How to choose an MCA consolidation, in short
Judge a merchant cash advance (MCA) consolidation on eight things you can check in writing, not on the factor rate and not on the name of the company. The best consolidation is the one whose paperwork states the full dollar total you will owe, shows how every funder you already have is paid in full, whether directly at closing or through a written deposit schedule, and takes no fee before funding.
A merchant cash advance is a purchase of future receipts: a funder pays a lump sum now and collects a fixed total, the amount advanced times a factor rate. A consolidation is new financing that replaces several advance payments with one. A payoff consolidation is a new advance that pays the old balances at closing. In a reverse consolidation the old advances keep running: the new funder deposits enough, on a schedule, to make their payments, and you repay the new funder with one payment.
Either way the total you owe usually goes up, because a new factor rate is charged on the dollars that go to the old balances. An early-payoff discount in an existing contract is the one thing that can offset part of it. What you are buying is a different payment schedule. The eight checks tell you what that schedule costs and whether the company selling it will put its answers on paper.
- 1. The total you will owe, in dollars
- One dollar figure for everything owed after closing, set beside what is owed now
- 2. How long you will be in a payment
- The number of payments and the expected date of the last one
- 3. Who pays your current funders, and when
- Each funder paid directly at closing against its own payoff letter, or a written deposit schedule if advances stay open
- 4. Fees taken out of the funding
- Every fee in dollars, a net amount that covers every payoff, and nothing collected before funding
- 5. Whether your current contracts bar new financing
- Each contract read for what it says about new financing, and every funder whose contract restricts it paid off at closing
- 6. New financing, or debt settlement
- A funding contract under which every current funder is paid in full, at closing or on schedule
- 7. What happens to the payment if sales fall
- A reconciliation clause that says what to send, where to send it and how many days the funder has to act
- 8. What is in writing before you sign
- The full contract, and any disclosure your state requires, in hand and read before signing
What a consolidation does not do
It does not make a balance smaller. Both kinds add a new cost on top of what is already owed, and both depend on every existing funder being paid in full. A proposal to pay funders less than they are owed is a different service, covered further down.
The eight checks for any consolidation offer
Each check below gives the reason it matters, what a good answer looks like and the question to send back when the answer is missing. A company that is worth using can answer all eight in writing before you sign.
1. The total you will owe, in dollars
A consolidation raises the total you owe. The first thing to get is by how much, as one dollar figure.
- Why it matters
- The new factor rate is charged on every dollar used to pay your old balances, and those balances already include the old funders' cost. A factor rate or a single payment amount does not show the increase. Two totals side by side do.
- What good looks like
- One number in writing: the total payback on the new advance plus anything still owed on an advance that stays open. Beside it, the sum of your current payoff balances. The difference is the price of the new schedule.
- Go back and ask
- What is the total I will owe across the new advance and any advance left open, in dollars, and how does that compare with my payoff balances as of this week?
New York writes one version of this question into law. Section 808 of the New York Financial Services Law covers a renewal with the same provider: when the provider requires the old balance to be paid off as a condition of new financing, it must disclose the amount of the new financing used to pay unpaid finance charge or fees, which the section calls "double dipping", and the dollar amount by which the disbursement is reduced to pay down the old balance. The section does not reach a payoff by a different company. The question is still the right one to ask of any payoff.
2. How long you will be in a payment
A consolidation trades several payments for one that runs longer. Get the length in writing, in payments and in weeks.
- Why it matters
- The single payment is spread over more weeks than the advances it replaces. For all of those weeks a share of your deposits stays committed. If the payment is a percentage of receipts, the end date is an estimate, so ask what it is based on.
- What good looks like
- The payment amount, how often it is taken, the number of payments and the expected date of the last one, all in the written offer. If the structure leaves your advances open and covers them with deposits, also the date the deposits end, because your payment continues after that.
- Go back and ask
- How many payments are there, when is the last one expected, and what is that date based on?
3. Who pays your current funders, and when
The payoff should go from the new funder straight to each funder you have now, at closing, against a payoff letter. A payoff letter is a funder's written statement of the amount that closes the account, good through a stated date.
- Why it matters
- If the payoff is sent to your account instead, or one balance is left out, you can end up owing the old advances and the new one together. A balance quoted by phone can also differ from the payoff letter, because some contracts discount an early payoff and others do not.
- What good looks like
- A payoff letter from each funder, dated close to closing. Each payoff sent by the new funder to the funder owed. A paid-in-full letter from each one afterward. If a funder filed a UCC financing statement, which is a public notice of its claim on business assets, a request that it be terminated. If the structure leaves advances open: a written schedule of every deposit, with its date, its amount and the payments it covers.
