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If you're a Houston business owner dealing with an MCA mess — confessions of judgment, UCC-1 liens, personal guarantees, daily ACH debits draining your account — you need a firm that lives and breathes this world. Here are the three best options in 2026.
Here's what you need to know: Delancey Street is not a law firm. They coordinate with a nationwide network of licensed attorneys who do the actual fighting — COJ challenges, usury defenses, UCC lien disputes, funder negotiations. Their attorney network is built around New York's dual usury framework — which governs the vast majority of MCA contracts — while also using Texas's abolition of COJs and the DTPA for additional defense power.
What separates them from every other firm is MCA-specific legal firepower. Their attorneys file motions to vacate confessions of judgment in New York courts, raise criminal usury defenses when effective APRs exceed 25%, dispute overbroad UCC-1 filings with the Texas Secretary of State, and use the NY Attorney General's $1 billion Yellowstone Capital settlement as precedent. Over $100M settled. No upfront fees. This is what they do.
Not an MCA defense specialist — and they'll tell you that straight up. National Debt Relief handles general unsecured business debts — credit cards, vendor accounts, lines of credit — but they do not challenge COJs, file usury defenses, or dispute UCC liens. If your debt is primarily traditional unsecured business debt (not MCAs), they're a proven option.
Not an MCA defense specialist either. CuraDebt handles business debt and IRS/state tax resolution — they've been doing it for over 25 years. If your situation involves both MCA debt and Texas Comptroller or IRS obligations, CuraDebt can handle that side while a firm like Delancey Street handles the MCA fight.
Let's cut to it. MCA defense is about one thing — stopping funders from destroying the business you built. We're talking confessions of judgment, UCC Article 9 liens, personal guarantee enforcement, and aggressive daily ACH withdrawals. For Houston business owners, the vulnerability is acute — the city's economy runs on capital-intensive industries like energy services, construction, and logistics where cash flow gaps are common and MCAs fill the void.
Houston is the fourth-largest city in America with over 125,000 small businesses, as tracked by the SBA Houston District Office. Energy sector volatility creates boom-and-bust cycles that drive business owners to MCAs during downturns, only to find that the daily ACH debits — 15–25% of revenue — are unsustainable even when business recovers. MCA funders target Houston specifically because the energy sector creates the exact cash flow pattern they exploit: strong revenue during booms, desperate need for capital during busts.
The agreement you signed is written entirely in the funder's favor — we've never seen a fair one. But Texas gives you real tools: the state abolished confessions of judgment, meaning COJs can't be enforced in Texas courts. And the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act (DTPA) gives you statutory protections against unconscionable business practices — which may apply to predatory MCA collection tactics.
Here's what happens — and it happens fast. The moment your Houston business misses an MCA payment, the funder assumes the worst. MCA default is governed by Uniform Commercial Code (UCC) Article 9 provisions. Funders attempt aggressive ACH withdrawals, file UCC-1 liens with the Texas Secretary of State, and may try to file COJs in New York courts.
For Houston business owners, key protections apply: Texas abolished confessions of judgment, so COJs cannot be enforced in Texas courts. New York’s 2019 CPLR §3218 reform banned COJ enforcement against out-of-state defendants, making any COJ filed against your Houston business in New York after August 2019 voidable. But funders adapt — they file UCC liens, pursue bank restraining notices through domesticated judgments, and increase ACH withdrawal frequency.
Good news first: Texas doesn't allow confessions of judgment. Period. The state abolished them under the Texas Rules of Civil Procedure. On top of that, New York's 2019 CPLR §3218 reform banned COJ enforcement against out-of-state defendants. Any COJ filed against your Houston business in New York after August 2019 is voidable.
Strategy 1: Challenge the COJ as Voidable. Your attorney can file an Order to Show Cause in New York to vacate the judgment. Texas courts will not enforce a COJ domesticated from another jurisdiction, providing a secondary line of defense. This dual protection makes Houston business owners among the best-positioned defendants in the country when it comes to COJ-based MCA collections.
Strategy 2: Negotiate Post-Default with DTPA Leverage. The Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act (DTPA) provides statutory protections against unconscionable business practices. If your MCA funder engaged in deceptive collection tactics — misrepresenting the nature of the advance, failing to disclose effective APR, or using threats to coerce payment — a DTPA claim can create significant negotiating use. Offer a lump-sum settlement (30–50%) while the DTPA threat looms.
You took a second MCA to pay the first. Then maybe a third. Now the daily payments consume 30% of your revenue — and you can’t make payroll. This is extremely common in Houston — energy service companies take advances to cover equipment costs during slow periods, construction firms use MCAs to bridge between project payments, and restaurant owners stack advances to cover payroll. Under UCC § 9-607, each funder has filed UCC-1 liens on your receivables with the Texas Secretary of State, creating a lien stack that blocks all new financing.
