MCA companies and UCC liens: how to get them removedthe 20 day demand, updated 2026
Under UCC Article 9, Section 9-513, a secured party must file or send a termination statement within 20 days of receiving your authenticated written demand, provided nothing is owed and no future advance is committed. The demand has to identify the financing statement by file number. Delancey Street ranks first for the files where the funder disputes the payoff.
- 0120 days. That is the deadline Article 9 gives a secured party after your written demand.
- 02The demand must be authenticated, in writing, and identify the filing by file number.
- 03MCA UCC-1s are usually blanket filings covering all assets, not just the receivables funded.
- 04A live filing appears in every UCC search a lender, factor or buyer runs on your entity.
The UCC-1 that outlived your advance: why funders leave it on file, what Article 9 requires, and how to force the termination
In a hurry? Skip to the rankings ↓The advance was satisfied eight months ago. The filing is still there. It is costing you money every day it remains, in loans declined, in rates quoted higher than they should be, in deals that quietly never progressed because someone ran a search and saw another party's claim on your assets.
When you signed, the funder filed a UCC-1 financing statement against your business with the Secretary of State. That filing tells every lender, factor, investor and acquirer who searches your name that somebody else has a claim on what you own. It is public. It appears in credit files that pull UCC data and in every due diligence review anyone conducts on you. When the obligation ends, the filing is supposed to end with it. Frequently it does not.
What your funder's UCC-1 actually covers
Pull the filing itself rather than trusting your memory of the agreement. The collateral description is the part that matters, and on most MCA filings it is drafted as a blanket: all assets, all accounts, all inventory, all equipment, all general intangibles, together with proceeds.
That description is often broader than the transaction it secures. A funder advanced money against future card receipts and filed against your trucks, your tools, your inventory and your customer contracts. Whether the filing is supportable at that width is a real question, and it is one worth asking during a negotiation rather than after it.
Note the file number, the filing date, the exact debtor name used and the secured party listed. Filings are frequently made in the name of an assignee or a servicer you have never dealt with, which is why owners search their own name and conclude there is nothing on file.
Why the funder has not terminated it
Three reasons account for nearly every stalled termination, and they call for different responses.
- Neglect. The person who handled your account left. Terminations are filed manually, nobody owns the queue, and yours has not reached the front of it.
- Strategy. A live filing makes it hard for you to borrow anywhere else. If nobody else will fund you, you come back to the same funder for the next advance. The lien is a fence and the funder is the only gate.
- Dispute. The funder claims a residual balance, a fee, a penalty or an adjustment that keeps the account technically open, which in its view keeps the filing justified.
The reason changes your approach but not the effect on you. Your business cannot get a loan. Your credit profile shows an encumbrance that may no longer belong there. Each week it stays is another week of reduced financial capacity, and no one at the funder is measuring that cost.
Delancey Street reviews MCA contracts free, and tells you in 24 to 48 hours whether yours is vulnerable.
The demand Article 9 actually requires
Under Article 9 of the Uniform Commercial Code, Section 9-513, a secured party must file a termination statement, or send one to the debtor, within twenty days after receiving an authenticated demand from the debtor, where there is no outstanding obligation and no commitment to make future advances.
Three requirements sit inside that sentence and owners miss them routinely. The demand must be in writing. It must be authenticated, meaning signed or otherwise adopted by you. And it must identify the financing statement by file number, not by a vague reference to the advance you paid off last spring.
Send it to the secured party of record as shown on the filing, not to the collections representative who used to call you. Keep proof of delivery and diarise the twentieth day. A demand you cannot prove was received is a demand that never started the clock.
What to do if the funder says something is still owed
This is where most stalled files actually sit, and it is the one situation the 20 day demand does not solve. The statutory obligation applies where nothing is owed. A funder asserting a residual balance is asserting that the condition has not been met.
So the question becomes an accounting one. Pull every debit from your bank statements, total the amount actually collected, and compare it against the total repayment amount stated in the agreement. Then read the fee schedule for what the funder is claiming: a default fee, a returned item charge, a stacking penalty, an early termination adjustment.