- Go back and ask
- Who sends each payoff, on what date, against which payoff letter, and will I get a paid-in-full letter from every funder?
4. Fees taken out of the funding
Ask for every fee in dollars and for the net amount that will actually be sent out. The factor rate is charged on the full advance, including any fee taken out of it.
- Why it matters
- A fee deducted at funding leaves fewer dollars for payoffs while the total you owe stays the same. If the net amount does not cover every payoff letter, one advance stays open or you make up the difference yourself.
- What good looks like
- A list of fees in dollars. A net disbursement figure. A list of who receives how much. A net amount that covers every payoff. No fee collected before funding.
- Go back and ask
- After every fee, how many dollars go to each funder and how many to me, and is anything due before funding?
A Federal Trade Commission case shows why this check exists. In a settlement announced in April 2021, the FTC said its complaint alleged that a merchant cash advance provider misled businesses about the amount of funding they would actually receive. The release describes a proposed order under which the defendants will be required to clearly and conspicuously disclose any fees and the actual amount of money received after the fees are charged. A New York Attorney General release of February 2024, on a judgment against three merchant cash advance companies, likewise describes undisclosed fees and excess amounts debited from merchants' bank accounts.
Florida puts the same figure on its required disclosure. Under section 559.9613(2)(b) of the Florida Statutes, a covered provider must state the total amount of funds disbursed when that is less than the amount provided, after fees deducted at disbursement, any amount paid to the provider to satisfy a prior balance, and any amount paid to a third party for the business. Section 559.9614 bars a broker from assessing, collecting or soliciting an advance fee, meaning any consideration collected before closing, on a transaction that law covers: $500,000 or less, with a business located in Florida. The statute allows one exception, for actual services needed to apply that are paid by check or money order to a party independent of the broker.
5. Whether your current contracts bar new financing
Read each contract you have now for a clause on additional financing before you sign a new one. An advance contract can treat new financing as a breach.
- Why it matters
- A payoff closes the old advance once its balance is paid. A structure that leaves advances open leaves those contracts in force, along with any clause that restricts new financing. What a breach lets the funder do is set out in the default section of the contract, so read that section too.
- What good looks like
- You have read what each existing contract says about new financing, and every funder whose contract restricts it is paid off at closing. Reading the contracts is half of this check: a funder whose contract restricts new financing and stays open makes the answer no. The new company has asked to see the contracts. You know, funder by funder, whether each one is paid off at closing or stays open.
- Go back and ask
- Which of my contracts restrict additional financing, and will every one of those funders be paid off at closing?
One of the companies listed below publishes its position, and it shows what such a clause can look like. Fora Financial's FAQ was read on November 10, 2026. That FAQ says working with a debt consolidation company breaches its agreement, and calls additional financing while its funding is open a breach of contract. If one of your advances is with a funder that takes a position like this, ask it in writing how it treats a payoff by another company.
6. New financing, or debt settlement
Make sure the thing you are being sold is financing. In a consolidation every funder you have now is paid in full, either at closing or on schedule.
- Why it matters
- Debt settlement is a different service: a company negotiates with funders to accept less than the balance, and no new funding is provided. What separates the two is what happens to your payments, which is why this check asks about payments and not about the name on the advertisement.
- What good looks like
- A funding contract with a funded amount, a total payback and a payment. Every current funder paid in full. Nobody asking you to stop making payments, to pay into a separate account in place of a funder, or to pay a fee before funding.
- Go back and ask
- Is this a funding contract or a negotiation with the funders I have, and will every one of them be paid in full and on schedule?
7. What happens to the payment if sales fall
Find the reconciliation clause in the new contract. Reconciliation is the provision under which a funder adjusts the payment to match the receipts the business actually took in.
- Why it matters
- A consolidation keeps you in a payment for more weeks, so a slow month is more likely to fall inside the term. Whether the payment can follow your receipts, and how, is decided by this one clause.
- What good looks like
- A clause that names the documents to send, such as bank statements, says where to send them and gives the funder a number of days to act. If the clause leaves the adjustment to the funder's discretion, ask for the process in writing.
- Go back and ask
- Where is the reconciliation clause, what do I send to request an adjustment, and how many days does the funder have to act?
A reconciliation clause is worth what the contract and the funder's practice make it. In January 2025 the New York Attorney General said, in announcing a settlement, that a group of merchant cash advance companies had promised to reconcile daily payments to revenue, collected fixed amounts every day, and used measures that meant businesses almost never qualified for the adjustment.
8. What is in writing before you sign
Sign only what you have read. Ask for the full contract, and the disclosure form if your state requires one, before you are asked to sign.
- Why it matters
- A quote given by phone is not the contract, and the contract is what you will be held to. The written documents are also the only way to settle the seven checks above.
