Find Me Funders
Is your funding broker registered anywhere? A state-by-state answer
Five states put commercial financing brokers on a register or licence. Several more restrict what a broker can charge you before anything funds.
Drafted with AI assistance. Not yet independently checked. Nobody has verified the claims on this page against a source, so treat the figures and legal points as a starting point rather than as settled, and confirm anything you are about to act on. How we check things.
The person calling you about working capital is often not the funder. They are a broker, paid out of your deal, and in most states nobody has ever checked them. In five states, somebody has — and you can verify it in an afternoon.
States that register or licence the broker
States that regulate what a broker may charge you
Several states that do not register brokers still restrict their conduct, and the recurring target is the advance fee.
Florida's § 559.9614 prohibits a broker from assessing, collecting or soliciting an advance fee from a business for brokerage services, with a narrow exception: you may pay for actual services needed to apply, such as a credit check or an appraisal of security, if the payment is made by check or money order payable to a party independent of the broker. Florida also bars false or misleading representations, acts operating as fraud or deception, and advertising without an actual address and telephone number.
Kansas mirrors that in its Commercial Financing Disclosure Act: no advance fee, no false or misleading representation, no act that operates or would operate as fraud or deception.
Georgia's Senate Bill 90 provides that no broker will solicit or collect an advance fee from a business to provide services as a broker, nor make false representations in offering services, nor advertise without the required contact information.
Utah takes a different route again. It does not register brokers, but it requires the provider to disclose any amount of the funding paid to a broker in connection with the transaction.
Five questions to ask the person on the phone
- Are you the funder, or are you arranging this with a funder? Get the answer in writing.
- Are you registered or licensed in my state for this activity, and under what number?
- How are you paid on this deal, by whom, and how much?
- Is any of your fee coming out of my funding proceeds?
- Are you asking me for any payment before funds are disbursed?
Question five is the one with a legal edge in several states. If the answer is yes and you are in Florida, Kansas or Georgia, ask them to identify the exception they are relying on.
How to actually check, in about fifteen minutes
Registration is only useful if you look it up, and the lookup differs by state.
If nothing comes back, that is not proof of wrongdoing: exemptions exist, the individual may be an employee of a registered entity, and some rollouts are still in progress. It is a reason to ask one more question, in writing, and to keep the answer.
What the broker fee does to your arithmetic
The factor rate did not move. The compensation disclosure, in the states that require one, is the only place that gap is visible before signing — which is the whole argument for the disclosure and the whole reason to ask for it in the states that do not.
What registration does not tell you
No state on this list vets pricing, tests competence, or vouches for the outcome of your deal. A registered broker can arrange an expensive advance perfectly lawfully. What the register gives you is identity, accountability and a regulator with a complaint channel — which is more than you get from a caller ID.
Registration requirements, fees and deadlines change. Verify with the state agency before relying on anything here.
This is general information and not legal advice for your situation.
Where this applies
Related questions
What does this guide cover?
Five states put commercial financing brokers on a register or licence. Several more restrict what a broker can charge you before anything funds.
Which funding products does this apply to?
Merchant Cash Advance, Working Capital, Term Loan, Business Line of Credit, Revenue-Based Financing. Each has its own page listing the funders in this directory that offer it and what each one publishes about its terms.
Does this apply in California?
This piece is written about California specifically. Rules on disclosure, broker registration and lender licensing are set at state level and change, so confirm the current position with the state agency named on the California page before relying on it.
Who writes this?
The Find Me Funders research desk. Some drafting is AI-assisted, and every page that is says so at the top, including whether a person has checked its claims yet.
How do I know a figure here is right?
Where a page carries the green notice, its claims were checked against the sources listed at the end and a reviewer is named. Where it carries the amber one, nobody has verified it yet and you should confirm anything you plan to act on.
Are the examples real deals?
No. Every worked example is labelled illustrative and exists to show the arithmetic. What any particular lender charges is on that lender's page, where it publishes it.
Why do you never say what a typical rate is?
Because we cannot source it. A market average assembled from lenders who do not publish prices is a guess with a decimal point on it. Where a lender publishes a figure, we show that figure and say where it came from.
Is this financial or legal advice?
No. It is general information about how these products work. Outcomes depend on your contract and your state, and a lawyer or accountant licensed where you are is the person to ask about your situation.
Can I reuse this content?
Quote a paragraph with a link back. Do not republish whole articles.