Merchant Cash Advance Forums Goes Quiet

The Merchant Cash Advance Forums is an old discussion board for those working within or looking into the Merchant Cash Advance industry. On March 25th, 2011 the Forums implemented stricter account policies that now require members to submit detailed information about who they are and who they represent. This includes:

• Real name
• Company you work for
• Company’s address
• Your phone number

A public notice on the forums states “For the sake of adding value and integrity to the MCA Forums, an additional layer of moderation as well as basic data collection have been implemented. Members MUST now complete their private profile with their basic contact information. This required information is confidential, and other members will NOT be able to view it. Data collected is NEVER sold to third parties remains strictly confidential.”

And since this went into effect, the bustling discussion board has been for the most part a ghost town. While a few active participants proudly make their company affiliations known, most users hide behind a nickname for privacy. This certainly makes sense from a personal standpoint (the internet is dangerous!), but it also helps protect employers from liability should one of their employees openly discuss their opinions.

For example: John Doe states his affiliation with ABC Funding Co. upon registering with the site and posts “tHe iNdUsTrY iS dOoMeD!” Many of the other forum members may interpret that to mean ABC Funding Co. is in serious trouble or because of the way John Doe posts, that ABC Funding Co. does not employ very intelligent people.

Though there is an explicit promise of confidentiality, this industry has bred many stone cold skeptics over the years. If Facebook can get someone in trouble, anything can.

Of course, we may be wrong completely and the dull conversation could be a result of more time spent working, there being little to talk about, or an unwillingness to talk as the news of what is happening in California spreads.

This is by no means an attack on the MCA Forums. We used to check in on it pretty often. We recommend anyone in the MCA, payments, or banking industry to sign up to for DailyFunder.com now as of 2013. Just be careful. Anything you post on the internet can be linked back to you by someone, somehow.

Sean Murray is the President and Chief Editor of deBanked and the founder of the Broker Fair Conference. Connect with me on LinkedIn or follow me on twitter. You can view all future deBanked events here.