MCA relief, compared
6 ways out of stacked advances. What each one leaves you with the morning after.
Search for a way out of merchant cash advance debt and 6 different products come back, all described in the same words. They are not the same. Some pay your funders, some do not; some end your obligations, some add 1; some are legitimate answers to a business that cannot service anything, and some are a way to get sued. This page lays them side by side on the questions that matter, says plainly which 1 this firm arranges, and gives you the 5 red flags that should end a conversation with anyone, including us.
Side by side
The 6, on 8 questions.
Read down the columns. The question that decides everything is the first 1: are the funders paid in full.
| Position buyout | Refinance | Reverse consolidation | Settlement | Stall and save | Defense counsel | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Are the funders paid in full | Yes, at closing, against payoff letters | Yes, if the lender permits the use of proceeds | No; original positions stay open | No; balances negotiated below contract | No; payments stopped | Depends on outcome; often a negotiated resolution |
| Your balance the morning after | 1 facility, sized to the payoffs | 1 loan, sized to the payoffs | Higher: every original balance plus a new 1 | Lower on paper if the funders agree; unresolved until they do | Unchanged and accruing default fees | Unchanged until resolved |
| Daily debits | Stop on the funding date | Stop on the funding date | Continue; funded by the new advance's deposits | Stop when you are told to stop paying | Stop when you are told to stop paying | Usually continue during the case |
| UCC liens and 9-406 notices | Released at payoff; notices rescinded | Released at payoff | Stay in place; a new 1 is added | Stay until settlement is paid; notices to customers likely | Stay; notices to customers and freezes likely | Litigated |
| Personal guaranty | Extinguished with each contract; 1 new guaranty to 1 lender | Extinguished; new guaranty on the loan | All original guaranties survive, plus a new 1 | Exposed until each settlement is paid and released | Exposed; suits on the guaranty are the usual response | Defended |
| Default and litigation risk | None created; contracts paid as written | None created | Rises: 1 more obligation on the same account | High: you are in breach while negotiating | Highest: breach by design | You are already there |
| Who pays for the service | The funding lender pays the broker at closing; you pay nothing and nothing in advance | Lender fees at closing | Factor rate on the new advance, commonly the highest on the page | You, commonly a percentage of enrolled debt, often collected up front | You, enrollment fees and monthly fees, often into an escrow the firm controls | You, retainer and hourly or contingency |
| Who it is actually for | 3 or more positions and collateral in the business | Coverage that survives the debits, which is rare when stacked | Almost nobody; a bridge that makes the hole deeper | A business that cannot service the contracts at any structure | Nobody; the program's outcome is the default it causes | A business already sued, or facing a confession of judgment |
General descriptions of products as commonly sold, written for a business owner deciding between them. Not legal advice, not an offer, and not a ranking of any named company. Citadel Ridge arranges position buyouts and refinances through third party lenders and does not provide debt settlement, debt adjusting, debt management or legal services.
Each 1, plainly
What you are actually buying.
Position buyout
A collateral backed facility from a lender that wires each funder a payoff in full at closing. The positions end, the liens release, the daily debits stop, and 1 monthly payment replaces them. Underwritten on collateral first, which is why it is often available when a refinance is not. This is what Citadel Ridge arranges, and the buyout page sets out the requirements, a worked example and the timeline in days.
Refinance
A term loan or line from a bank or non bank lender whose proceeds pay off the positions. Underwritten on cash flow coverage, which the daily debits have usually already compressed below what the lender needs, so it is the right answer for a lightly stacked business and unavailable to a heavily stacked 1. An SBA loan is generally not this: under the SBA's SOP 50 10 8, effective June 1, 2025, as the firm reads it, 7(a) proceeds may not refinance merchant cash advance or factoring obligations.
Reverse consolidation
A new advance, structured so its deposits arrive on a schedule that covers your existing daily debits for a period. The original positions are never paid off; they keep remitting, funded by the new money, and when the new advance's own remittance starts, you owe all of it. Gross obligations rise, guaranties multiply, and if the new funder stops depositing, every original position is still live. It is sold as consolidation. It is a 5th position.
