Which funding products does this apply to?

Merchant Cash Advance, Working Capital, Term Loan, 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.

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 A market average assembled from lenders who do not publish prices is a guess with a decimal point on it.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

Restructuring vs settlement vs default: what each does

Restructuring, settlement and default are three different transactions

They get discussed interchangeably on the phone. They have different requirements, different paperwork and different consequences.

By Find Me Funders research desk Updated 14 September 2026 1020 words 5 min read

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.

Which of the three is available depends less on your intentions than on two facts: how much cash the business can generate in the next ninety days, and which desk currently holds your file. Work out both before you choose a direction.

Restructuring

The same obligation with changed terms. The balance is generally unchanged; what changes is the pace — a smaller daily or weekly amount, a longer horizon, sometimes a short deferral with the missed amounts added to the end.

What it requires.A credible number and documents to support it. Recent bank statements, a short explanation of what changed, and a payment figure you can actually sustain. Holders discount optimistic proposals quickly, and a second broken arrangement is much harder to get than the first.

What to watch in the paperwork.That it is an amendment to the existing agreement rather than a new transaction. Restructuring documents sometimes add fees, extend the guarantee, add new covenants, reset default provisions, or introduce a confession of judgment that was not in the original. Read the whole thing, including the recitals, which sometimes contain an acknowledgement of the debt and a waiver of defenses.

What it costs.On fixed-cost products, stretching the term does not reduce the dollars. It buys time at the same price, which can be exactly the right trade — but it is not a discount, and it should not be described to you as one.

Settlement

The holder accepts less than the balance and releases the claim. It happens, it is not owed to you, and nobody can compel it.

What it requires.Usually money — a lump sum, or a defined payment stream, from somewhere the business can actually reach. It also generally requires that the holder concludes it will do worse by pursuing you, which is a judgement about your assets and your prospects rather than about fairness.

What the document must do.Identify the exact obligations released, cover the personal guarantee explicitly and not only the business debt, bind affiliates, assignees and successors, require termination of any UCC filing within a stated number of days, state how the account will be reported, and confirm that any confession of judgment is returned or will not be entered. Get it signed before the first dollar moves, and pay by a traceable method.

The tax point.Forgiven business debt is generally treated as income under the Internal Revenue Code, with exclusions available in some circumstances under §108, and the holder may issue an information return. How that applies to your entity and your facts is a question for your accountant, and it is worth asking before you agree rather than in April.

Default

Not really a choice — a state you end up in. Its practical content is the remedies section of your agreement: fees, acceleration, enforcement of the security interest including notification of your customers, demand on the guarantee, suit, judgment and post-judgment enforcement, or sale of the account to someone else.

It also has costs that are not in the contract. A judgment is a public record. UCC filings sit visible to the next underwriter. Bank statements showing returned items follow you into every application for as long as they are in the lookback period. Those consequences outlast the balance.

What a restructure buys, priced

Illustrative only —$96,000 outstanding, debited at $1,200 a banking day. At that rate it clears in 80 banking days, about 3.8 months, taking $25,200 a month out of the account.

Restructured to $700 a day, the same $96,000 takes 137 banking days, about 6.5 months, at $14,700 a month. The relief is $10,500 a month and the extra time is roughly 57 banking days.

The total does not change. On a fixed-cost product you are buying 57 banking days of breathing room for no additional cost, which is the best trade available in this article — and it is only available before the arrangement breaks, because a holder that has already written the file down prices the second conversation differently.

What to check in the amendment: that the balance is stated and agreed, that no new fee has been added to it, that the guarantee has not been broadened, that no confession of judgment has appeared, and that any reversion date and amount are explicit.

Before you make the call

Have these ready, because the first question will be some version of what you can actually pay.

The last four months of bank statements
Every open position, with balance, payment amount and frequency
A short, factual account of what changed and when
One number: the daily or weekly amount the business can sustain, computed from gross profit less fixed costs, not from hope
What you can put up front, if anything, and on what date

Offer a specific figure with a start date. A proposal that names an amount gets evaluated. A request for help gets a script.

Which desk holds your file

This determines what conversation is possible.

The funder's servicing team.Broadest flexibility, usually the best place to raise reconciliation or a modification, and the only desk that can adjust terms without treating you as a collection matter.

In-house collections.Narrower authority, often working to a script and a set of pre-approved options. Ask directly what they are authorised to approve.

A purchaser of the account.Bought the file at a discount, which changes the economics of settlement but also means they have no relationship history with you and no interest in your future business.

Outside counsel.Once a lawyer holds the file, you are in a legal process, and this is the point at which having your own lawyer stops being optional in any practical sense.

Ask which one you are speaking to. It is a fair question and the answer changes what you should propose.

This is general information, not legal advice. Restructuring and settlement documents create binding obligations and waive rights, and a lawyer licensed in your state should review any of them — and read your original agreement — before you sign.