- What good looks like
- The funded amount, the net amount after fees and payoffs, the total payback, the payment and how often it is taken, the early-payoff terms and the reconciliation clause, all in the document you sign.
- Go back and ask
- Can you send the full contract and the disclosure before signing, and which section covers early payoff?
As of November 2026, at least 12 states have enacted commercial financing disclosure laws that reach merchant cash advances, and 3 of them require an annual rate to be disclosed. Where such a law is in force, a provider it covers must give a written disclosure, and each law sets its own size limit and exemptions. Where none applies, ask for the same items anyway. Clearwater's guide on how to read an MCA contract goes through the sections to look for.
Score the offer you have been given
Answer yes, no or not sure for each of the eight checks. The list underneath shows which ones to go back and ask about, with the question to send. It counts answers. It does not rate the price of an offer, and a full score means the paperwork is complete, not that the deal is cheap.
Offer checklist
Example answers are filled in. Change each one to match the offer in front of you. Answer yes only when every part of the question is true. If one part is not, answer no or not sure. Nothing you choose leaves this page.
1. The total you will owe, in dollars. Do you have one dollar figure for everything you will owe after closing, set beside what you owe now?
2. How long you will be in a payment. Do you know the number of payments, the expected date of the last one, and how that compares with the weeks left on your advances now?
3. Who pays your current funders, and when. Will each current funder be paid directly at closing against its own payoff letter or, if advances stay open, do you have the deposit schedule in writing?
4. Fees taken out of the funding. Do you have every fee in dollars and the net amount that will be sent out, and does that net amount cover every payoff?
5. Whether your current contracts bar new financing. Have you read what each existing contract says about new financing, and is every funder whose contract restricts it paid off at closing?
6. New financing, or debt settlement. Is this a funding contract under which every current funder is paid in full, at closing or on schedule, with nobody telling you to stop making payments?
7. What happens to the payment if sales fall. Does the new contract say how the payment is adjusted to actual receipts, what you send to request it and how many days the funder has to act?
8. What is in writing before you sign. Do you have the full contract, and any disclosure your state requires, in hand before you sign?
3 of 8 checks confirmed, 2 answered no, 3 not sure. Go back and ask about the 5 below before you sign.
- Who pays your current funders, and when. You were not sure. Ask: Who sends each payoff, on what date, against which payoff letter, and will I get a paid-in-full letter from every funder?
- Fees taken out of the funding. You answered no. Ask: After every fee, how many dollars go to each funder and how many to me, and is anything due before funding?
- Whether your current contracts bar new financing. You were not sure. Ask: Which of my contracts restrict additional financing, and will every one of those funders be paid off at closing?
- What happens to the payment if sales fall. You were not sure. Ask: Where is the reconciliation clause, what do I send to request an adjustment, and how many days does the funder have to act?
- What is in writing before you sign. You answered no. Ask: Can you send the full contract and the disclosure before signing, and which section covers early payoff?
Have an offer that fails a check, or no offer yet? A real advisor at Clearwater Capital Group reads every file. No hard credit pull to apply.
Check my optionsDoes the lowest factor rate make the best offer?
Not by itself. A lower factor rate can still leave you owing more, because a fee taken out of the funding changes how many dollars reach the funders you already have. The example scores two payoff offers on checks 1, 2 and 4.
Round numbers, for illustration only. A business has $50,000 left on its advances according to its payoff letters, with 10 weeks to run. Two companies each offer a $50,000 payoff consolidation.
- Offer A has a 1.30 factor rate and takes no fee out of the funding. The business owes $65,000, paid at $3,250 a week for 20 weeks, and the full $50,000 goes to the old funders.
- Offer B has a lower factor rate, 1.26, and takes a 5% fee, $2,500, out of the funding. The business owes $63,000, paid at $3,000 a week for 21 weeks. Only $47,500 goes to the old funders, so $2,500 of the old balances is still owed.
On the contract, B looks cheaper: $63,000 against $65,000. Across everything, the business owes $65,500 under B and $65,000 under A. For B to send the full $50,000 to the old funders it would have to advance $52,632, and at a 1.26 factor rate that is $66,316 to pay back.
| Measure | Offer A | Offer B |
|---|---|---|
| Owed on the old advances before closing | $50,000 | $50,000 |
| Factor rate on the new advance | 1.30 | 1.26 |
| Check 4: fee taken out of the funding | $0 | $2,500 |
| Check 4: sent to the old funders at closing | $50,000 | $47,500 |
| Old balances still owed after closing | $0 | $2,500 |
| Total payback on the new advance | $65,000 | $63,000 |
| Check 1: total owed across everything ($50,000 with no consolidation) | $65,000 | $65,500 |
| Check 2: weeks in a payment (10 with no consolidation) | 20 | 21 |
| Weekly payment on the new advance | $3,250 | $3,000 |
| Added cost as a share of the dollars that reached the old funders | 30.0% | 32.6% |
| Annual rate equivalent for a lump sum received at the start, a comparison figure | About 137% | About 142% |
Scroll sideways to see every column.
