How to Choose an MCA Debt Relief Company

Two things to know before the list. First, business debt relief is far less regulated than consumer debt relief: the FTC’s Telemarketing Sales Rule has barred for-profit consumer debt relief companies from collecting fees before settling a debt since October 27, 2010, and business debt sits largely outside that rule, according to the Federal Trade Commission, 2010. Nothing in the law does your vetting for you. Second, the worst patterns in this industry are documented, not rumored: Better Business Bureau complaint records for MCA debt relief firms from 2025 to 2026 describe owners told to stop paying their funders, who paid tens of thousands into a firm’s accounts, and later learned no funder had been paid at all. Every criterion below exists because of a documented failure.

01 / Before you sign

What should any MCA debt relief firm put in writing before you sign?

Five things, and a firm that will not write any one of them down is telling you something. (1) Its fees: the amount, how they are calculated, and when they are due, in a document you can read at home. (2) Whether it is a law firm, and if not, exactly what it will do when your case needs a licensed attorney. (3) Where any money you set aside will sit, in whose name, and under what written conditions it moves. (4) The risks of the plan it recommends, including that a funder can keep collecting, file a lien, or sue while balances are being renegotiated. (5) How and how often you will hear from it once the work starts.

Our versionHold us to it

Anchor Resolve’s version of each: the consultation and the position review are free, and every fee is set out in the program documents you review and sign before any work begins. There is no separate fee agreement. We are not a law firm. The dedicated account, when a plan uses one, is opened in your name and under your control, and money leaves it only under a written agreement you approved. The risks are stated before the plan, not after. Updates arrive as they happen. You can hold us to every line on the first call.

Which promises are red flags?

A guaranteed reduction, a promise to “stop” the drafts or the lawsuits, an instruction to stop paying with no written plan, any fee before you have seen the fee terms, pressure to sign today, and any hint of government affiliation. Each one is a red flag because each one is a thing no honest firm can control. Nothing requires a funder to negotiate. No firm can prevent a funder from suing while talks run. No private company is part of a government program.

The Federal Trade Commission’s business guidance on debt relief services lists the same tells for the consumer side of the industry: advance fees, guaranteed results, and misrepresented timelines and savings, per the FTC’s Debt Relief Services and the Telemarketing Sales Rule guide, 2010. The consumer rule does not reach most business debt, which is exactly why you should hold a business debt firm to the same standard voluntarily. Anchor Resolve does: we never quote a reduction percentage before reading your contracts, because anyone who quotes one before that has quoted it to everyone.

Results vary. No outcome is guaranteed.

Is the firm a law firm, a balance negotiator, or a restructuring firm, and why does it matter?

Three kinds of businesses answer the phone under the same search results, and only one of them can represent you in court. A law firm can defend a lawsuit, respond to a judgment, and give you legal advice; it may also negotiate, and it bills for its time or a retainer. A company that negotiates balances down to a reduced payoff (the industry calls this settlement) and a firm that renegotiates the schedule without necessarily reducing the balance (restructuring) are not law firms, cannot appear for you in court, and should say so on the first page you read.

Anchor Resolve does both kinds of negotiation, depending on what your funders agree to and what your deposits support, and we are not a law firm. If a lawsuit has been filed or a judgment entered, that part of your situation belongs with a licensed attorney in your state, and we say so in the first conversation. A firm that blurs this line is showing you the largest red flag on this page. Our full comparison of each path, including when we are the wrong choice, is on the page comparing debt relief, a licensed attorney, bankruptcy, and a reverse consolidation.

02 / The first call

What questions should you ask on the first call?

Twelve, in this order, and write the answers down. The full fifteen, with why each matters and what a good answer sounds like, are on the page of questions to ask any debt relief firm, which prints on one sheet.

All fifteen questions, with what a good answer sounds like

Are you a law firm? If not, what happens when my case needs a licensed attorney?
What are your fees, and can I have them in writing before I decide anything?
Do you charge anything before I have seen those fee terms?
Who will actually work on my case, by name?
Where does any money I set aside sit, and in whose name?
What can my funders still do to me while you are negotiating?
Will you ever tell me to stop paying, and if so, what will you put in writing first?
What is your business’s legal name, address, and state registration?
Can you show me a written agreement before any money moves to a funder?
What do you do when a funder refuses to negotiate?
What will you not do for me?
How will I hear from you, and how often?

