Tomorrow morning, at a time you did not choose, the ACH withdrawal will attempt to process. It will fail. And then, on a timeline measured in hours rather than days, the contract you signed will begin to do the things it was written to do.
This is not the moment for planning. This is the moment for five specific actions, performed today, in this order.
Locate Your MCA Agreement and Read the Default Provisions
The agreement is in a file, or a drawer, or an email attachment you have not opened since the funds arrived. Find it. Read the section titled "Default" or "Events of Default." What you are looking for is the acceleration clause: the provision that converts the remaining balance into a single, immediate obligation upon a missed payment. Nine of the last twelve agreements we reviewed triggered acceleration on the first missed withdrawal. Not the third. The first.
You need to know what the contract says will happen tomorrow. Most business owners discover the terms of default after it has occurred. By then, the funder's legal machinery has already begun to move.
Call an Attorney Before You Call the Funder
The instinct is to call the funder and explain. This instinct, while human, is premature. The funder's representative has conducted this conversation hundreds of times. You have conducted it never. Anything you say, any concession you make, any promise of payment you offer, becomes part of the record the funder will use if the matter escalates.
An attorney who practices MCA defense can advise you on what to say, what not to say, and what legal rights you possess before the first collection call arrives. The consultation takes less time than the funder's hold music.
The funder has an attorney. As of this morning, you do not.
Invoke Reconciliation in Writing
If your revenue has declined and your agreement contains a reconciliation clause (it does; virtually all of them do), send a formal written request for payment adjustment today. Not tomorrow. Not after the missed payment. Today. Before the default.