An illustration, not a quote from any company. The factor rates, the fee and the terms were chosen to make the arithmetic easy to follow. They are not typical figures, and a real offer will differ on every one of them.
The annual rate equivalent is the yearly rate at which the weekly payments repay the dollars that were sent out, and it treats the whole payoff amount as received on day one. That makes it a comparison figure for a lump sum received at the start. In a payoff the dollars go straight to balances that were due over the coming weeks, so neither figure is a rate in a contract. An advance is a purchase of receipts with no set term, so treat that row as a way to compare two offers and nothing more. Clearwater's repayment calculator runs the same arithmetic on any amount, factor rate and schedule.
Is it consolidation or debt settlement?
It is consolidation if you are handed a funding contract and every funder you have now is paid in full, at closing or on schedule. It is debt settlement if a company proposes to negotiate your balances down and no new funding is provided. They are different services with different consequences, and check 6 exists to tell them apart.
- What it is
- ConsolidationNew financing under a new contract
- Debt settlementA negotiation. A company asks funders to accept less than the balance, and no new funding is provided
- Your current funders
- ConsolidationPaid in full, at closing or on schedule
- Debt settlementAsked to take less. Nothing obliges a funder to agree
- Your payments meanwhile
- ConsolidationContinue until the payoff, or are covered by scheduled deposits
- Debt settlementStopping them can be a default. Read the default section of each contract
- What you owe afterward
- ConsolidationMore in total, over a longer time
- Debt settlementWhatever each funder agrees to, plus any fee the company charges
- The paperwork
- ConsolidationA funding contract with a funded amount, a total payback and a payment
- Debt settlementA service agreement with no funded amount
- On this site
- ConsolidationWhat the application is for
- Debt settlementNot offered
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's page on these programs is written about personal debts such as credit cards, not merchant cash advances. It is linked here because it is a regulator's description of the consumer version of the service. It says debt settlement companies often claim they can negotiate with creditors to reduce the amount owed, that they typically encourage people to stop paying their credit card bills, and it warns against any company that charges fees before it settles a debt.
Go by what happens to your payments, not by the name on the advertisement. If a proposal depends on payments to a funder stopping, read the default section of that funder's contract first, and consider asking a lawyer who handles commercial contracts. This page describes what the documents say. It is not legal advice.
How common is it to carry more than one advance?
None of the sources read for this page publishes a market-wide count. Among the businesses that applied to Clearwater Capital Group in 2026, 49% already had an open cash advance or business loan, and 39% of those carried two or more. The figures count business loans as well as advances, and they describe one broker's applicants, not the whole market. The full set is on Clearwater's statistics page.
- 49%
- of applicants already had at least one open cash advance or business loan on the day they applied (Clearwater 2026 Applicant Data).
- 39%
- of the applicants with an open advance or loan were carrying two or more of them (Clearwater 2026 Applicant Data).
- $29,000
- was the median amount still owed on those open advances and loans (Clearwater 2026 Applicant Data).
- $474
- per business day was the median payment among applicants already repaying one (Clearwater 2026 Applicant Data).
