[HDF]

Well there certainly has been no shortage of activity lately, and much of it negative. In just the past number of weeks we have witnessed:

- steady reports of brokers and ISOs packing it in
- failed MCA business related assets being sold off for pennies
- back-dooring reaching even loftier shameless heights
- publicly traded fintech companies cooking the books
- warding off of preliminary regulatory efforts for the moment
- desperate direct funders marketing as if we are a band of misfit hedons
- ISO biz dev people running amok on the streets with no training
- Lead sources almost completely dried up or pricing out ISOs from competing
- junk paper shops looking to go "A paper"

Everyone knows what they look like behind their own closed doors, and it is not pretty right now for so many despite the bravado. Question is: As you look around, do you see people innovating and getting prepared for the next few years?

[YuliyaG]

It's tough for this market to grow / scale to the levels folks thought it could... The merchant cash advance product is one which the buyer (MCA company) is betting that the seller (small business owner) will be going out of business. GREAT products endure bad markets. Look at Apple through the last Great Recession. Mediocre / poor products, not so much. Merchant cash advances can be useful for a wider array of businesses but the costs are simply too high for many to emerge from an MCA better than they were off prior to the MCA. For this reason, I think the only way the industry will survive / thrive / endure is through de-stabilization. That is to say it will be become more local...

John Q. Smith who is a millionaire cattle rancher in Olathe Kansas will be empowered to advance Joe B. Butcher one of his clients for returns that "beat the street" for John Q. Smith while the rates will also be much more approachable for Joe B. Butcher.

There simply won't be any room for a ton of middle men. Right now hedge funds and the like have to be paid, feeder funds have to be paid, funding company's have to be paid, brokers have to be paid... This is simply not sustainable.

Make no mistake about it, we are heading into a grandaddy of a recession. I know because I've been hired by a major institution to help them prepare... I think it will be a good cleansing experience for the MCA industry and what will emerged is a more localized / decentralized MCA industry where deals will be done like the very first one in this business ever was... Over a hand shake and face to face.

[Montague]

Well there certainly has been no shortage of activity lately, and much of it negative. In just the past number of weeks we have witnessed:

- steady reports of brokers and ISOs packing it in
- failed MCA business related assets being sold off for pennies
- back-dooring reaching even loftier shameless heights
- publicly traded fintech companies cooking the books
- warding off of preliminary regulatory efforts for the moment
- desperate direct funders marketing as if we are a band of misfit hedons
- ISO biz dev people running amok on the streets with no training
- Lead sources almost completely dried up or pricing out ISOs from competing
- junk paper shops looking to go "A paper"

Everyone knows what they look like behind their own closed doors, and it is not pretty right now for so many despite the bravado. Question is: As you look around, do you see people innovating and getting prepared for the next few years?

Change is inevitable and I think we are seeing the point where some ISO's and funders adapt and find a business model that works and press on. The rest who jumped in to cash in on the next big mortgage money are probably too little too late.

Despite a lot of the negatives I read on here all the time I am still closing multiple new deals, working with reliable funders I have relationships with and building my book of business. Sure i've had to monetize leads in unique and creative ways but I am okay with that.

In short, I think the guys who came in to close MCA's and make a quick buck are on the way out; those of us who are building ourselves as actual brokers of business financing and services are going to sink or swim over the next few months - years.

[Chambo]

-Junk Paper shops won't rise up to A&B, just not in their blood.
-Too many ISO's out there to begin with, trimming the fat is a good thing
-Back Dooring and Marketing costs go hand in hand with the saturation in the business, so trimming the fat should lighten that area up a bit
-Every Tom, Dick & Harry with a laptop and a couple bucks is trying to open up as a funder, with nothing new to bring to the table, so yeah, they'll get shot down quickly. Since they are all new when they start these shops, only makes sense that their BD reps are equally as naive

[MCNetwork]

The merchant cash advance product is one which the buyer (MCA company) is betting that the seller (small business owner) will be going out of business.

This is like the funder saying,"Boy I just hope I lose my money on this deal." Comments like this show that you never really had a clue about this industry and that's why you crashed and burned. I say good riddance to those upstarts who naively entered this industry with dollar signs in their eyes and promptly got their asses handed to them.

[YuliyaG]

This is like the funder saying,"Boy I just hope I lose my money on this deal." Comments like this show that you never really had a clue about this industry and that's why you crashed and burned. I say good riddance to those upstarts who naively entered this industry with dollar signs in their eyes and promptly got their asses handed to them.

This is a highly emotional retort by someone who is facing inevitable displacement. You're a middleman.

I've sat in on investor meetings where's they said "you're basically circling the drain betting to get your money back before they go out right?" Then they handed over a check.

My partner was hired to do marketing where the owner of the firm had to impress on him that the owner desired merchants who were "on deaths door..."

Additionally, grab 10,000 UCCs of businesses that took more than one MCA from 2012 to present. What percentage are still in business? If you want to know you can pay for that research. Plain and simple. Any repeat MCA customer is poor owner / operators. It's simple math and basic tautological reasoning sir.

