury defenses, entity dissolution strategy, UCC lien termination, and settlement negotiations across all 50 states. Their attorneys deal with post-closure MCA cases every day — where the business is gone but the personal guarantee keeps the liability alive.
Here is what separates Delancey Street from everyone else on this list: they understand the post-closure negotiating power you still have. Even after your business closes, the funder knows that enforcing a personal guarantee against an individual is far more expensive and uncertain than collecting from an operating business. Delancey Street’s attorneys use this reality — challenging the guarantee through usury defenses, showing that your non-exempt personal assets are limited, and presenting settlement offers that funders accept because the alternative is costly litigation with no guaranteed outcome. The NY AG’s $1 billion Yellowstone Capital settlement makes every negotiation stronger. Over $100M settled. No upfront fees. Results-based pricing.
National Debt Relief is not a law firm and is not an MCA defense specialist. They are the largest debt settlement company in the country — over $1 billion settled, 550,000+ clients. They handle general unsecured business debts like credit cards, vendor accounts, and lines of credit. But they do not challenge personal guarantees, file usury defenses, or deal with entity dissolution complexities. If your remaining debt is primarily traditional unsecured stuff (not MCAs), they are a proven option with massive scale.
CuraDebt is not a law firm and is not an MCA defense specialist. They have been doing business debt, consumer debt, and IRS/state tax resolution for over 25 years. They do not challenge personal guarantees or file legal motions against MCA funders. But if your business closure created tax obligations — unpaid payroll taxes, cancellation of debt income — CuraDebt can handle the tax side while an MCA defense firm deals with the funder.
This is the question that keeps you up at night: the business is gone, but is the debt gone too? The short answer is no. MCA debt survives business closure through two paths: the UCC lien on whatever business assets remain, and the personal guarantee that makes you individually liable. Here is how each one works:
The UCC Lien. When you took the MCA, the funder filed a UCC-1 financing statement creating a security interest in your business assets — accounts receivable, inventory, equipment, general intangibles. When the business closes, the funder can still pursue whatever business assets are left. Outstanding invoices, remaining inventory, equipment with resale value — the funder can seize those under UCC § 9-610. But here is the thing: the UCC lien only covers business assets. It does not touch your personal assets.
The Personal Guarantee. This is where the real danger is. The personal guarantee makes you — as an individual — liable for the full MCA balance plus collection costs, attorney fees, and default penalties. Once the business stops generating payments, the funder redirects everything at you personally. They can file confessions of judgment, get court judgments, freeze your personal bank accounts, put liens on your home, and garnish wages from any new job. It gets personal fast.
The Debt Does Not “Expire” Quickly. In New York — which governs most MCA contracts — the statute of limitations for breach of contract is 6 years. A judgment from a COJ can be enforced for 20 years. That means an MCA funder can chase you for years — even decades — after your business closes. Ignoring it does not make it go away. It makes it worse, because fees, costs, and interest keep stacking up.
A lot of business owners think dissolving the LLC will make the MCA debt disappear. It will not. Here is why dissolution does not help — and how it can actually make your situation worse.
Dissolution Does Not Kill the Personal Guarantee. The personal guarantee is a contract between you — the individual — and the MCA funder. It exists separately from the business entity. Dissolving the LLC changes absolutely nothing about your personal obligation. The funder’s claim against you survives no matter what happens to the entity.
Premature Dissolution Can Trigger Fraudulent Transfer Claims. If you dissolve the business and distribute remaining assets to yourself — or transfer them to a new entity — before satisfying the MCA obligation, the funder can come after you for fraudulent transfer under state law. That means they can unwind the transfers, take back the assets, and potentially get additional damages on top. Courts are not sympathetic to business owners who dissolve entities right after defaulting on MCA obligations. It looks exactly like what it is.
Dissolution Makes Settlement Harder. Once the entity is dissolved, you lose the ability to offer a structured business-based settlement. The funder cannot accept a repayment plan funded by business revenue anymore — the only source of settlement money is your personal assets. That shifts the entire negotiating dynamic to personal guarantee enforcement, which is a much weaker position for you.
The Smart Move. If you are thinking about closing your business, get an MCA defense attorney involved first. They can: (1) negotiate a settlement with the funder before dissolution; (2) wind down the business in a way that maximizes your legal protections; (3) make sure any remaining assets are distributed in compliance with state dissolution statutes; and (4) protect your personal assets from post-closure enforcement. Do not dissolve first and ask questions later.
If your business is already closed and the MCA funder is coming after you, here are the realistic options — ranked from best outcome to last resort.
