Best Companies to Help When an MCA Lender Put a Lien on Your Home — 2026

Top Companies to Remove an MCA Lien From Your Home — 2026

When an MCA lender puts a lien on your home, the stakes are as personal as they get. Your family’s residence is at risk, your ability to sell or refinance is frozen, and the stress is overwhelming. The firms below are ranked by their ability to handle the specific legal and financial challenges of removing MCA-related liens from residential property.

How MCA Lenders Put Liens on Your Home

MCA lenders do not take a mortgage on your home. The lien arrives through a different — and often surprising — legal pathway that many business owners do not understand until it is too late.

Step 1: The Personal Guarantee and COJ. When you signed the MCA agreement, you almost certainly signed a personal guarantee that made you individually liable for the MCA debt. You also signed a confession of judgment — a pre-signed legal document that allows the lender to obtain a court judgment against you personally without filing a lawsuit and without notifying you. The COJ is governed by CPLR §3218 in New York, where most COJs are filed.

Step 2: The Judgment Entry. When you default on the MCA — or when the lender claims you defaulted — their attorney takes the signed COJ to a county clerk’s office, files it with an affidavit, and obtains a judgment against you personally. This judgment often includes the full remaining balance, plus fees, plus attorney costs — sometimes inflated beyond what you actually owe.

Step 3: Docketing in Your County. The lender then dockets (records) the judgment in the county where your home is located. Under state law, a docketed judgment creates an automatic lien on all real property owned by the judgment debtor in that county. This is how the lien attaches to your home — not because you agreed to a lien on your home, but because the judgment, once docketed, operates as a lien by law.

Step 4: The Impact. With a judgment lien on your home, you cannot sell the property without satisfying the lien at closing. You cannot refinance because the title search will reveal the lien. You cannot take a home equity loan because no lender will subordinate to the MCA judgment. And in the most extreme cases, the MCA lender could theoretically seek a forced sale of the property — though this is rare.

Legal Strategies to Remove the Lien From Your Home

Your attorney has multiple legal tools to remove an MCA judgment lien from your home. The right strategy depends on how the judgment was obtained and the specific facts of your case.

1. Vacate the Confession of Judgment. If the COJ was filed against an out-of-state defendant after August 2019, it is voidable under the amended CPLR §3218. Your attorney files a motion to vacate under CPLR §5015, and if the court grants it, the judgment is voided — and the lien on your home is automatically discharged. This is the cleanest and most complete remedy.

2. Assert Homestead Exemption. Every state has a homestead exemption that protects some or all of your home equity from creditor claims. In Texas and Florida, the exemption is unlimited for your primary residence. In New York, the exemption ranges from $179,950 to $399,900 depending on the county. If your equity is within the exemption amount, the lender cannot force a sale — though the lien may remain until the judgment is resolved.

3. Challenge the Usury Defense. If the MCA agreement is reclassified as a loan because it features fixed daily payments with no genuine reconciliation, it becomes subject to state usury laws. Under NY Gen. Oblig. Law §5-501, the civil usury cap is 16% and the criminal usury cap is 25%. Most MCAs carry effective APRs exceeding 100%. A successful usury challenge voids the contract and the judgment based on it.

4. Negotiate a Settlement with Lien Release. If legal challenges are not available or will take time, negotiating a settlement that includes a satisfaction of judgment and lien discharge is often the fastest path. The FTC’s Telemarketing Sales Rule protects you from upfront fee demands. Settlements of 30–60% of the outstanding balance are common when the negotiator has legal use.

Homestead Exemptions: How Much of Your Home Is Protected?

Your home may be partially or fully protected from an MCA judgment lien depending on your state’s homestead exemption. Here are some key examples:

Texas and Florida: Unlimited homestead exemption. An MCA judgment creditor cannot force the sale of your primary residence regardless of its value. The lien may still appear on the title, but it cannot be enforced against the property while you reside there.

New York: Homestead exemption ranges from $179,950 to $399,900 depending on the county (higher in the New York City metropolitan area). If your home equity is below the exemption amount, a forced sale would not generate any funds for the creditor — making enforcement impractical.

California: The homestead exemption was increased to at least $300,000 under California Code of Civil Procedure §704.730, with higher amounts in more expensive counties. California also provides an automatic homestead exemption that protects your equity without requiring a prior declaration.

Other States: Exemptions vary widely. Federal bankruptcy law provides a baseline exemption, but most states have opted out of the federal exemptions in favor of their own. An attorney in your state can advise on the specific protections available to you.

What to Do If You Need to Sell or Refinance

If you need to sell or refinance your home and there is an MCA judgment lien on the property, you have several options:

1. Settle Before Closing. The fastest approach is to negotiate a settlement with the MCA lender that includes a lien release, timed to coincide with your closing. The settlement payment can sometimes be structured to come from the sale or refinance proceeds — meaning you do not need to pay out of pocket before the transaction.

2. Escrow Arrangement. If the settlement cannot be finalized before closing, your attorney can negotiate an escrow arrangement where a portion of the proceeds is held in escrow while the settlement is completed. The title company releases the funds to the MCA lender only upon receipt of a signed satisfaction of judgment.

3. Vacate the Judgment Before Closing. If you have strong grounds for vacatur — such as an out-of-state COJ filed after August 2019 — your attorney can file an emergency motion to vacate. If the court vacates the judgment, the title company can proceed with a clean closing without any payment to the MCA lender. This is the best outcome financially, though it depends on court timing.

4. Title Indemnification. In rare cases, a title insurance company may agree to insure over the lien if the amount is small relative to the property value and the MCA lender’s claim appears weak. This is not common but is worth discussing with your title agent and attorney.

Top Companies to Remove MCA Liens From Your Home — 2026 Rankings

Here are the three top-rated firms serving business owners with MCA judgment liens on their homes in 2026. Only one — Delancey Street — offers attorney-coordinated judgment lien removal and property defense. The other two handle broader categories of business debt.