Ryan Yant Interviewed in Tampa Bay Business Journal: “Quick-Cash Trap: Predatory Lenders Are Behind a Wave of Business Failures in Tampa Bay”

Ryan Yant was interviewed in a Tampa Bay Business Journal article titled “Quick-Cash Trap: Predatory Lenders Are Behind a Wave of Business Failures in Tampa Bay.” The article discusses the wave of merchant cash advances (MCA) that have trapped many local businesses in cycles of debt, eventually forcing them to permanently shut down.

Yant stated that bad actors have earned the MCA industry a bad rap, but larger, more reputable names exist in the MCA space. Uber, for example, partnered with a fintech firm to launch an MCA platform for qualified Uber Eats restaurants late last year.

“The industry has different tiers of companies, and they are not all created equal,” Yant told the journal. “There are sophisticated companies that have sound underwriting practices and are well capitalized. Their products are designed for a company to thrive,” he said.

It has become standard practice for an MCA firm to disguise its identity in creditor documents filed in the state’s secure transaction registry as an anonymous “registered agent” to fend off competitors. Before, it was common for predatory firms to peruse the registry for insight into who competitors — ones with stronger due diligence and underwriting standards — had previously funded, and to contact those debtors to promote a second or third MCA agreement, Yant said.

The routine of “stacking” multiple agreements — borrowers often rely on additional funding to pay off earlier debts — traps businesses in an endless cycle of debt. “In general, it’s never just one, and that’s part of the problem,” said Yant.

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