| Figure | What it says, and on what basis | Source and date |
|---|---|---|
| 49% | Clearwater 2026 Applicant Data shows that 49% of small businesses applying to Clearwater for funding already had at least one open cash advance or business loan. Basis: 261 of 538 applicants who answered | Clearwater 2026 Applicant Data, April 24, 2026 to October 31, 2026 |
| 39% | Clearwater 2026 Applicant Data shows that 39% of applicants with an open advance or loan were carrying two or more, and 19% were carrying three or more. Basis: 90 and 44 of 230 applicants | Clearwater 2026 Applicant Data, April 24, 2026 to October 31, 2026 |
| $29,000 | Clearwater 2026 Applicant Data shows that applicants with open advances or loans still owed a median of $29,000 on them when they applied. Basis: 237 applicants with a balance | Clearwater 2026 Applicant Data, April 24, 2026 to October 31, 2026 |
| $474 | Clearwater 2026 Applicant Data shows that applicants already repaying an advance or loan were paying a median of $474 per business day. Basis: 203 applicants; weekly and other schedules converted to an amount per business day | Clearwater 2026 Applicant Data, April 24, 2026 to October 31, 2026 |
| 7% | Clearwater 2026 Applicant Data shows that working capital was the most common reason for seeking funding, named by 46% of applicants, while 7% named debt consolidation. Basis: 250 and 37 of 542 applicants | Clearwater 2026 Applicant Data, April 24, 2026 to October 31, 2026 |
| $1.065 billion | In January 2025 the New York Attorney General announced a settlement carrying a $1.065 billion judgment against a group of merchant cash advance companies, more than $534 million of it in cancelled debts owed by over 18,000 small businesses nationwide. Basis: A judgment total, about half of it cancelled debt, not cash collected | New York Attorney General, press release, January 22, 2025 |
| more than $77 million | In February 2024 a New York court entered a judgment of more than $77 million against three merchant cash advance companies and their principals, after ruling that their advances were loans. Basis: A court ruling | New York Attorney General, press release, February 8, 2024 |
| $9,837,000 | In April 2021 a merchant cash advance provider agreed to surrender $9,837,000 to the Federal Trade Commission for refunds to affected businesses. Basis: A settlement amount | Federal Trade Commission, press release, April 22, 2021 |
| 12 states | As of November 2026, at least 12 states have enacted commercial financing disclosure laws that reach merchant cash advances, and 3 of them require an annual rate to be disclosed. Basis: a count of statutes. A state that was missed would raise it | State law table on the publisher's statistics page, November 10, 2026 |
Scroll sideways to see every column.
Figures as recorded on November 10, 2026. The three enforcement releases were opened again on November 12, 2026.
What the enforcement cases were about
None of the three government actions in the table was about consolidation, and the three concern two groups of companies. They are on this page because of what the agencies alleged: that businesses were misled about the amount they would actually receive or were charged undisclosed fees, which is check 4, and that payment adjustments were promised for which businesses almost never qualified, which is check 7. Each release is linked where that check is explained.
What these figures cannot tell you
The applicant figures are self-reported by businesses that applied to one broker. They are not a market survey. This page also gives no going price for a consolidation, because none of the sources read for it publishes one.
What 10 funding companies say about existing balances
Clearwater Capital Group publishes this page and ranks itself first. Its reasons are stated below in plain numbers. Some companies listed here may fund deals Clearwater brokers and pay it a commission when they do. No company paid to appear. Every figure in the table was read from the company's own site, or from a dated review where noted, on November 10, 2026. Requirements and pricing change, so confirm with the company before you sign anything.
On the pages read on November 10, 2026, 4 of the 10 companies, the publisher included, mention paying off, refinancing or consolidating existing debt. Another 2 mention only renewals for their own customers, and 4 say nothing on the subject. The list groups the companies by what their own sites say. Each name links the page that was read, and the line under a name is the record of what that page says.
- Arranges a consolidation of advances the business already has1 of 10 companies
- Arranges both payoff consolidation and reverse consolidation
- Says it can pay off current balances, depending on the file1 of 10 companies
- Says it can pay off current balances or add funding, depending on the file. Also says working with a debt consolidation company breaches its agreement, and calls additional financing while its funding is open a breach of contract
- Lists refinancing or consolidating debt as a use of its financing2 of 10 companies
- Lists refinancing debt among the uses of its financingLists consolidating higher-interest debt as a use for its term loan
- Mentions renewals for its own customers2 of 10 companies
- Describes renewals for its own customers once about half the balance is paid. Nothing found about paying off other fundersMentions renewal options for existing customers. Nothing found about consolidation
- Says nothing about consolidation on the page read4 of 10 companies
Read November 10, 2026. In the last two groups the page read says nothing about paying off another funder's balances. That describes the page, not the company's policy, and a funder that publishes nothing may still pay off balances when asked.
No company's website answers the eight checks for your file. Those answers come in a written offer, so use this list to decide whom to ask and the scorecard to judge what comes back.
