New York wrote the rules the rest of the country copied
More merchant cash advance funders are headquartered within twenty miles of Enrichment Capital's New York address than anywhere else on earth. That concentration produced both the industry's worst habits and, eventually, the law that curbed them. New York's Commercial Finance Disclosure Law, in force since 2023, requires any provider offering a business $2,500,000 or less to hand over a standard disclosure before signing: the amount financed, the finance charge, the total repayment, the term, the payment schedule, any prepayment terms, and an annual percentage rate. For an advance, the APR is calculated from the factor rate and the real payment schedule, which is why New York owners see numbers in the hundreds of percent on offers that were sold to them as "a 1.3".
A New York business owner reading an offer should look for that disclosure first. If it is missing, the provider is either exempt, which applies to banks and to providers doing five or fewer deals a year, or it is not complying. Either way, ask.
The confession of judgment, and why it is gone
For a decade, New York courts were the clearing house for confessions of judgment: a clause in which the borrower agreed in advance that a judgment could be entered against them without a hearing. A funder in Brooklyn could freeze a bakery's account in Ohio in an afternoon. In 2019 New York barred its courts from entering confessions against out of state debtors, and the practice collapsed. New York businesses can still be asked to sign one. Enrichment Capital does not place contracts that contain one, and we tell funders so before a file goes out.
What the New York market offers a borrower
Everything, at every price. Because the funders are here, a New York file is seen by more underwriters faster than a file from anywhere else; same day offers on an advance are the norm, not the exception. The banks are here too: a New York business with two years of returns and a clean file has more term loan and SBA options than almost any other state, through community banks in Queens and Long Island that still lend on relationships, and through the SBA New York District Office's preferred lenders.
Equipment lenders cover the trades that run the city: restaurant kitchens, medical and dental practices, delivery fleets, construction equipment for the outer boroughs and upstate. Factoring is strong in trucking out of the Hunts Point and New Jersey corridors and in staffing.
What New York lenders look at
The same statements as everywhere, with two local emphases. First, rent. A New York lease is often the largest fixed cost on the statements, and lenders want to see it paid on the same day each month without strain. Second, existing positions. Because advances are so easy to obtain here, stacked positions are the most common reason a New York file is declined for better products. A consolidation that clears two or three daily debits into one weekly or monthly payment is frequently the right first step, and we arrange them.
The plain recommendation for a New York business
Use the disclosure law. Put every offer, from us or anyone else, side by side on APR and total repayment. If your returns support it, go to a bank or an SBA lender first and accept the four to eight weeks; the cost difference over a year is the price of a second employee. Use an advance for speed when speed earns its cost, never to carry a loss, and never a third position. Refuse any contract with a confession of judgment. Ask us to read any offer before you sign it; it costs nothing and takes a day.