How do you check a firm’s reviews and complaints?

Check five public sources yourself, in about twenty minutes, and expect to check us the same way. (1) Better Business Bureau: search the firm’s name, read the complaints, not only the rating, and note whether the firm answered them in writing. (2) Google: the Business Profile reviews, sorted newest first. (3) Trustpilot: whether the profile is claimed and whether reviews describe the actual process. (4) The consumer complaint records of your own state attorney general and of the attorney general of the state where the firm is based. (5) Court records: the county clerk where the firm is located, and the federal PACER system, for suits against the firm.

When should you hire a licensed attorney instead?

When you have been served, when a judgment has been entered, when your bank account has been frozen after a judgment, or when your contract’s terms themselves are the fight.

A debt relief firm negotiates; it cannot answer a complaint, move to vacate a judgment, or advise you on the law. The scale of what a court process can do is not theoretical: Bloomberg News found that cash advance companies used confessions of judgment to obtain more than 25,000 judgments worth an estimated $1.5 billion in roughly four years, according to Bloomberg’s “Sign Here to Lose Everything” series, 2018. If a court is already involved, start there.

A UCC lien or a judgment does not put a business outside what we do. We work with owners who have liens filed against their receivables and owners with judgments already entered, and what changes is the order of operations and who else has to be involved. Anchor Resolve cannot represent you in court; we refer that work to a licensed attorney of your choosing, and we can work alongside one on the negotiation side when that makes sense for you. We do not select, control, or pay for a licensed attorney you hire.

03 / The rubric

How do you score any MCA debt relief company?

Ten criteria, zero to two points each, twenty points possible. Score a firm from its written answers, never from its website alone. The last column is how Anchor Resolve answers each, including the criteria where it does not claim full points.

Exhibit C / Ten criteria, scored from written answers
#	Criterion	0 points	1 point	2 points	How Anchor Resolve answers
01	Fees in writing before you sign	Fees quoted verbally, or “built into your plan”	Fees explained, but only after you commit to a review	Full fee terms in writing before any agreement	Every fee is set out in the program documents you review and sign before any work begins, and there is no separate fee agreement. The consultation and the position review are free. We do not publish a fee schedule on the site because every case is scoped individually.
02	No guaranteed percentage	Quotes a reduction on the first call	Quotes a “typical” range as its own result	Refuses to quote any number before reading your contracts	We never quote a reduction percentage before reading your contracts and talking to your funders.
03	Law firm status disclosed	Implies legal representation it cannot provide	Disclosed only in the footer	Stated plainly on the first page and on the first call, with the referral path named	We are not a law firm. When your case needs a licensed attorney, we say so and point you to one of your choosing. We cannot represent you in court.
04	Honest risk disclosure	“Just stop paying, you are protected”	Risks listed but not explained	Risks explained before the plan, in writing, including collection and lawsuits continuing	We never tell you to stop paying without explaining the legal risk first, in plain words.
05	Control of set-aside money	Client money goes to the firm’s operating account	Dedicated account in the firm’s name	Dedicated account in the client’s name, client controlled, moves only under written agreement	The dedicated account is opened in your name and under your control. Money leaves it only under a written agreement you approved.
06	Verifiable identity	No address, no registration, stock photos	Address only	Legal name, state registration, street address, named principal	Our office address is published on our facts page, and our legal name and state registration details are available on request and are listed there as each is filed. No name or bio on this site is ever invented.
07	Reviews and complaints checkable	Fake widgets, unverifiable ratings	Profiles exist but complaints unanswered	Real profiles on BBB, Google, and Trustpilot with every complaint answered in writing	What you can check: our office address and our written terms on our facts page, our registration details on request, and a written answer to any complaint you send us. No widget on this site shows a number that does not exist on the source platform. Links are added to our facts page as each public profile exists.
08	Published track record	Dollar totals and client counts with no substantiation	Vague “years of experience” claims	Real, dated, checkable results that describe what is typical	We publish our standards, our written terms, and sourced industry statistics, not results. We will not print an outcome, a count, or a dollar total unless it is real and typical, because outcomes vary and are never promised.
09	No pressure, no cold calls	Cold calls, “offer expires today”	No cold calls, but sales pressure on the review	Never cold calls; the review ends with options, not paperwork	We never cold call. You found us; we did not find you. The first call ends with options and no obligation.
10	Written agreements and updates	Verbal deals, updates only when you chase them	Written agreements, irregular updates	Every term in writing before money moves; updates as they happen	Nothing moves without your signature. You hear from us when a funder responds, not when you call to ask.