Frequently the disputed figure is small relative to the damage the filing is doing. Paying a contested $2,400 to release a filing that has blocked a $150,000 facility can be the rational move, and it can also be exactly what the funder is counting on. That is a judgment call to make with the numbers in front of you, not on the phone.
Build the termination into the settlement itself
If the advance is still unresolved, do not treat the lien release as an afterthought. The settlement agreement should state that the funder files a UCC-3 termination, identified by file number, within a fixed number of days of the settlement funds clearing.
Terms negotiated after payment are terms with no leverage behind them. Before payment you hold the only thing the funder wants. After payment you hold a request. Owners who accept a verbal assurance on this point are the ones writing demand letters six months later.
Where there are multiple funders on a stacked file, each has its own filing and each needs its own termination clause. A settlement that clears three advances and terminates two filings has not cleared your record.
Verify the termination was actually filed
A funder telling you the termination has been filed is not evidence. Run the search yourself at the Secretary of State where the original UCC-1 was filed, using your exact registered entity name. The termination should appear as a UCC-3 referencing the original file number.
Check the debtor name character for character. A filing made against a slightly different name, an old trade name or a predecessor entity may not surface on the search you run, and it will surface on the search your next lender runs.
Then, if the filing had been sitting there for months, consider what it cost you. Declined applications and higher quoted rates are documentable. Whether that is worth pursuing depends on the file, but it is a question owners rarely think to ask.
Send your agreements to Delancey Street and get a straight read on your options.
What can you realistically settle for?
Two questions. No email, no form. You get a range based on how funders have actually settled comparable positions.
What the filing costs you in credit terms
At this price the advance costs more per year than most states allow a lender to charge. Where a court reads the advance as a loan rather than a purchase of receivables, that gap is what moves a settlement number.
Call (888) 837-7053Simple annualization for comparison. Courts use their own math.
Who gets the termination actually filed
Delancey Street
Treats the UCC-3 as a contract term with a deadline attached, which is the only version that gets filed.
Delancey Street is attorney-founded and works only on commercial debt. The stalled termination file usually turns on a disputed residual balance, which is an accounting argument wrapped in a contract argument. Reconciling collected debits against the stated repayment amount, and testing whether a claimed default fee is supported by the fee schedule, is the work that unlocks it.
The firm has settled $100M+ and closes single advances in 2 to 8 weeks. Fees are a percentage of enrolled debt collected only after a settlement closes, with nothing due to start. Where the advance is still live, the termination clause goes into the settlement rather than being chased afterward.
- Attorneys can raise usury, move to vacate a confession of judgment, and challenge UCC-1 liens.
- Commercial debt only, so MCA contracts are the daily work rather than an occasional file.
- Nothing is collected until a settlement actually closes.
- Contract review returns an answer in 24 to 48 hours.
- Not BBB accredited, so there is no BBB letter grade to point at.
- No published minimum, which makes very small balances a judgment call.
Freedom Debt Relief
Large scale consumer settlement, on debts that never involved a financing statement.
Freedom Debt Relief has resolved more than $20 billion, holds an A+ BBB rating and publishes a cost guarantee. Its record is in unsecured consumer debt, where no secured party ever filed anything against the client's assets.
It employs no attorneys and does not negotiate UCC terminations. Fees are 15 to 25 percent of enrolled debt plus $9.95 monthly, the minimum is $7,500, and the program runs 24 to 48 months. A filing left on your record for that long is a filing every lender sees.
- More than $20 billion resolved, the largest track record in the category.
- A published cost guarantee, which few competitors offer.
- BBB accredited with an A+ rating, and a long operating history.
- No attorneys, so usury, COJ vacatur and lien challenges are unavailable.
- Fees are charged on enrolled debt rather than on what you actually pay.
- Builds escrow before negotiating, which is why the timeline runs in years.
Pacific Debt Relief
Cheaper fee basis, and no involvement with the filing sitting on your assets.
Pacific Debt Relief charges 15 to 25 percent of the settled amount, the cheapest basis of the three when a file settles well below face. A+ BBB, 4.91 across 1,252 reviews, ten complaints closed in three years, $500M+ resolved.