Strategy 1: Consolidate via Ch. 11. Chapter 11 filed in the Southern District of Texas can pause all MCA collections and reclassify MCAs as unsecured debt. Texas offers some of the most generous bankruptcy exemptions in the country, including unlimited homestead protection, making Ch. 11 less devastating for Houston business owners than in many other states.
Strategy 2: Use Your Cash Flow Reality as a Weapon. Houston businesses face unique cash flow challenges — energy sector cyclicality, project-based construction revenue, seasonal hospitality patterns. Provide funders with 6 months of bank statements showing daily ACH debits make operations unsustainable. Funders would rather settle for 40 cents on the dollar than risk getting nothing.
Here's what nobody tells you: funders assume you're lying about your finances. Every single time. That's why you need an MCA defense team that knows how to present the evidence in a way funders can't ignore.
Let's talk numbers. MCA contracts routinely mask APRs exceeding 100% — sometimes 200% or more. Texas doesn't have a general usury cap for commercial loans, but the Texas Finance Code Chapter 305 sets maximum rates for certain lending categories. More importantly, your MCA contract almost certainly designates New York law, where criminal usury at 25% makes it void. The NY Attorney General's $1.065 billion Yellowstone Capital judgment showed exactly how exposed funders are.
Strategy 1: New York Usury as a Defense. Do the math. A $50K advance at a 1.4 factor rate costs $70K over 6 months — that's approximately 150% APR. Under New York's criminal usury cap of 25%, the contract is void and the funder forfeits the right to recover both principal and interest. Discovery is key: subpoena the funder's underwriting docs. If they used credit scores or fixed repayment terms, courts may deem it a loan.
Strategy 2: DTPA Unconscionability. The Texas DTPA prohibits unconscionable business practices. When an MCA funder charges an effective APR of 150–300% to a struggling Houston business during an energy downturn, this may constitute an unconscionable action under Texas law — creating both a defense to collection and a potential counterclaim for treble damages.
Here's why this matters: most MCA funders sit in New York. Nearly all contracts designate New York courts as the governing jurisdiction. That means a Houston business owner in the Energy Corridor, Galleria area, or Heights is fighting under the same legal rules as a business owner in Manhattan.
This actually works in your favor. New York's dual usury framework (16% civil, 25% criminal) gives you powerful tools that Texas's more permissive commercial lending environment does not. As an out-of-state borrower, you also benefit from the 2019 CPLR §3218 reform banning COJ enforcement. And Texas's own protections — COJ abolition and the DTPA — provide additional defense layers.
The CFPB has classified merchant cash advances as "credit" under the Equal Credit Opportunity Act — another signal that these products are functionally loans regardless of how the contract labels them. That gives MCA defense attorneys one more argument in their arsenal.
Three questions matter:
1. Do they actually do MCA defense? Not consumer debt. Not medical debt. MCA debt. Ask how many COJs they've challenged, how many usury defenses they've raised under New York law, whether they understand Texas's COJ abolition and DTPA protections, and what their average settlement percentage is.
2. Are real attorneys involved? You need attorneys who file motions to vacate COJs in New York courts, challenge UCC liens filed with the Texas Secretary of State, subpoena funder underwriting documents, and draft enforceable settlement agreements.
3. What's the fee structure? Here's how it works: legitimate firms charge 18–25% of enrolled debt, collected only after results. Any firm charging upfront fees — that's prohibited by FTC guidelines. Walk away.
Your search is over. Here are the three top-rated firms serving Houston business owners dealing with MCA debt in 2026. Only one — Delancey Street — offers true MCA defense with attorney-coordinated COJ challenges, usury defenses, and UCC lien disputes.
The only firm on this list providing true MCA defense: COJ challenges, usury defenses under New York law, UCC lien disputes, and emergency motions — all coordinated through a nationwide attorney network. Over $100M settled. No upfront fees. Serving Houston business owners across all industries.
Not an MCA defense specialist. Handles general unsecured business debt. No COJ challenges, no usury defenses. Proven option for traditional unsecured debt for Houston business owners.
Not an MCA defense specialist. Handles business debt and IRS/state tax resolution. Best used alongside an MCA defense firm if you also have Texas Comptroller or IRS tax obligations.
If you’re still reading this, you’re dealing with a COJ, a frozen account, or daily ACH debits that are bleeding your business dry — we get it. This is what we do. Delancey Street’s attorney network fights MCA funders with usury defenses, COJ challenges, and settlement negotiation. Over $100M settled. No upfront fees. Call now.
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