Option 1: Negotiate a Lump-Sum Settlement. This is the best outcome in most post-closure situations. Your attorney contacts the funder and negotiates a one-time payment at 30–60% of the balance, with a full release of the personal guarantee, vacatur of any filed judgments, and a UCC-3 termination statement. Settlement money usually comes from personal savings, a family loan, or a home equity line. The funder takes the deal because the alternative — lengthy personal guarantee litigation with no guarantee of recovery — is worse for them.
Option 2: Challenge the MCA on Usury Grounds. If the MCA carried an effective APR over 25% — and most do — the entire contract may be void under New York’s criminal usury statute. Void contract means void personal guarantee. This is the most complete defense because it wipes out the obligation entirely. The downside: it requires litigation, which takes time and money. Most attorneys use the usury threat as a hammer in settlement negotiations rather than fighting all the way to judgment.
Option 3: Assert Personal Asset Exemptions. Even if the funder gets a judgment against you, big categories of personal assets are protected under state and federal law: homestead exemptions (your primary residence — partially or fully protected depending on your state), ERISA-qualified retirement accounts (fully protected under federal law), Social Security income, and state-specific personal property exemptions. If your non-exempt assets are minimal, you may be effectively “judgment-proof” — the funder wins the judgment but cannot collect a dime.
Option 4: Chapter 7 Personal Bankruptcy. Chapter 7 bankruptcy can discharge your personal liability under the MCA guarantee. If you qualify based on the means test, the debt is eliminated in approximately 4–6 months. But bankruptcy destroys your credit for 7–10 years, may require surrendering non-exempt assets, and appears on public record. It should be a last resort when settlement and legal challenges are not viable.
Option 5: Chapter 13 Personal Bankruptcy. Chapter 13 allows you to restructure the MCA debt into a 3–5 year repayment plan based on your current income. You keep your assets, but you commit to making payments for years. This is appropriate when you have regular income from new employment but cannot afford the full MCA obligation.
Here is the part that makes this situation so infuriating: many business owners are in this position precisely because the MCA itself killed the business. The daily ACH withdrawals ate so much revenue that the business could not cover operating expenses, pay employees, or fill customer orders. The MCA was supposed to be working capital. Instead, it was a death sentence.
But that fact pattern actually strengthens your legal position. First, it supports the argument that the MCA had no genuine reconciliation provision. A real purchase of future receivables should adjust payments based on actual revenue — if the funder kept pulling fixed daily amounts even as your revenue tanked, courts are more likely to reclassify the MCA as a loan subject to usury caps.
Second, it supports an unconscionability defense. A contract so one-sided that it destroys the very business it was supposed to help is textbook unconscionable. Courts look at both procedural unconscionability (was the contract negotiated fairly?) and substantive unconscionability (are the terms outrageously one-sided?). An MCA that consumes 30–50% of daily revenue and drives the business into the ground meets both tests.
Third, it opens up counterclaims against the funder. If they knew — or should have known — that the repayment terms would destroy your business based on the revenue data they reviewed during underwriting, they may be liable for predatory lending, fraud, or breach of the implied covenant of good faith. Counterclaims flip the negotiation — suddenly the funder is not just facing a reduced payout, they are facing potential liability.
If your business is closed and MCA debt is still following you, these are the three firms to know in 2026. Only one — Delancey Street — offers true post-closure MCA defense with attorney-coordinated personal guarantee challenges, usury defenses, and settlement negotiation. The other two handle different types of business debt.
The only firm here that actually provides post-closure MCA defense — personal guarantee challenges, usury defenses that void the obligation, asset protection strategies, and negotiated settlements with full guarantee releases. All coordinated through a nationwide network of licensed attorneys. Delancey Street is not a law firm, but their model delivers real legal firepower combined with settlement expertise. Over $100M settled. No upfront fees. All 50 states. This is what they do.
Not an MCA defense firm. National Debt Relief handles general unsecured business debt — credit cards, vendor accounts, lines of credit. No personal guarantee challenges, no usury defenses, no post-closure strategy. If your remaining debt is mostly traditional unsecured stuff, they are a proven option with serious scale.
Not an MCA defense firm. CuraDebt handles business debt and IRS/state tax resolution. No personal guarantee challenges, no usury defenses. But if your business closure created tax problems — unpaid payroll taxes, cancellation of debt income — they can handle the tax side while your MCA defense team handles the funder.
Personal guarantee being enforced? Funder coming after your home and savings? Delancey Street’s attorney network challenges personal guarantees, voids usurious MCAs, and negotiates post-closure settlements. Over $100M settled. Free consultation. Do not wait for this to get worse.
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Delancey Street is not a law firm. Delancey Street works with a nationwide network of attorneys and debt specialists who handle MCA defense, business debt settlement, and related services. Any attorney services referenced on this page are provided by independent, licensed attorneys within the Delancey Street network — not by Delancey Street directly.
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