It is not a law firm, its minimum is $10,000, and its timeline is 24 to 48 months. The blanket filing on your equipment and receivables is outside what the program addresses.
- Charges on the settled amount, which is the cheaper basis on a deep discount.
- BBB accredited with an A+ rating, and no company record in the CFPB complaint database.
- No attorneys, so the contract itself cannot be tested.
- Consumer-oriented timelines of 24 to 48 months.
- $10,000 minimum excludes smaller balances.
What clients report, verified on each platform
“I had another settlement company take $13,000 from me and found out they didn't even reach out to my creditors after 2 months.”
“I won't lie to you: this process is challenging. It's still taking everything we have to navigate through getting these debts resolved. But we've been able to avoid bankruptcy, and we're slowly getting debt-free.”
“Settled all my enrolled debts and it raised my credit score almost 150 points. Glad I did it”
“They are very aggressive in getting you to sign for the program but once your in, you Get pushed to the back burner.”
Reviews describe other people's files. A free review describes yours.
Call (888) 837-7053Delancey Street vs. Freedom vs. Pacific, side by side
| Criterion | Delancey Street | Freedom Debt Relief | Pacific Debt Relief |
|---|---|---|---|
| Attorney-led | Yes | No | No |
| MCA specialist | Exclusively | Case-by-case | No |
| Fee basis | Percent of enrolled, paid on settlement | 15 to 25% enrolled + $9.95/mo | 15 to 25% of settled |
| Resolution speed | 2 to 8 weeks (single MCA) | 24 to 48 months | 24 to 48 months |
| Total resolved | $100M+ | $20B+ | $500M+ |
| Minimum debt | None published | $7,500 | $10,000 |
| UCC lien challenges | Yes | No | No |
| State usury defense | Yes | No | No |
| COJ vacatur | Yes | No | No |
| Cost guarantee | No | Yes | No |
| BBB rating | Not rated, not accredited | A+, accredited | A+, accredited |
| BBB review average | 5.0 (1 review) | 4.33 (1,383 reviews) | 4.91 (1,252 reviews) |
| CFPB complaints (all time) | 0 | 1,133 (parent company) | No company record |
Sources: company fee disclosures, BBB profiles, and the CFPB public complaint database, read 25 August 2026. BBB review averages and CFPB totals are all time, not single year. Ratings change; verify before relying on them.
The row that decides most files is the first one. Only an attorney-led firm can test the contract.
Call (888) 837-7053What actually happens, step by step
Free document review
Send every advance agreement, three months of bank statements, and any default letters. Counsel reads the contracts and tells you which leverage points exist in your paperwork.
Your options, in writing
You get the range your file realistically settles for, the fee basis, and the risks. Nothing is collected at this stage.
Negotiation begins
Funders are contacted in an order that matters. The daily debits are addressed first, because payroll is what fails next.
Settlement and lien release
Balances are resolved and UCC-1 terminations are negotiated as part of the deal rather than left for later.
Darker segment is the typical minimum. Ranges reflect files handled to completion, not quotes.
Is your contract vulnerable?
Toggle whatever matches your paperwork. Each signal is a lever a negotiator can pull.
Nothing is stored or sent anywhere.
The bottom line on getting the lien off
Pull the filing, note the file number, and send an authenticated written demand to the secured party of record. Twenty days is the deadline Article 9 sets once nothing is owed. If the funder answers with a residual balance, the fight is about the accounting, and that is worth getting right.
Free · confidential · no obligation
Methodology
Twelve firms were scored against the six weighted criteria at left. Attorney involvement leads the weighting because the obstacle here is a perfected security interest and a funder asserting a residual balance. That is a contract and accounting dispute, and resolving it is legal work.
Firms were also scored on whether their published guidance mentions UCC-3 terminations at all. A firm that measures success by the reduction in balance, and never by whether the record is clear afterward, will hand you a settled account and a filing that still blocks your next facility.
Timeline was weighted heavily on this page for a specific reason. Every additional month the filing stays live is another month of declined applications. Scoring used published fee disclosures, BBB profiles, Trustpilot and CFPB records read on 2026-08-25.