Settlement
A firm negotiates with each funder to accept less than the contract balance, usually after you have stopped paying, and charges you a percentage of the enrolled debt. For a business that genuinely cannot service the contracts under any structure, negotiation is a real option and it belongs with counsel. For a business that can, it means being in breach for months, a lien and notice campaign against your customers, guaranty exposure until every release is signed, and fees that commonly consume half of whatever is saved.
Stall and save
The program tells you to stop remitting and to route your receipts into an account the program controls, from which it will eventually negotiate. Stopping the ACH is a breach of the receivables agreement you signed, and the usual response inside 60 to 90 days is a freeze on the account, notices to your customers under the assignment clause, and a suit on the guaranty. Several states restrict or license fee based debt adjusting for exactly this reason. Nobody should be in this program, and the firms selling it are the reason the word consolidation has to be explained.
Defense counsel
A lawyer, for a business that has already been sued, faces a confession of judgment, or has a contract that may not survive scrutiny as a true purchase of receivables. Litigation and restructuring counsel do real work and a stacked business in default should have 1. What counsel does not do is fund a payoff, and a business that can still be underwritten is usually better served retiring the contracts than fighting them.
Red flags
5 things that should end the conversation.
With anyone, including us.
1. A fee before anything closes. Application, packaging, processing, enrollment, retainer. A legitimate placement is paid by the lender at funding. Advance broker fees are prohibited by statute in several states and are the most reliable signal to walk away everywhere else.
2. A percentage promised. "Cut your payments 80%," "save 50% or more," "lower your balance 30 to 60%." Nobody can promise what a funder will accept or what a lender will approve before reading the file. A number quoted before the statements are read is a number invented to get the call.
3. An instruction to stop paying. Stopping the remittance breaches the agreement, triggers the default clauses, and hands the funder every remedy in the contract. Any program built on it is built on your default.
4. Blocking the ACH or moving your receipts. Closing the account the funder debits, or routing deposits into an account someone else controls, is the same breach with a paper trail. It is also how a merchant loses control of its own cash.
5. "Consolidation" without a payoff. Ask the 1 question: at closing, does each of my funders receive a payoff in full, yes or no. If the answer is anything other than yes, it is not a consolidation of anything.
Citadel Ridge charges no fee to you on a placement and none in advance, promises no percentage, never instructs anyone to stop paying, never touches your accounts, and arranges only structures that pay every funder at par. That is stated on the how we get paid page and in the footer of every page on this site, and it is why the firm can say the rest of this page out loud.
Questions
What owners ask when they are stacked.
How do I get out of a merchant cash advance?
By paying it, on the contract's terms or all at once out of a facility that replaces it. Every other route involves not paying it, which the contract you signed treats as a default with remedies attached. The question is not how to get out; it is which structure pays it off on a schedule the business can carry, and that is decided by collateral and coverage, not by which firm called you.
Is a reverse consolidation ever the right answer?
Rarely, and only as a short bridge with a dated exit already in hand, because it adds an obligation instead of removing 1. If a lender's term sheet for a buyout or refinance is 3 weeks away and the debits will not survive 3 weeks, it can buy the time. As a destination, it makes the hole deeper.
Can I pay off a merchant cash advance early and save money?
Usually not much. The obligation is a fixed dollar payback, not accruing interest, so unless the contract grants a stated early payoff discount, paying early pays the same total over fewer days. Some funders will negotiate a discount on a payoff letter when a buyout is closing; it is a negotiation, never assumed in the sizing.
What does stacking actually do to the business?
Each new position debits the same deposit account, on the same days, ahead of payroll and vendors. By the 3rd position the combined remittance is commonly a third to a half of deposits, and the business is borrowing to make the remittances on the last advance. Measure it with the stack calculator: the number that matters is the monthly debit load as a share of monthly deposits.
Should I talk to a lawyer?
If you have been sued, served with a confession of judgment, or a funder has notified your customers, yes, today. If you are current and can still be underwritten, the faster and cheaper answer is usually to retire the contracts through a buyout or a refinance, and counsel can review the closing documents either way.
Start with the file
A straight read within 2 business days.
Send the basics through the intake form: what the file supports, what is missing, and the next step if there is one. If we are not the right desk for it, we say so.