Articles by deBanked Staff
California Senate Committee Finds Support for Small Business Finance Broker Licensure
January 10, 2024The hot topic in a recent California Senate committee hearing was licensure for MCA brokers. In it, legislators took interest in broker commissions and how they’re paid. This was not a one-sided discussion. Representatives for Rapid Finance, Kapitus, Forward Financing, and the RBFC were present and able to give testimony. The general consensus was that a licensure framework was favorable but that there were still issues that need to be resolved. The bill at issue is SB 869.
You can listen to a copy of the audio we’ve obtained of the hearing on Spotify or watch the hearing in full below:
California to Hold Hearings on Commercial Finance Broker Licensing
January 8, 2024Members of the California state legislature are apparently not done with the commercial finance space. This time they want to expand the scope of the California Financing Law (CFL) to include “commercial financing providers” and “commercial financing brokers” for the purpose of licensure, regulation, and enforcement. In Senate Bill 869, commercial financing is defined as an “accounts receivable purchase transaction, including factoring, asset-based lending transaction, commercial loan, or lease financing, intended by the recipient for use primarily for a purpose other than a personal, family, or household purpose.”
While the bill was technically introduced last year, its progress stalled. Now it’s not only back but it will also be the subject of back-to-back committee hearings on January 10 and January 11. To the extent these hearings are publicly accessible, deBanked will livestream them.
Lightspeed Capital: ‘we intend to grow our MCA business’
January 4, 2024After facing criticism from stock analysts for not doing enough merchant cash advances, Lightspeed CFO Asha Bakshani said that the POS company intends to grow its MCA business. The comment came during the company’s fiscal Q2 2024 earnings call, where it revealed that it had originated $10.1M in MCAs for the quarter.
Bakshani noted, however, that by doing these deals on balance sheet, it has to balance its origination goals with its available working capital. Revenue on its MCAs were up 120% YoY.
One interesting detail is that the company revealed that its gross margin on MCAs is 95%.
Lightspeed is publicly traded on the NYSE under LSPD.
Trade Group Sues CFPB Over Small Business Loan Data Collection Rules
January 4, 2024
The RBFC has filed a lawsuit against the CFPB over its data collection rules that are scheduled to go into effect this year.
As readers may recall, the federal regulator created 888 pages of rules governing how small business lenders (including MCA companies) will be required to collect and submit data for federal analysis.
At first, it appeared that the CFPB had way overstepped its bounds when Congress, on a bi-partisan basis, passed a resolution to scrap the rules. President Biden, however, then took the unprecedented step of vetoing their resolution on his belief that the rules were necessary to “conduct oversight of abusive and predatory lenders.”
One week after the veto the RBFC filed its lawsuit.
Although the CFPB is required by law to collect small business loan data pursuant to Section 1071 of the Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, the plaintiff took umbrage with the CFPB’s allegedly deliberate misinterpretation of the words “credit” and “loan” as they’re written in that statute. That’s because the CFPB unilaterally decided those terms also apply to MCAs/Sales-Based-Financing agreements. The RBFC contests that the CFPB has the legal authority to include products outside the scope of the federal statute and asks the Court to declare the rules invalid as they apply to sales-based financing.
Let’s Talk About Merchant Cash Advance Collections
January 3, 2024One of the best ways to maximize the effectiveness of merchant cash advance collections is to do a few simple things before and after the deal is funded. deBanked sat down with Leo Vargas, CEO of Triton Recovery Group, to discuss one of the most popular topics in the industry. You can watch it below or listen to it on Spotify if you don’t have time for video.
SBFA Appeals Decision in Disclosure Law Lawsuit
January 2, 2024The Small Business Finance Association will appeal the decision issued in its case against the California DFPI over the legality of its disclosure laws.
The SBFA filed its suit in December 2022, alleging that the disclosure laws in California violated the First Amendment and that they were pre-empted by a federal law (TILA) that governs APR calculations. After the Court initially allowed the case to proceed in March 2023, it reversed course and dismissed the SBFA’s lawsuit in December.
On December 29, the SBFA filed its notice of appeal to the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
Biden Vetoes Congressional Resolution to Scrap CFPB’s Small Business Lending Rules
December 19, 2023
Bipartisan or not, President Biden formally vetoed S.J.Res. 32 which would have scrapped the CFPB’s 888 pages of soon-to-be implemented small business lending rules and forced the agency to create new ones.
The CFPB is obligated by the Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act to collect data from small business finance companies (MCA included) so that it will be able to assess the market and measure potential disparities. It is a limited scope law that nevertheless resulted in 888 pages of rules explaining how to collect that data and send it to the federal government. They are slated to go into effect very soon.
Despite data collection being the intended purpose, Biden suggested in his official veto statement that the rules are actually intended to “conduct oversight of abusive and predatory lenders.”
“If enacted, this resolution would harm all those that stand to benefit from expanded transparency and accountability,” Biden said. “By hampering efforts to promote transparency and accountability in small business lending, Republicans are siding with big banks and corporations over the needs of small business owners.”
Unless litigation changes the timelines, many funders and lenders must start complying by October 1, 2024. This is a federal law, not a state requirement.
Intuit’s SMB Loans Relatively Flat Year-over-Year
December 18, 2023
Intuit originated $279M worth of term loans to small business for the fiscal quarter ending October 31. This is down from the $314M originated over the same time period last year.
“As of October 31, 2023 and July 31, 2023, the allowances for loan losses on term loans to small businesses were not material,” the company wrote in its earnings report.
Further, Intuit said that “In August 2023, we entered into a forward flow arrangement with an institutional investor. Pursuant to this arrangement, we have a commitment to sell to the institutional investor a minimum of $250 million in participation interests in unsecured term loans purchased or made to small businesses over the next 18 months, subject to certain eligibility criteria.”
Intuit did not raise its term loan program on its earnings call nor did analysts ask about it.
Here’s how Intuit’s flat SMB loan originations stacks up against some of its direct competitors:
Square Loans – Steady
PayPal – Significant pullback
Shopify Capital – Significant increase
