Florida Disclosure Laws: What Your Funding Offer Must Tell You
In short: Under Florida's commercial financing disclosure law, many funding offers, including many merchant cash advances, must come with a standardized written disclosure before you sign. Look for the funding provided, the total repayment, the dollar cost, how and how often payments are taken, and whether paying early changes what you owe. Read it next to the contract and get anything it leaves out in writing.
Key takeaways
- Florida has a commercial financing disclosure law that requires a standardized written disclosure before you sign many funding deals.
- The disclosure covers the funding provided, total repayment, total dollar cost, how and how often payments are taken, and prepayment terms.
- Coverage extends to many products, including many merchant cash advances, though some transactions are exempt.
- Get the factor rate, every fee, guarantees and default terms in writing too, and check them against the contract.
Why Florida Disclosure Laws Matter for Small Business Owners
If you own a business in Florida and you are weighing a merchant cash advance (MCA), a short-term loan, a line of credit or invoice factoring, the most important document in the process may not be the contract. It is the summary of what the money will cost. Florida has a commercial financing disclosure law, and for many funding offers it means you should see that summary in a standard format before you sign.
This matters because business funding is priced in so many different ways. A factor rate, a holdback percentage, an origination fee and a weekly payment can all describe the same deal without ever telling you the total. This post walks through what the Florida disclosure covers, how to read it with worked examples, and what to do if you do not get one or the numbers do not add up.
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What Are Florida Disclosure Laws for Business Funding?
Under Florida's commercial financing disclosure law, many companies that provide business financing must give you a standardized written disclosure before you sign. It is a transparency rule. Its job is to put the core economics of an offer in front of you in a consistent way, so that one offer can be compared with another without a calculator and a law degree.
Scope: Which Funding Types Are Covered
Florida's law reaches many commercial financing products, many merchant cash advances among them, while some transactions are exempt. The products Florida business owners are most commonly offered include:
- Merchant cash advances
- Term loans
- Business lines of credit
- Invoice factoring and receivables financing
- Equipment financing agreements
Whether a particular offer comes with the Florida disclosure depends on the product and the details of the deal, and the exemptions are technical. Rather than trying to work out coverage from a summary, ask the funder whether your offer includes the disclosure, and if the answer is no, ask why in writing. For anything that affects your decision, confirm what applies with the Florida Attorney General's office, the state's financial regulator or a business attorney.
What the Law Requires Funders to Disclose
For a covered deal, the disclosure is a standardized written document you receive before you sign. It covers:
- Amount of funding provided: what you will actually receive, which may be less than the approved amount if fees are deducted up front.
- Total repayment amount: everything you will pay back.
- Total dollar cost: the difference between what you repay and what you receive.
- How and how often payments are taken: for example, a fixed daily debit, a weekly debit or a percentage of card sales.
- Prepayment: whether paying early lowers what you owe, costs extra or changes nothing.
A good offer goes further. It also shows the factor rate if there is one, every fee by name, the estimated number of payments and whether a personal guarantee or collateral is required. Ask the funder to put those details in writing too, and keep everything with your records. The disclosure is a summary; the contract is what you are actually agreeing to.
How to Read Your Florida Disclosure
Illustrative Example: A Merchant Cash Advance
Note: the following is an illustrative example only and does not represent an actual offer.
Suppose you are offered a $20,000 merchant cash advance at a factor rate of 1.25. The key figures would look something like this:
- Funding provided: $20,000
- Factor rate: 1.25
- Total repayment amount: $25,000
- Total dollar cost: $5,000
- How payments are taken: for example, 15 percent of daily card sales
- Estimated number of payments: for example, about 200 business days if sales stay near their recent average, or roughly $125 a day
- Paying early: whether an early payoff reduces the $25,000 or leaves it unchanged
At a glance, you can see you would pay $5,000 for the use of $20,000. Compare that with another offer at a 1.15 factor rate, where the dollar cost on the same $20,000 would be $3,000. Then look at speed. If the cheaper offer also collects its payments much faster, it may squeeze your cash flow harder even though it costs less in total, so weigh the dollar cost and the payment pace together.