The same companies on published requirements
| # | Company and who it is best for | Minimum credit score | Time in business | Minimum revenue | Published factor rate | Speed, as each company states it | Amounts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Clearwater Capital GroupPublisher of this pageBest for: Files the big lenders decline, and anyone who wants one application matched to more than one structure | 450+Self-reported; no hard credit pull to apply | 6+ months | $10K per month | 1.05 to 1.44 | Same-day underwriting, typically. First offers typically land within one business day. | $10K-$2M |
| 2 | Expansion Capital GroupBest for: Younger businesses with modest deposits that still want a direct funder | 500+ | 6+ months | $8K per month | Not published | A decision in as little as 30 minutes. Funding available the same day, which the site says is "neither typical nor guaranteed." | $5K-$500K |
| 3 | CrediblyBest for: Merchants with $20K a month in deposits who want a direct funder that publishes a rate floor and a real early-payoff discount | 550+ | 6+ months | $20K per month | From 1.11 | Approval for an MCA can happen in as fast as 2 hours, with funds available as fast as 4 hours after approval | $5K-$600K |
| 4 | Forward FinancingBest for: Established businesses (a year or more) that want a large direct funder with a strong review record | 500+ | 12+ months | $10K per month | Not published | A decision: "Find out within hours." Funding: "Have funds deposited often same-day." | $5K-$500K |
| 5 | Fora FinancialBest for: Larger advances (up to $1.5M) from a funder that publishes its full rate range | 570+ | 6+ months | $240K per year | 1.13 to 1.50 (stated for its business loan) | Decisions in as little as 4 hours once documents are in. Funds in as little as 24 hours of acceptance. | $5K-$1.5M |
| 6 | National FundingBest for: Merchants who want a long-standing lender and a longer term than a typical advance | Not publishedNo published minimum ("no hard credit-score minimum") | 6+ months | Not published | Example only (1.25) | Same day approvals. Funds in your account as fast as 24 hours. | $6K-$500K |
| 7 | OnDeckBest for: Merchants who qualify for a fixed-payment term loan or line and want a lender that publishes its average APR | 625+ | 12+ months | $100K per year | No factor: priced by APR, 53.2% average on term loans | Term loans can fund as soon as the same day (weekdays before 10:30 a.m. ET); line of credit draws within seconds once Instant Funding is set up | $5K-$400K |
| 8 | Rapid FinanceBest for: Merchants who want a 20-year-old name and the broadest product menu on this list | Not publishedNot published; a May 2026 NerdWallet review lists 600 | Not published | Not published | Not published on its own site | Apply in a few minutes, receive funds in a few days; elsewhere "funding as fast as 24 hours" | $5K-$500K |
| 9 | FundboxBest for: Small, newer businesses that want a revolving line instead of a lump-sum advance | 600+ | 6+ months | $100K per year (an older guide says $30K) | No factor: rates start at 4.66% for a 12-week repayment plan | Funds available to draw as soon as you are cleared and in your bank account within 2 business days | Up to $250K |
| 10 | KapitusBest for: Higher-revenue businesses that need more than $500,000 | 550+For revenue-based financing; its business loans page says 625 and its products overview says 650 | 12+ months | $325K per year | Example only (1.15) | Decisions in as little as 4 hours. Funds in as little as 24 hours. | Up to $2.5M |
Scroll sideways to see every column.
Credit, time-in-business, revenue, pricing, speed and amount columns were read on November 10, 2026. National Funding, OnDeck and Fundbox are lenders, and the products in their rows are loans or lines of credit. They are in the table as something to price a new advance against, on total dollars repaid. The numbering is the general order explained under "The order" in the method section. It is not a ranking of consolidation offers.
Clearwater's reasons for ranking itself first
Four published facts. On the pages read on November 10, 2026, its site is the only one of the 10 that describes arranging both a payoff consolidation and a reverse consolidation. For the second kind it publishes four terms: coverage up to $5M, terms up to 18 months, one or more open advances, no maximum, and no waiting period after your most recent advance. No company in the table above states a credit minimum below its 450. The advances it arranges run from $10,000 to $2,000,000 over 3 to 36 months, at factor rates of 1.05 to 1.44. Every structure is subject to underwriting.
The scorecard applies to Clearwater as much as to anyone. It is a broker and not the company that funds your deal: it arranges the funding and is paid out of the funded deal. On its comparison page it says the full payback and the payment are spelled out before you sign, that you pay nothing upfront, and that you owe it nothing if you never take an offer. Ask it the same eight questions and hold it to the same standard.
A broker is a second party in the deal, and going direct removes it. If a funder that already holds one of your advances will pay off the others, get that offer in writing too and score both.
Tell Clearwater Capital Group what you owe and to whom, and a real advisor reads the file. No hard credit pull to apply.
Check my optionsSources for the table, read November 10, 2026
- Clearwater Capital Group. clearwatercapitalgrp.com (how we work and how we get paid); clearwatercapitalgrp.com (amount range, minimums, pricing ranges).
- Expansion Capital Group. ecg.com (requirements and states); ecg.com (amounts, speed disclaimer, terms); ecg.com (pricing statement, repayment cadence). Reviews: BBB A+; Trustpilot 4.4 of 5, about 1,800 reviews.
- Credibly. credibly.com (requirements, amounts, speed, terms, discount); credibly.com (founded 2010, direct and partner products, partner tier); credibly.com (rate footnotes, fees, credit score by product). Reviews: BBB A+; Trustpilot 4.8 of 5, about 2,800 reviews.
