What does this guide cover?

Payment of the obligation usually discharges the guarantee of it, and a signed release turns usually into certainly for the price of one email.

Which funding products does this apply to?

Merchant Cash Advance, Working Capital, Term Loan, Equipment Financing, Invoice Financing. Each has its own page listing the funders in this directory that offer it and what each one publishes about its terms.

Are the figures here quotes?

No. Every worked example is labelled illustrative and exists to show the arithmetic. What a particular lender charges is on that lender's page, where it publishes it at all.

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 A market average assembled from lenders who do not publish prices is a guess with a decimal point on it.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.

Releasing a personal guarantee when you pay a funder off

Ask for the release in the payoff request, before you wire. Asking afterwards means asking a counterparty who has your money and no reason to reply.

Why payment alone is usually enough, and why that is not the point

A guaranty is a promise to answer for someone else's obligation. When the underlying obligation is satisfied, there is generally nothing left to answer for, and the guarantee is discharged as a matter of ordinary contract mechanics.

Two things complicate that.

Continuing guarantees.Much commercial guarantee language is drafted as continuing — covering not only the present obligation but future ones, renewals, extensions and sometimes any obligation of the business to that funder from any source. Paying off one advance does not necessarily end a continuing guarantee. It may sit dormant, ready to attach to the next transaction with the same funder.

Proving it in three years.Even where the discharge is clean, the evidence is what matters. A lawyer reviewing your file during a business sale, a bank underwriting a facility, or a buyer's counsel running diligence will ask for a document. "It was paid off, so it must be discharged" is an argument, not a record.

A written release costs the funder nothing and resolves both problems.

The five documents to ask for in one request

Put all of these in the same email as your payoff request, so they are part of the transaction rather than a follow-up favour.

The payoff letter with a figure, a good-through date, a per-day amount and wire instructions.
A paid-in-full acknowledgement, to be issued on receipt of cleared funds, stating the obligation is satisfied in full and no amount remains outstanding.
A written commitment to file the UCC termination within a stated number of days, naming the filing office and file number.
A release of the personal guarantee, naming each guarantor and stating that the guarantee is terminated and of no further force or effect.
Return or cancellation of any additional instrument signed at origination — a confession of judgment, a warrant of attorney, a security instrument, or a note held as collateral. Whether such instruments exist depends on the deal and the state, and several states restrict some of them in commercial financing, but if one was signed, its return belongs on this list.

What the release should say

Four elements. A release that omits any of them is weaker than it looks.

Identification.The guarantor by full legal name, the guarantee by date, the underlying agreement by date and reference number.

The operative words.That the guarantee is terminated and released, not merely that the underlying obligation is paid. Those are different statements and only the first ends a continuing guarantee.

Scope and time.Whether the release covers all obligations under the guarantee, including future or contingent ones. This is the sentence that deals with continuing language. Ask for: "including any continuing, future or contingent obligations purportedly covered by the guaranty."

Signature and authority.Signed by the funder, by someone with a title.

A mutual release — each side releasing claims against the other — is worth asking for, and is a normal thing for a funder to give at payoff. Read what you would be giving up; if you have a live complaint about how the account was serviced, a mutual release ends it.

Timing, which is the whole trick

Before you wire:ask for all five documents, and ask for the release and the paid-in-full letter to be pre-agreed in form, to be issued on clearing of funds. Getting the wording agreed in advance is much easier than negotiating it afterwards.

On the day funds clear:send the wire confirmation and request the issue of the pre-agreed documents.

If the payoff runs through escrow:make delivery of the paid-in-full letter and the guarantee release conditions of the escrow release, and retain a holdback against the UCC termination.

Illustrative only —a $50,955 payoff funded through escrow, with $2,500 retained and released only against a UCC search run 30 days later showing the filing terminated and delivery of the signed release. The funder receives $48,455 at closing and $2,500 at day 30. The mechanism costs you an escrow fee and buys a counterparty with a financial reason to complete the paperwork — which is the only reliable motivator once the principal has been paid.

If the funder will not sign a release

Some will not, as policy, and that is not necessarily a red flag. Fall back in this order.

Ask for the paid-in-full letter to include the sentence "no obligation of any guarantor remains outstanding under the guaranty dated [date]." Many funders who decline a standalone release will include that line.
Ask for written confirmation that the guarantee is not a continuing guarantee, or that no further obligations exist.
Failing both, assemble your own file: the payoff letter, the wire confirmation, the bank statement showing the debit, the funder's acknowledgement of receipt, and the UCC search showing termination. That packet satisfies most diligence requests even without a release.

Where this matters most

A business sale.Buyer's counsel will run lien searches and ask about guarantees. An unreleased continuing guarantee from a funder you repaid four years ago can stall a closing while somebody tries to reach a company that may no longer answer the phone.

A bank or SBA application.Underwriters ask what personal obligations exist. An undocumented one is a question you cannot answer cleanly.

Divorce, estate planning, or a personal financial statement.A contingent personal liability with no evidence of discharge has to be disclosed.

A second transaction with the same funder.This is where continuing language actually bites, because the dormant guarantee attaches to the new deal without anyone signing anything new.

What to do

Copy the five-document list into your payoff request email today, before the letter arrives. Agree the wording of the release and the paid-in-full letter in advance. Use an escrow holdback if the transaction supports one. Run a lien search at 30 days. And file the whole packet — payoff letter, wire confirmation, paid-in-full letter, release, search result — in one place, because the person who needs it will be a stranger in three years.

Whether a guarantee is discharged by payment, and what any release actually accomplishes, depends on the wording of the guaranty and on the law of the state it selects. This describes the documents and the sequence, not your situation, and it is not legal advice.