Scored honestly against this rubric, Anchor Resolve does not claim full points on criteria 7 and 8: it shows no ratings and publishes no results, because outcomes vary and are never promised. We would rather you see that than see a badge.

Results vary. No outcome is guaranteed.

Six questions about choosing a firm.

Should an MCA debt relief company be licensed?

Usually there is no license to check, which is the problem. Most state debt adjusting and debt settlement laws are written around consumer debt, and debt owed by a business entity generally falls outside them. A firm claiming a nationwide credential for business debt relief is claiming something that does not exist. What you can verify is the firm’s business registration, its address, and its written terms.

Is a firm that quotes a reduction percentage on the first call a red flag?

Yes. No firm can know your number before it has read your contracts and talked to your funders, and nothing requires a funder to negotiate at all. A percentage quoted before that work is a sales figure, not an estimate. Any firm that leads with a number has quoted the same number to everyone. Results vary, and no outcome is guaranteed.

How do you check that a debt relief company is really registered?

Search the business registry of the state where the firm says it is registered. Every state publishes one, usually through a Secretary of State or a Division of Corporations, and it shows a company’s legal name, its registered agent, its filing date, and whether it is active. Search the exact name the firm uses in its contract. A mismatch between the contract name and the registration is worth asking about before you sign.

Does a BBB rating prove a debt relief firm is legitimate?

No. A rating is one input. Read the complaints themselves and whether the firm answered them; complaint records are where the documented patterns in this industry live, including clients told to stop paying and later sued. Also check Google reviews, Trustpilot, the state attorney general, and court records. A trustworthy firm links only to profiles that exist, rather than showing a badge it has not earned.

How many MCA debt relief companies should you talk to before choosing?

At least two, and ask each the same written questions so the answers can be compared line by line. The consultation is free almost everywhere in this industry, so the cost of a second conversation is an hour. If a firm pressures you to decide before you have finished comparing, that pressure is your answer.

What should happen if a firm tells you it cannot help?

It should tell you where to go instead. A bank refinance if you still qualify, a licensed attorney if a court is already involved, a bankruptcy attorney if the business cannot survive even with lower payments, or nonprofit credit counseling if the debt is personal. Anchor Resolve says which of those applies on the first call when we are the wrong fit, because a closed business helps no one.

Print the first-call questions and take them to every conversation, including ours.

Anchor Resolve is not a law firm and does not provide legal advice. Results vary; no outcome is guaranteed.

Sources

Federal Trade Commission, Debt Relief Services and the Telemarketing Sales Rule: A Guide for Business, 2010.
Bloomberg News, “Sign Here to Lose Everything,” Zachary Mider and Zeke Faux, 2018.
Better Business Bureau complaint records for MCA debt relief firms, 2025 to 2026.

How Do You Choose an MCA Debt Relief Company?

What should any MCA debt relief firm put in writing before you sign?

Which promises are red flags?

Is the firm a law firm, a balance negotiator, or a restructuring firm, and why does it matter?

What questions should you ask on the first call?

How do you check a firm’s reviews and complaints?

When should you hire a licensed attorney instead?

How do you score any MCA debt relief company?

Six questions about choosing a firm.

Sources

The first step is a conversation, not a commitment.

How Do You Choose an MCA Debt Relief Company?

When should you hire a licensed attorney instead?

Sources

Where to go next

The first step is a conversation, not a commitment.