Merchant Cash Advance Lawyer: 6 Things to Bring to the First Meeting

Bring everything. Bring all your Merchant Cash Advance contracts, agreements, and disclosure documents. Bring all of your communications with the MCA lender. Bring bank statements, transaction documents, and balance sheets. If you are being sued, bring the court papers. If you have multiple loans, bring all of your paperwork for those loans too. It is important that your lawyer understand the full picture of your business’s finances. It is important to remember that even if you think a piece of information is not important, provide it anyways. The more information a lawyer has, the better.

The Agreement

Make sure to include all pages, including the signatures pages. Think about all the contracts you have with the MCA lender. These could include guarantee agreements, personal guarantees, and even a confession of judgment. If you think you don’t have something, search through your old emails and text messages.

One important thing the lawyer will be looking for in the contract is to determine whether it is truly a loan or an advance. The lawyer will also be reviewing whether any of the agreements have a confession of judgment. Additionally, you might have a defense. Sometimes, MCA lenders break the law.

Whether your State prohibits Confessions of Judgment is very important to a case against an MCA Lender. If the agreement contains a Confession of Judgment, you want to know if your State allows them. In 2019, New York changed how Confessions of Judgments work. Confessions of Judgment could only be filed against debtors residing in a New York county. A business “resides” where it has a place of business. Your address can determine the rules.

Bring copies of your bank records. If your business uses multiple bank accounts, bring copies for each account. Your bank statements and payment records will give a lawyer the ability to determine the amount of payments made toward the Merchant Cash Advance and how it was paid. Your business bank statements can show the MCA lender accessed your accounts to pay off the advance. Lawyers can learn about the lender’s behavior and determine if it is acting within the law. Statements for six months to a year could help uncover shady behavior. The FTC accused one MCA company of continuing to drain funds even after the agreed-upon amount had been collected, and to the tune of over $75,000 from one business.

Show a lawyer all the communications, emails, letters, and demand notices from the MCA lender. Emails and letters can show the tactics MCA lenders use to collect your debt and even help demonstrate if they acted unfairly, deceptively, or aggressively. If you’ve been sent a default notice for missing payments or a notice that you’ll be sued for failure to pay, you should bring copies of these as well. Additionally, communications after the advance is due can help show what the lender has done to recover the money.

Court Papers

If you are being sued by your MCA lender, give your attorney copies of the papers you received, and the date you received the papers. The date you were served is critical because it determines how long you have to file an answer to the lawsuit. If you miss that deadline, you might lose by default. In New York state court, you generally need to appear within 20 days if you were served personally, or in 30 days for certain other kinds of service. But in federal court, you generally have 21 days to answer. Every case is different, so always check the summons and complaint.

If you already have a default judgment against you, you’re not without recourse. In New York, within one year after the lender served the judgment and notice of entry upon you, you can try to get the court to vacate the judgment because of an excusable default.

Like the other documents, it is critical to share all arbitration, lien, and collection notices you receive, including when you received them and what they say. Your lawyer can use these documents to determine how far along your MCA lender has gotten in its efforts to collect on the debt. The New York Attorney General sued the arbitration platform Rapid Ruling in June 2026. The AG alleged that in about 3,000 arbitrations in a three-year period, 97 percent of businesses never showed up to their scheduled hearings. What’s more, the lawsuit claimed that the arbitrators virtually always came down on the side of the cash advance firm, even without a word from the business. The best defense against a Merchant Cash Advance lender is to not ignore anything they send you.

Profit and loss statements, balance sheets, and cash flow statements are helpful to see your overall financial picture. Your lawyer will be interested in your income streams and how much you’ve been able to bring in, as well as how your business is managing expenses. This information can also help determine the best strategy in negotiation.

If you have any other cash advances or loans that your business has taken out, provide the copies of those contracts, communications, payments, and court documents if your other lenders are suing you. This can help your lawyer see the full picture of the debt you have taken on for your business.

Prepare to Meet with a Lawyer

As you prepare to meet with a lawyer, remember that the documents are not all that matter. The lawyer will need the story of the business you built, your financial situation, and your challenges. Be prepared to tell your attorney your whole story about taking out the advance and dealing with the lender since then. The meeting with a lawyer is also a great opportunity to get your questions answered. Before you hire a lawyer, you should ask some questions. Is my agreement enforceable? Can you stop the lender from debiting my account? You may also ask what a lawyer’s fees are, and whether they’ll charge an hourly, flat, or contingency fee. And you should also ask for the attorney’s recommendation for next steps. The lawyer will tell you your rights, what the risks are (like getting sued or accounts being frozen), and what your options might be. These could include renegotiating the deal, settling, or a bankruptcy filing.

Often, lawyers don’t get everything they need from the information given. There may be other records that need to be sent. It is important to listen to your attorney and follow their advice, even if it may not be what you want to hear. The next step, if your attorney is going to work on your case, might be to revoke any ACH authorization you gave and to avoid taking on any additional debt while you’re navigating this situation. If a call comes in, log the person’s name, position, and number. Note whether it’s the MCA lender, debt collector, or someone else. Take note of any other collection actions or settlement offers that come your way. Your lawyer should know about these.

Don’t be intimidated by your debt. It can feel overwhelming, but with the right information in the right hands, you could find yourself with a solution.