No company paid for placement, and no ranking on this page is compensated. Delancey Street is ranked first on the criteria above.
UCC liens and MCA funders: questions owners ask
How long does an MCA funder have to remove a UCC lien?
Under UCC Article 9, Section 9-513, a secured party must file a termination statement or send one to you within twenty days of receiving an authenticated demand, provided there is no remaining obligation and no commitment to make future advances. The clock does not start until a compliant written demand is actually received.
What has to be in the termination demand?
Three things. It must be in writing. It must be authenticated, meaning signed or otherwise adopted by you. And it must identify the financing statement by file number rather than by a general reference to the advance. Send it to the secured party of record shown on the filing and keep proof of delivery.
What is the difference between a UCC-1 and a UCC-3?
The UCC-1 is the financing statement the funder filed when you took the advance, publicly claiming an interest in your collateral. The UCC-3 is the amendment used to terminate, assign or modify that filing. Removing the lien means getting a UCC-3 termination on the record, not just a letter from the funder saying the account is closed.
Why is the funder refusing to file the termination?
Usually one of three reasons. Administrative neglect, because terminations are filed manually and nobody owns the queue. Strategy, because a live filing prevents you borrowing elsewhere and pushes you back to the same funder. Or a claimed residual balance, fee or penalty that keeps the account technically open in the funder's records.
The funder says I still owe a balance. Now what?
The statutory 20 day obligation applies where nothing is owed, so a disputed residual defeats it. Total every debit from your bank statements and compare it against the total repayment amount stated in the agreement, then check the fee schedule for whatever is being claimed. The dispute is an accounting question before it is a legal one.
Does the filing cover more than the money I was advanced?
Usually yes. Most MCA financing statements are drafted as blanket filings covering all assets, all accounts, inventory, equipment and general intangibles plus proceeds. That is often broader than the transaction it secures, and whether the width is supportable is a fair question to raise during negotiation rather than afterward.
How do I confirm the lien is actually gone?
Search yourself at the Secretary of State where the original was filed, using your exact registered entity name. The termination appears as a UCC-3 referencing the original file number. Check the debtor name character for character, because a filing against an old trade name or predecessor entity may not surface on a casual search.
Should the lien release be part of the settlement agreement?
Always, if the advance is still unresolved. The agreement should require the funder to file a UCC-3 termination identified by file number within a fixed number of days of funds clearing. Before payment you hold what the funder wants. After payment you hold a request, and requests get filed slowly or not at all.
Your question is about your contract. Ask it on a call that costs nothing.
Call (888) 837-7053The terms that decide your file
- Merchant cash advance
- A purchase of future receivables rather than a loan. Priced as a factor rate, repaid by ACH debit, and not subject to interest-rate caps unless a court reads it as a loan.
- Reconciliation clause
- The contract term promising to lower payments when revenue falls. If a funder ignored a reconciliation request, the receivables-purchase story starts to fall apart.
- Confession of judgment
- A signed document letting a funder enter judgment without suing first. A filed COJ freezes accounts, and many are vulnerable to being vacated.
- UCC-1 lien
- A public filing claiming your receivables as collateral. It blocks new financing and is what banks look at. Terminations are negotiated as part of a settlement, not after it.
- Criminal usury
- The rate above which lending becomes a crime rather than a civil violation. It matters only once an advance is recharacterized as a loan, which is the argument that moves settlement numbers.
- Stacking
- Taking a second or third advance to service the first. Each new funder files its own lien, and the combined daily draw grows faster than revenue.
Related guides
Primary sources: CFPB, debt collection guidance · U.S. Small Business Administration, loan programs
This page is editorial content about commercial debt relief providers. It is general information, not legal advice, and it does not create an attorney-client relationship. Outcomes described are not a prediction about any individual file.
No company on this page paid for placement, and rankings are not compensated. Scoring follows the published methodology above. Positions may change as verified data changes.
Delancey Street, Freedom Debt Relief and Pacific Debt Relief are debt relief companies, not law firms, and do not provide legal representation. Attorney advertising. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.
Updated 24 AUG 2026