It is also worth checking the math yourself. The total repayment minus the funding provided should equal the total dollar cost, and the expected daily payment multiplied by the estimated number of payments should land close to the total repayment. If the numbers on the page do not reconcile, ask the funder to explain before you go any further.
Illustrative Example: A Business Term Loan
For illustration only: a $50,000 term loan repaid monthly over 24 months at an 18 percent annual interest rate would mean payments of about $2,496 and total repayment of about $59,900, before any fees. The dollar cost is roughly $9,900 plus whatever origination or documentation fees apply. Lenders usually quote term loans with an interest rate or APR, so ask for that figure in writing along with the dollar totals, and find out whether fees are included in it.
Put next to the MCA above, the comparison gets concrete. The loan costs more in total dollars, but it covers two and a half times as much money for two full years with monthly payments, so on an annualized basis it is far cheaper. The MCA may be faster to obtain and easier to qualify for. Which one fits depends on how long you need the money, how quickly you need it and what your cash flow can carry.
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Common Mistakes Business Owners Make When Reviewing Offers
- Skipping the fine print. Even with a disclosure, the contract may contain prepayment terms, default fees or other conditions that matter. Read every section, not just the summary.
- Relying on verbal promises. If a salesperson tells you something that is not in the written documents, ask for it in writing. What you sign is what counts.
- Not comparing multiple offers. One disclosure tells you what one deal costs. Two or three tell you whether that deal is competitive.
- Ignoring the total dollar cost. A low payment can hide a long term or a high total. Always check the total repayment against the amount you actually receive.
- Overlooking what happens in a default. Some agreements include a confession of judgment, which can let a funder get a judgment quickly if you default. Several states restrict them. Look for one, and ask an attorney before signing if you find it.
How to Qualify and What Funders Look For
Disclosure is about transparency, not approval. Receiving a disclosure does not mean you have been approved, and meeting a funder's criteria does not make an offer a good deal. Funders typically evaluate:
- Time in business: many prefer to see several months to a year or more of operating history.
- Monthly revenue: steady, consistent deposits often matter more than a single strong month.
- Credit: personal and business credit history may be considered, though MCA providers often weigh revenue more heavily than scores.
- Industry: some industries are treated as higher risk, which can affect pricing.
Every funder sets its own criteria. If you meet the basics, you may receive more than one offer, and that is exactly when the disclosure earns its keep: it lets you compare those offers calmly instead of reacting to whichever one arrives first.
Why Use a Free Matching Service Like Fast MCA Capital
Even with a disclosure law in place, finding reputable funders and collecting comparable offers can take time you do not have. Fast MCA Capital is a free matching service that connects Florida business owners with vetted third-party funding partners. We do not lend money, make credit decisions or guarantee approval, and there is no cost or obligation to you. Any offer you receive, and any disclosure that comes with it, comes directly from the funder.
The advantage is choice. Instead of taking the first offer that lands in your inbox, you can look at several side by side, check each one's numbers and pick the one that fits your budget and goals, or decline them all.
Practical Tips for Reviewing Your Disclosure
- Match it to the offer. Make sure the disclosure describes the deal you are actually considering. If the terms change, ask for an updated disclosure before you sign.
- Ask questions. If a line is not clear, ask the funder to explain it in plain terms, and write down the answer or ask for it by email.
- Compare the total dollar cost across offers. It is the simplest apples-to-apples number you will get.
- Look up the funder. Search the company in the state's business entity search, read its Better Business Bureau complaint history and search its name alongside words like complaint or lawsuit.
- Check the contract against the disclosure. The funding amount, total repayment and payment amount in the contract should match the disclosure.
- Keep a copy. Save the disclosure, the contract and any emails about the terms.
Bottom Line: Read the Disclosure Before You Sign
Florida's disclosure law is designed to give you the key numbers before you commit: what you receive, what you repay, what it costs in dollars, how payments are taken and what happens if you pay early. Whether you are considering a merchant cash advance, a term loan, a line of credit or invoice factoring, do not sign until you have seen those numbers in writing and they make sense for your business.
If a deal you signed does not match what you were promised, gather the paperwork, emails and texts, put your questions to the funder in writing, and report deceptive conduct to the Florida Attorney General's office or the FTC. For advice on your options, talk to a business attorney.