- Forward Financing. forwardfinancing.com (requirements, amounts, speed, terms); forwardfinancing.com (pricing, prepayment, same-day cutoff); forwardfinancing.com (founded 2012, headquarters). Reviews: BBB A+; Trustpilot 4.6 of 5, about 4,200 reviews.
- Fora Financial. forafinancial.com (requirements, amounts, speed, terms); forafinancial.com (rate range, fees, prepayment, lender statement); forafinancial.com (headquarters). Reviews: BBB A+; Trustpilot 4.8 of 5, about 1,100 reviews.
- National Funding. nationalfunding.com (amounts, terms, pricing example, prepayment); nationalfunding.com (six months in business, no hard credit minimum); nationalfunding.com (founded 1999, lender status); nationalfunding.com (XPRS fee example). Reviews: BBB A+; Trustpilot 4.6 of 5, about 2,200 reviews.
- OnDeck. ondeck.com (requirements, APR averages, states); ondeck.com (amounts, terms, cadence, speed, prepayment benefit and 75% clause); ondeck.com (origination fee, lender statement); ondeck.com (line of credit terms, fees, draw speed). Reviews: BBB A+; Trustpilot 4.6 of 5, about 6,100 reviews.
- Rapid Finance. rapidfinance.com (amounts, speed, terms, documents); rapidfinance.com (entities and licenses); nerdwallet.com (unverified minimums and rates (May 2026)); rapidfinance.com ("Funding as fast as 24 hours"); rapidfinance.com (headquarters). Reviews: BBB A+; Trustpilot 4.5 of 5, about 2,300 reviews.
- Fundbox. fundbox.com (requirements (older guide)); help.fundbox.com (requirements (help center, 2023)); help.fundbox.com (starting rate, early payoff); fundbox.com (draw terms, early payoff); fundbox.com (term loan terms and cadence); fundbox.com (speed, checking account history); fundbox.com (bank partners, state availability). Reviews: BBB A+; Trustpilot 4.7 of 5, about 4,600 reviews.
- Kapitus. kapitus.com (requirements, amounts, speed, pricing example); kapitus.com (direct lender and network statement); kapitus.com (loan maximum, loan credit score, early payment); kapitus.com (founded 2006); kapitus.com (headquarters). Reviews: BBB rating F, not accredited (as of 2026-11-10); Trustpilot 4.4 of 5, about 800 reviews.
Questions about choosing a consolidation
What makes an MCA consolidation offer a good one?
A good merchant cash advance consolidation offer puts eight things in writing before you sign: the total you will owe in dollars, how long you will be in a payment, who pays your current funders and when, every fee taken out of the funding, how it fits your existing contracts, that it is new financing, how the payment adjusts if sales fall, and the full contract. It pays every funder you have now in full and takes no fee before funding. A low factor rate does not make up for a missing answer on any of them.
How do I compare two MCA consolidation offers?
Compare three figures, not the factor rates: the total you would owe across everything after closing, the dollars that actually reach your current funders after fees, and the number of weeks you would be in a payment. In the illustration on this page, an offer at a 1.26 factor rate with a 5% fee taken out of the funding leaves the business owing $65,500 in all, against $65,000 for an offer at 1.30 with no fee. Those numbers are placeholders, but the method works on any two offers.
How is MCA consolidation different from MCA debt settlement?
Consolidation is new financing: a new advance pays your existing funders in full, at closing or on schedule, and you owe more in total over a longer time. Debt settlement is a different service, in which a company negotiates with funders to accept less than the balance and no new funding is provided. If payments to a funder stop while a negotiation goes on, that can be a default under the advance contract, so read the default section of each contract before agreeing to anything. This site covers consolidation and takes applications for new financing only.
What is a payoff letter, and do I need one from every funder?
A payoff letter is a funder's written statement of the amount that closes your account, good through a stated date. Get one from every funder a consolidation will pay, because the figure can differ from the balance you were quoted and because it is what the new funder pays against at closing. After closing, ask each paid funder for a paid-in-full letter.
Can a broker charge a fee before a consolidation funds?
Not in Florida, on a transaction that state's disclosure law covers. Section 559.9614 of the Florida Statutes bars a broker from assessing, collecting or soliciting an advance fee, and the law reaches transactions of $500,000 or less with a business located in Florida. The one exception is payment for actual services needed to apply, such as an appraisal of security, made by check or money order to a party independent of the broker. Other states set their own rules, so ask in writing whether anything is due before funding.
Does a lower factor rate mean a cheaper consolidation?
Not by itself. A factor rate is applied to the full amount advanced, so a fee taken out of the funding leaves fewer dollars for payoffs at the same total owed, and a balance left unpaid is still yours. Check the total owed across everything, in dollars, and the dollars that reach the funders you already have. Those two figures decide which offer costs more.
How common is it to have two or more advances at once?