Finally, Your opinions and emotions will never a) hold a candle to the breadth and depth of my research. b) obfuscate the fact that MCAs are a subprime product. c) change the fact that Most businesses who resort to MCA did so because of their inability to run their businesses properly.

Regarding crashing and burning... At least we were not in denial. What's your next move?

[HDF]

This is a highly emotional retort by someone who is facing inevitable displacement. You're a middleman.

It is not for you to judge, Yuliya, who is facing displacement. If you want to do that, you should name names, not attack random individuals who post here. There are many who will do well and thrive no matter what happens because they do the right thing for their clients. And for that, they will ALWAYS be in demand.

Sorry to say that as of now you lost, you present yourself as a loser, and you are the emotional one around here.

[YuliyaG]

This is a highly emotional retort by someone who is facing inevitable displacement. You're a middleman.

It is not for you to judge, Yuliya, who is facing displacement. If you want to do that, you should name names, not attack random individuals who post here. There are many who will do well and thrive no matter what happens because they do the right thing for their clients. And for that, they will ALWAYS be in demand.

Sorry to say that as of now you lost, you present yourself as a loser, and you are the emotional one around here.

Maybe you should re read MCNs post? How would you have interpreted that? Who "attacked" who first? Seriously. Let's just look at the facts.

Good luck with the continued growth and extraordinary success of your thriving brokerage.

[jotucker1983]

End of Days or The New Frontier?

The New Frontier.

As I've been preaching on this forum, this industry is structured on the 80/20 rule, where 20% of the people in this space have the resources (marketing budgets, networks, data, technology, etc.) to have staying power which can be defined as either middle class ($50k - $65k a year) or higher class (making at or over $100k a year) in terms of income. The other 80% lack the resources and are spending their time on dead strategies such as cold calling out of the Yellow Pages, calling on over-saturated UCC data, or calling on Aged Leads. They are like a revolving door.

Going forward that 20% is going to get bigger and powerful through more strategic networks, partnerships, and more capital that will flood into the industry for their usage. That 80% is pretty much going to continue to wash out to where the industry as a whole doesn't even "entertain" them anymore.

The New Frontier will be a "form" of an Oligopoly v.s. the Perfect Competition structure that we've had prior. There will be "higher" barriers to entry going forward but not in a direct way (such as to ban people out through required licensing tactics) but it will be in an indirect way in terms of the resources needed to succeed (capital, budgets, networks, technology, people, etc.) only going to the "20%" that have oligopolized the industry.

[jotucker1983]

It's tough for this market to grow / scale to the levels folks thought it could... The merchant cash advance product is one which the buyer (MCA company) is betting that the seller (small business owner) will be going out of business.

This statement is completely wrong for the majority of the market (which are the 1st position funders). For 1st position funders the merchants about to go out of business don't get funded. The merchants who look like they are about to go out of business down the line don't get funded. The product is basically the "sub-prime loan" of the small business market. It's for small businesses that don't have good credit (good credit is considered 720, anything less than 670 is considered poor) along with other factors to where they can't get the financing needed from the traditional system. The merchants getting funded are those who are stable, growing, with decent cashflow.

Now when you get into the stackers putting 2nd - 11th position stacks on merchants, now you have a point. But they don't represent the majority of the market and quite frankly, their entire market is going to blow up going forward as many 1st position funders stop foolishly filing UCCs on good accounts knowing this is going on out here.

Merchant cash advances can be useful for a wider array of businesses but the costs are simply too high for many to emerge from an MCA better than they were off prior to the MCA.

It depends on what the MCA is being used for, most of my clients use it for growth investments. None of my clients have gone out of business from using the products I've put in place, but then again, I've pretty much only been placing A/B products, with the occassional C paper. I very rarely do a 2nd position and if I do it, it's on a rare case-by-case basis.

There simply won't be any room for a ton of middle men. Right now hedge funds and the like have to be paid, feeder funds have to be paid, funding company's have to be paid, brokers have to be paid... This is simply not sustainable.

What's going to be shaken out will be fraudsters, stackers, and those who are not apart of that "20%" I keep talking about in terms of having the resources needed for staying power.

The MCA and the short term alternative business loan, are here to stay. Going forward, it's just not going to be anybody with a "heartbeat and pulse" reselling them. Which is good. I can't wait for the shake out to happen fast enough. 80% of the people in the industry had no business EVER being here.

[admin]

Maybe you should re read MCNs post? How would you have interpreted that? Who "attacked" who first? Seriously. Let's just look at the facts.

Good luck with the continued growth and extraordinary success of your thriving brokerage.

Yuliya (AKA Jay), if you quit the industry, there's no point in you posting here, especially if you're just doing it to troll everyone and bring everyone down into your misery. Meanwhile, selling UCCs via bitcoin only is highly shady at best because you're just trying to prevent people from being able to dispute the charge if they're not satisfied. Focus on whatever new challenge or industry you're off to next.

[MCNetwork]

Additionally, grab 10,000 UCCs of businesses that took more than one MCA from 2012 to present. What percentage are still in business? If you want to know you can pay for that research. Plain and simple. Any repeat MCA customer is poor owner / operators. It's simple math and basic tautological reasoning sir.

