Served by Banana: 8 Documents to Pull Before You Respond

Served by Banana Funding Group? By its own 2020 account, Banana Funding Group gave money to MCA companies and not directly to merchants, so you may not have ever directly dealt with Banana before today. Pull eight documents before you start responding, starting with the summons because it sets the deadline.

1. The summons and complaint

If you have been sued in New York State court, you have 20 days to respond if you were personally served, and 30 days if the notice arrived in some other way (for example, if you were served through the Secretary of State or through substituted service). If you have been sued in federal court, you generally have 21 days to respond. A procedural failure now, even if you intended to respond, can end your chance to defend the lawsuit itself, and can put you into an expensive scramble to undo the consequences of being in default.

Read who the plaintiff is (Banana or the MCA company you signed with), and in which court the case was filed. Many MCA contracts send lawsuits to New York, even if the business was elsewhere.

2. Your MCA agreement

The information in your agreement can tell you a lot about how the funding company, Banana Funding Group’s client, ran its accounts and treated merchants. Look for the specific agreement with the MCA company that actually gave you the money, if you had several. Watch for the factor rate, reconciliation clause, confession of judgment, personal guarantee, and New York venue clause, all of which can be a problem later.

A factor rate of 1.40 means $140,000 owed on a $100,000 advance. A confession of judgment can let a funder get a judgment without you ever appearing in court. A personal guarantee puts your own assets at risk, not just the business.

3. Any three-way agreement or default notice

Are you curious why Banana would go after merchants like you at all? Banana Funding Group’s 2020 deck says that Banana advanced money to MCA companies up to 25% of the value of their approved receivables, which included what merchants owed the MCAs.

According to Banana Funding Group’s presentation for 2020, if the MCA company defaulted on Banana, or Banana’s exposure rose to more than 50%, Banana would send a notice and flip a “default switch” for that company, which means Banana would collect every payment it was owed from that MCA company’s merchants until it was paid in full. If you received a letter saying that Banana was taking over the account from your MCA company, that sounds a lot like this scenario. Some MCA companies signed a three-way agreement that hands Banana Exchange control of the ACH pulls. Check whether you signed one of those.

4. The UCC 9-406 notice

Until you get a signed notice that the debt was assigned and telling you to pay the new party, paying the original funder still counts. When you ask for one, the new party must promptly give you reasonable proof that the assignment was made. Until it does, you may keep paying the original funder.

5. Bank statements and ACH records

Be sure to track every ACH pull, whether the money went to the MCA company, to Banana, or to some combination of the two. Then look for double debits or pulls above the agreed amount. Both of those can be a breach by the funder, and a defense later on.

6. Reconciliation requests and every message

Be sure to pull every payment and statement, but if your sales dropped and you asked to lower your payment, be sure to pull the reconciliation requests, their answer, and every other message that went back and forth between you. Most MCA contracts have a reconciliation clause, but the funder often ignores it. When you ask and the funding company blocks the request, that can be a powerful defense later on.

7. Any confession of judgment

New York banned confession affidavits against out-of-state debtors in 2019, but older ones still surface in court. If you have a confession, look for two things. A confession affidavit in New York must state your county of residence. Then, check the date it was filed. A confession must be filed within three years of being signed.

8. Any judgment, restraining notice or award

Usually a funder or creditor can only freeze your bank account after it has a judgment, when it can issue restraining notices. In New York, once your bank has frozen twice the judgment amount, the restraining notice stops reaching your other money there. Also in New York, a motion to vacate a default judgment for excusable default must be made within one year of being served with the judgment and notice of entry.

If arbitration looms in your case, look for an arbitration clause in the MCA agreement you signed. In a June 2026 lawsuit, the New York Attorney General alleged that in 97% of roughly 3,000 early Rapid Ruling arbitrations the small business never showed up, and the MCA company nearly always won.

Don’t panic or settle until these documents are in front of you. When you agree to pay before you know your defenses, you could end up settling for more than the funding company can actually collect.

A free contract review costs nothing and takes a day or two. Call (888) 837-7053, or send the agreements to Delancey Street for a straight read on your options.