None of the sources read for this page publishes a market-wide count. Clearwater 2026 Applicant Data found that 49% of applicants already had at least one open cash advance or business loan, and that 39% of those were carrying two or more. The figures are self-reported by businesses that applied to Clearwater Capital Group between April 24, 2026 and October 31, 2026, they count business loans as well as advances, and they describe its applicants, not every business.
What should a consolidation contract say about falling sales?
It should have a reconciliation clause: a provision under which the funder adjusts the payment to the receipts the business actually took in. A usable clause says what documents to send, where to send them and how many days the funder has to act. In January 2025 the New York Attorney General said one group of merchant cash advance companies promised reconciliation and used measures that meant businesses almost never qualified for it.
How this page was made
- Who publishes it. Clearwater Capital Group, a business funding broker and the trade name of Clearwater Capital Solutions LLC. It is one of the 10 companies in the comparison and it places itself first, for the four reasons given under the table.
- The scorecard. The eight checks are Clearwater's own list of what to get in writing. They are not a legal standard, and no regulator issued them. Where a check leans on a statute or an agency release, the passage links it.
- Applicant figures. Clearwater 2026 Applicant Data is built from self-reported answers on 698 funding applications and quote requests sent to Clearwater from April 24, 2026 to October 31, 2026. Each figure states how many applicants answered that question.
- Enforcement and state-law figures. Taken from the sourced statistics Clearwater maintains, which record each one with its document and date as read on November 10, 2026. The three enforcement releases were opened again on November 12, 2026.
- The companies. The requirements table was read on each company's own site on November 10, 2026, with a dated third-party review used only where the table says so. Statements about existing balances were read on November 10, 2026 from the page linked on each name. The five group headings are Clearwater's summary. The line under each name is the record.
- The order. The order weighs six things: how low the published credit, time-in-business and revenue minimums go; product fit, with companies that write advances weighed ahead of loan and line products; the amount range and how many structures one application can reach; whether anything about pricing is published; stated speed; and third-party review signals where a profile exists. It is a judgment across those points, not a formula, which is why a company that publishes few minimums but writes advances can sit above a lender that publishes all of them. Some companies listed here may fund deals Clearwater brokers and pay it a commission when they do. No company paid to appear.
- The two example offers. Invented, with round numbers, and computed from the inputs shown. No real file and no real company is behind either one.
- What this page cannot tell you. Whether a particular offer suits your business, what your own contracts allow, or what a consolidation will cost you. Those depend on documents this page has not seen. Nothing here is legal, tax or financial advice.
- Corrections. Send them to efras@clearwatercapitalgrp.com.
Statutes and releases opened on November 12, 2026
| Source | Dated | What it says |
|---|---|---|
| Federal Trade Commission, press release | April 22, 2021 | The complaint alleged that a merchant cash advance provider misled businesses about the amount of funding they would actually receive. The release describes a proposed order under which the defendants will be required to clearly and conspicuously disclose any fees and the actual amount of money received after the fees are charged. |
| New York Attorney General, press release | January 22, 2025 | The Attorney General said a group of merchant cash advance companies promised to reconcile daily payments to revenue, collected fixed amounts every day, and used measures that meant businesses almost never qualified for the adjustment. |
| New York Attorney General, press release | February 8, 2024 | The release describes a judgment of more than $77 million against three merchant cash advance companies and their principals for usury and fraud, and says the companies charged undisclosed fees and debited excess amounts from merchants' bank accounts. |
| New York Financial Services Law, section 808, Disclosure requirements for renewal financing | January 7, 2022 | When a provider requires a business to pay off an existing balance with that same provider as a condition of new financing, it must disclose the amount of the new financing used to pay unpaid finance charge or fees, which the section calls double dipping, and the dollar amount by which the disbursement is reduced to pay down the old balance. |
| Florida Statutes, section 559.9613(2) | In force since January 2024 | Item (b) of the required written disclosure is the total amount of funds disbursed when that is less than the amount provided, after fees deducted at disbursement, any amount paid to the provider to satisfy a prior balance, and any amount paid to a third party for the business. |
| Florida Statutes, sections 559.9614(1) and 559.9611(2) | In force since January 2024 | A broker may not assess, collect or solicit an advance fee from a business. Section 559.9611(2) defines an advance fee as any consideration assessed or collected by a broker before closing. The one exception is payment for actual services necessary to apply, made by check or money order to a party independent of the broker. |
| Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Ask CFPB page on debt settlement programs | August 28, 2023 | Writing about personal debts, the page says debt settlement companies often claim they can negotiate with creditors to reduce the amount owed, that they typically encourage people to stop paying their credit card bills, and it warns against any company that charges fees before it settles a debt. |
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