Lol. You're making the classic rookie mistake of assuming a causation from a correlation. 80-90% of ALL new businesses fail within 5 years, not just those who took an MCA. If this is an example of your analytical prowess, then no wonder you couldn't succeed in this field.

[MCNetwork]

Yuliya (AKA Jay), if you quit the industry, there's no point in you posting here

Haha is this the infamous self proclaimed MCA marketing guru turned professional poker player, Jay Ballentine?? What's up buddy?

51yXIyrLLcL._SX311_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg

[KTK]

..

[YuliyaG]

Yuliya (AKA Jay), if you quit the industry, there's no point in you posting here, especially if you're just doing it to troll everyone and bring everyone down into your misery. Meanwhile, selling UCCs via bitcoin only is highly shady at best because you're just trying to prevent people from being able to dispute the charge if they're not satisfied. Focus on whatever new challenge or industry you're off to next.

sean... The bitcoin stuff was to protect me, not to screw others. If that were the case I'd create phony accounts with professional "polish" (professional phone, e-mail, virtual address, etc.) and have at it. With the most creative person I've known as a friend and partner, stinking up the joint with all sorts of scum bag approaches wouldn't be hard.

For you to insinuate that I would publicly use my name and likeness to perpetuate fraud confuses me... It's simply not worth risking the 7 figures in income I'll generate over the next 5-7 years by having top level clearance to work at one of the world's leading financial institutions. Why would I throw that all away for some UCC's? Additionally, I am not that type of person.

So, to settle this whole business of my trying to perpetuate fraud on this community, the UCC's will be given out for the lowest price allowable by Gumroad.com... which I think is 50 cents. THE ENTIRE kit and kaboodle.

Additionally, regarding misery... That also confuses me. Are you suggesting that not being able to scale UCCFeed.com has resulted in my / our being miserable? I think misery is failing to align your professional pursuits to achieve a balance of life that leads to TRUE happiness.

To give ANY industry the power to dictate your misery or total happiness would be a mistake. Life is too short for that. Please don't conflate my telling it bluntly, as I see it from the data, as my being miserable.

Finally, we still generate income from renewals and such I still teach, work with, and connect with ISO's... on my terms. I'll always have my hands involved in the industry in some way shape or form because I fully intend to leverage the treasure trove of data I have stored as the industry enters it's transformation period. There's a lot you simply do not know. You do not know, what you do not know.

[YuliyaG]

Haha is this the infamous self proclaimed MCA marketing guru turned professional poker player, Jay Ballentine?? What's up buddy?

51yXIyrLLcL._SX311_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg

It may be best for you to reach out to Jay directly if you have things you'd like to discuss. I don't want to be a referee. Do you need his contact info? What's your number and I'll pass it along?

[OC Funder]

I don't think shady funders backdooring brokers is what's squeezing them out... once you catch them (i hope) you move on and use one of the many reputable funders out there. The industry is just maturing, which naturally raises the barrier to entry. Yes, if you have an IP phone and a website you can theoretically start a shop, but the more experienced, larger brokers are savvier and probably have better options than you do. They will know which funder gives a merchant his best deal, and if you're not equally savvy you won't be able to compete for the same merchant's business. Since you have to spend a lot more on marketing than we did 5-10 years ago to get the same number of approvals that you aren't competing on, you better to be able to close at least 50% of the ones you get to make it sustainable. If you can do that you can still make money in this space, but if the sales pitches I hear when people cold call my cell phone are any indication, most of you will not survive.

[Sean Cash]

It's simply not worth risking the 7 figures in income I'll generate over the next 5-7 years by having top level clearance to work at one of the world's leading financial institutions.

...................

Anyway, considering your UCC list price has gone from $750 to $99 to 50 cents and all the other craziness on here what with the bitcoin-only payments and Kanye West shoe sales, it's probably best that you join the ranks of the other questionable peddlers that have come here and gotten banned. I think you've gotten more than enough chances.

[admin]

Banned.

Good luck with your future endeavors.

[anonymous]

Yes!

[ridextreme]

Haha is this the infamous self proclaimed MCA marketing guru turned professional poker player, Jay Ballentine?? What's up buddy?

51yXIyrLLcL._SX311_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg

I've played poker with this guy before both at Borgata and I believe PA. I don't suggest he turns pro any time soon ; )

[Funder Mark]

Banned.

Good luck with your future endeavors.

Thank God, about time!!!

[J.Celifarco]

Banned.

Good luck with your future endeavors.

Yulia's ban will end up being the most repped post of all time..

BYE FELICIA

[Michael I]

Banned.

Good luck with your future endeavors.

finally

[mcaguru]

Just to fan everyone off for a sec and right before you rip the plug out of the wall and clean your desks...I have NEVER heard as many MCA satellite radio commercials as I have been hearing last few weeks, probably 3-4 a day!!....(on my 45min commute from Boca to Palm Beach) Aside from TV Commercials from the big players. the end-clients are live and well and seeking capital. (now with evrey client base you got the A paper client to the D and all deserve a funding-hand).