Articles by deBanked Staff
Another Arrest Made in Advance Fee Business Loan Scheme
May 24, 2025Federal agents have arrested a third individual in connection with an advance fee business loan scheme that was busted last year. In the original scheme, two defendants were alleged to have induced merchants to make payments towards large lines of credit that never actually materialized. One of the defendants pleaded guilty last July. More recently, however, a third member of the scheme, Samuel Selmar, has been arrested for his role in it. Selmar has pleaded guilty to one count of Conspiracy to Commit Wire Fraud. The US Attorney for the Southern District of New York stated that the unlawfully obtained funds from the scheme were wired to a bank account that Selmar’s name was on.
In a public statement, Secret Service Special Agent in Charge Patrick J. Freaney said: “The deliberate chicanery allegedly carried out by this defendant has had a dire impact on the lives of his victims. By-and-large, these are private citizens who cannot afford to lose a few thousand dollars each. I want to commend the dedication of our Secret Service investigators and the prosecutors at the Southern District of New York for disrupting this insidious operation, and building a strong case that goes a long way toward delivering accountability.”
Equipment Lease Demand & MCA Demand The Same After Eight Years
May 21, 2025For firms with less than 500 employees that sought out financing in the last year, 10% applied for a lease while just 7% applied for a merchant cash advance, according to the latest data published annually by the Federal Reserve. Though each figure has varied slightly by year, the 10% seeking leases and 7% seeking MCAs match the survey results that compared the two back in 2017. So virtually nothing has changed since then.
Notably, 87% of financing applicants applied for a loan or a line of credit in 2017 while the 2025 report found that only 25% applied for a loan and only 22% applied for a line of credit in the last year. Meanwhile, interest in factoring has gone down. Roughly 4% of financing applicants used to seek out factoring specifically but that number has since dropped to 2%.
Small Employer Firms Less Likely to Seek Out Factoring Than a Decade Ago
May 20, 2025The percentage of small employer firms (< 500 employees) that applied for financing or credit that sought out factoring specifically, has dropped over time, according to the Small Business Credit Survey conducted by the Federal Reserve. deBanked pulled the responses published over the last 10 years to compare and found a noticeable change.
Percentage of financing applicants that sought factoring by year:
- 2015: 3%
- 2016: 7%
- 2017: 4%
- 2018: 4%
- 2019: 3%
- 2020: 4%
- 2021: 3%
- 2022: 4%
- 2023: did not ask
- 2024: 2%
- 2025: 2%
The anomalous 7% figure in 2016 is likely due to confusion over factoring with merchant cash advances. The Federal Reserve did not ask respondents if they had sought out merchant cash advances specifically until the 2017 study, at which point they discovered that 7% had actually sought out MCAs in 2017 and only 4% had sought out traditional factoring.
Ready Capital’s Q1 and Fintech Footprint
May 20, 2025Ready Capital originated $343M in SBA loans in the first quarter of 2025. It did an additional $44M in non-SBA small business loans in the same period.
“While we anticipate moderation in volume ahead, we view recent policy updates from the SBA as constructive towards reinforcing the program’s long-term strength and integrity,” said Thomas Capasse, CEO of Ready Capital. “Ready Capital continues to deliver performance above industry benchmarks. Our 12 month default rate was 3.2% versus the industry average of 3.4% and our five year charge-off rate has now declined for the fourth consecutive quarter, reflecting the strength of our credit and servicing practices. Additionally, our 12 month repair and denial rate reached a historic low.”
While Ready Capital is known as the fourth largest SBA lender and by far the largest non-bank SBA lender, the company is also among the biggest fintech innovators in the space.
- 2019: Acquired Knight Capital and iBusiness Funding
- 2023: Launched LenderAI
- 2023: Acquired non-SBA assets and talent from Fountainhead SBF LLC
- 2024: Acquired Funding Circle US
- 2024: Inherited Funding Circle’s funding partnership with eBay
On the last point above, eBay brokered more than $100M in small business funding in 2024 alone, with more than half of that believed to have gone to Funding Circle US, now Ready Capital via iBusiness Funding. On eBay, iBusiness Funding offers term loans up to $500k with repayment terms up to 7 years.
The rest of eBay’s funding volume goes to an MCA provider named Liberis.
See You at Broker Fair
May 18, 2025REGISTERED FOR BROKER FAIR? HERE’S WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:
Broker Fair Preshow tonight at JIMMY at ModernHaus (SoHo) 15 Thompson St, New York, NY. Requires the separate preshow ticket. This event is sponsored by Lendini. All food is Kosher.
Broker Fair conference tomorrow at Tribeca 360 is at 10 Desbrosses St, New York, NY. Checkin starts at 9am.
- Agenda here.
- Lunch is sponsored by Triton Recovery Group who created a curated latin flavored menu. All food is Kosher.
- The post-show reception starting at 3:35 is sponsored by Bitty. All food is Kosher.
See you there!
LEARN FROM THE PROS AT BROKER FAIR
May 14, 2025Here’s some of what you can expect at Broker Fair 2025 on May 19 in NYC! TICKETS WILL NOT LAST
PLUS, hear from:
PLUS, Get dazzled by presentations from:
Read the agenda to see when they’re up!
All food at both the May 18 preshow and full conference on May 19 will be Kosher. |
Texas on Pace to Pass MCA Bill With Broker Registration Requirement
May 13, 2025
The State of Texas is moving toward passing a “commercial sales-based financing” bill that would impact the merchant cash advance industry. Among the key details is an MCA broker registration requirement that would require brokers to get approved by the Office of Consumer Credit Commissioner (OCCC) in order to broker any MCAs to a merchant located in Texas. Brokers would be subject to OCCC oversight and the rules governing transactions with Texas-based merchants would apply regardless of where the broker themselves is located.
Furthermore, The Finance Commission of Texas would have the authority to adopt its own rules “to prohibit certain acts or practices by providers including acts or practices the commission considers unfair.”
The current iteration of the bill, which has already passed the House and is now in the hands of the Senate to confirm, can be found here.
Shopify Continues to Grow its Merchant Funding Business
May 8, 2025“We continue to grow our capital business and have recently introduced several product innovations that give merchants more choice for how they manage their loans, and how they choose among various loan options,” said Jeff Hoffmeister, CFO of Shopify during the Q1 earnings call.
The company had ~$1.4B in business loan & merchant cash advance receivables on its balance sheet as of March 31, 2025. It purchased & originated $805M worth of business loans in Q1, putting it on pace to surpass the $3B total for all of 2024.
“Shopify Capital is a financing program that offers merchant cash advances and loans to eligible businesses based on the store’s location, history, use and interaction with the Shopify platform,” the company states. It is offered in the US, Australia, Canada, and the UK.
