[Zach]

Hour of Change Fitness, Inc

Caught this deal with (obviously) altered statements.

[Quickfunder]

That's a felony, isn't it?

I'm charging for this now, btw. I sympathize for them and their business but not at the expense of my time and the funders I work with.

[rld]

I would definitely charge them at least a $500 fee for that.. my time is worth just as much as yours "Mr business owner"

If they refuse to pay just remind them that it is a federal offense to alter financial statements.

[golf2014]

ok, so bad statements are not cool i get that..but aren't u dealing with people with messed up situations to begin with...shouldnt be a suprise

[MTY MSI]

I would be very careful in trying to charge them as it could be viewed as extortion.

[Finance1]

Same merchant applied with us in November 2013. Had a new logic deal in place. Statements were crappy but not doctored.

We see at least 1 per month with completely fake statements. Luckily they are really easy to catch.

[jbrown]

A simple word of advice. NAMAA's procedures for identifying merchants where there is a suspicion that documents submitted are altered have been reviewed by legal counsel. We are very careful what we say, and what descriptive words we use. While your desire to share information is good, be careful that your comments don't open you to potential litigation.

[SuperFunds]

A simple word of advice. NAMAA's procedures for identifying merchants where there is a suspicion that documents submitted are altered have been reviewed by legal counsel. We are very careful what we say, and what descriptive words we use. While your desire to share information is good, be careful that your comments don't open you to potential litigation.

I think it's refreshing that someone wants to point out a questionable merchant outside of the umbrella of NAMAA. To post this information on a forum that is frequented and targeted to people in the industry that would be effected most by this company's deceit seems like the perfect location for this type of post.

[JayBallentine]

I think it's refreshing that someone wants to point out a questionable merchant outside of the umbrella of NAMAA. To post this information on a forum that is frequented and targeted to people in the industry that would be effected most by this company's deceit seems like the perfect location for this type of post.

You should know that there are some folks working hard at making this kind of information accessible to anyone in the business for maybe $100 / mo. As a member broker, if you find a merchant like this, you enter them into the system. Another member broker may get the file, enter some digits in the system and instantly get the flag. Everyone will have saved their time.

Their President is the proverbial "real deal," has he clout, the money, the network, the chops. While he's working behind the scenes, I'm sure many in the industry know him extremely well.

Amongst the ideas being kicked around are systems not only to help ISO's / brokers identify bad merchants, but also bad funders. They are also passionate about providing a crap load of marketing support to ISO's, with an entire day (or more) focused on common sense and proven marketing techniques at their conference in Vegas next year with an MCA driven marketing forum to boot.

Let's see if they pull it off... Could be useful to many.

[Zach]

As an ISO as well as a direct lender, I feel that I am doing the right thing by putting this information out there. I appreciate Mr. Brown's concerns about legality, but nevertheless I feel morally obligated to provide this information to other lenders.

[SuperFunds]

You should know that there are some folks working hard at making this kind of information accessible to anyone in the business for maybe $100 / mo. As a member broker, if you find a merchant like this, you enter them into the system. Another member broker may get the file, enter some digits in the system and instantly get the flag. Everyone will have saved their time.

Their President is the proverbial "real deal," has he clout, the money, the network, the chops. While he's working behind the scenes, I'm sure many in the industry know him extremely well.

Amongst the ideas being kicked around are systems not only to help ISO's / brokers identify bad merchants, but also bad funders. They are also passionate about providing a crap load of marketing support to ISO's, with an entire day (or more) focused on common sense and proven marketing techniques at their conference in Vegas next year with an MCA driven marketing forum to boot.

Let's see if they pull it off... Could be useful to many.

This is a great idea! I hope it comes to fruition.

[Andy]

As an ISO as well as a direct lender, I feel that I am doing the right thing by putting this information out there. I appreciate Mr. Brown's concerns about legality, but nevertheless I feel morally obligated to provide this information to other lenders.

Thanks Zach! Good post

[Chambo]

As an ISO as well as a direct lender, I feel that I am doing the right thing by putting this information out there. I appreciate Mr. Brown's concerns about legality, but nevertheless I feel morally obligated to provide this information to other lenders.

"Allegedly", "we determined".....

What Jeremy is saying is oyu have to be careful what you accuse someone of or put out there online. Could come back to bite you in a defamation lawsuit

[JayBallentine]

This is a great idea! I hope it comes to fruition.

It should have already been in fruition. No reason for what amounts to "outsiders" to come in and fix the problem.

Inasmuch as funders get 50% + of their business from brokers, they have an obligation to serve them as customers. It makes total sense to do whatever they can to help 50%+ of their customer acquisition save time. How many hours of follow up calls, paper collating, etc. is spent on these bad merchants? Why are funders not actively trying to spare the most value-able thing to you and them? YOUR TIME.

If brokers made up 10% of a funders business... Different story...

[Zach]

Not worried about any lawsuits, I still have the doctored statements sitting in our database as evidence.

[FUSIONCAPITAL]

At Fusion Capital we do come across fraudulent bank documents and do take the time to let our ISO's know about it. Whether they do anything with that information is out of our control, but we do believe that we have to alert our fellow Funders and ISO's of such Merchants. Using this platform to do so is an acceptable medium for such a practice. The legality of it is questionable because we are not publicly posting this information, rather posting on an industry blog so to speak, with the aim of protecting the industry. Banks have blacklists, why can't we?

[tommy]

First off I'm not a promoter nor do I post but on this occasion I feel compelled to give credit where it is do.

Fusion is making waves in the industry. They have there **** together. If the file makes sense it's done in hours.

Sent Joe a file at 12:30 pm and he underwrote it and funded it by 4. This is the service that helps build a business and in top of that paid more than anyone on the street and did the right thing by the merchant.

You don't have to but you may want to give Joe a call when your looking to out perform your competition.

Thanks again Joe and the Fusion crew.