Florida Disclosure Laws: What Your Funding Offer Must Tell You

If you run a small business in Florida and are weighing alternative funding, such as a merchant cash advance, invoice factoring, or an equipment lease, the most useful thing you can know before signing is what the money will actually cost. Florida has a commercial financing disclosure law aimed at exactly that question: for many business financing offers, the provider must give you a written disclosure of the key cost and payment terms before you sign.

This guide explains what that disclosure shows, what to check beyond it, and how to use it to compare offers, whether your business is in Miami, Orlando, Tampa, or Jacksonville. It sticks to the general picture. Details change and some transactions are exempt, so for your specific deal, confirm what applies with the Florida Attorney General's office or a business attorney.

Get MCA Funding Fast is a free matching service that connects Florida business owners with vetted, third-party funding partners. It is not a lender. It helps you find offers, which you then evaluate on your own terms.

What Is Florida's Commercial Financing Disclosure Law?

Florida's commercial financing disclosure law requires many providers of business financing, including many merchant cash advance companies, to give you a standardized written disclosure before you sign. The disclosure shows how much funding you will receive, the total amount you will repay, the total dollar cost, how and how often payments are taken, and whether paying early changes what you owe.

The Problem It Addresses

Business funding has long been quoted in ways that are hard to compare. A merchant cash advance might be presented as a factor rate and a daily payment, a loan as an interest rate, and a lease as a monthly payment, with fees scattered through the contract. Each figure can be accurate and still leave you unsure what the money costs. A standardized disclosure puts the same core figures in front of you for every covered offer, so you can compare them before you commit.

Who Does It Apply To?

The law applies to many providers of commercial financing, including many merchant cash advance companies, but some transactions are exempt. Rather than guessing, ask each funder in writing whether your offer comes with the Florida disclosure. If the answer is no, ask why, and consider checking with an attorney before you sign.

🔗 Related reading: Compare Lenders and Funders in California · Business Cash Advance Near Me

Funding Types You May Be Comparing

Because the law reaches many products but not every deal, it helps to understand how the common products are priced and what a clear offer for each should show. The numbers below are illustrative only.

Merchant Cash Advances

A merchant cash advance is usually structured as a purchase of your future receivables rather than a loan, which is why it is priced with a factor rate instead of an interest rate. Whether a particular agreement is treated as a loan depends on its terms, and courts have reached different conclusions, so an attorney should review anything unclear. In a typical offer, the funder pays you a lump sum now and collects a larger amount from your future sales through daily or weekly debits or a share of card sales. For example, $20,000 at a 1.3 factor rate means $26,000 collected, a $6,000 cost.

Invoice Factoring

With factoring, you sell unpaid invoices to a factoring company, receive an advance now, and the factor collects from your customers. The cost is the factoring fee, which often grows the longer an invoice stays unpaid. A clear offer states the advance amount, the face value of the invoices, how the fee is calculated, and who absorbs the loss if a customer never pays.

Equipment Leasing

If you lease restaurant kitchen gear, medical devices, or construction machinery, the offer should show the number and amount of lease payments, any fees, and what it costs to own the equipment at the end, if that is an option. Add up every payment plus the end-of-lease cost and compare the total with the purchase price. That tells you what leasing really costs compared with buying.

Lines of Credit and Term Loans

Loans and lines of credit are usually priced with an interest rate plus fees such as origination or draw fees. Ask for the total you would repay under a realistic scenario, for example drawing the full line and carrying it for a year, so you can set it next to a factor-rate offer on equal terms.

What Must Your Funding Offer Disclose?

Here is what a Florida disclosure covers, and how to put each item to work.

Total Amount of Funds Provided

This is the funding you receive. If fees are subtracted from the proceeds, the money that reaches your account will be lower than the headline amount in the offer. For example, if a funder advances $20,000 and withholds nothing, you receive $20,000. If it withholds a $500 fee, you receive $19,500, and that is the number to compare.

Total Repayment Amount and Cost

The total repayment is every dollar you will pay back, and the cost is the difference between that total and what you received. Continuing the example, a 1.3 factor rate on $20,000 means a total repayment of $26,000. The cost is $6,000 if no fee was withheld, or $6,500 measured against the $19,500 you actually received if one was.

Payment Schedule and Amounts

The disclosure also shows how and how often payments are taken, whether a fixed daily or weekly debit, a monthly payment, or a percentage of your sales. For a sales-based product, ask how the funder estimated the payment amounts and what happens if your volume drops.

Whether Paying Early Changes the Cost

Finally, the disclosure addresses whether paying early changes what you owe. On some factor-rate products the full cost is due regardless of when you pay, while other funders offer a discount for early payoff. If you might pay early, this line can be worth real money.

Other Terms to Check

The disclosure is a summary, not the whole deal. Read the contract for late fees, returned-payment fees, any personal guarantee, a blanket lien on business assets, and whether the agreement includes a confession of judgment. Some agreements include one; it can let a funder obtain a court judgment quickly if you default, and several states restrict them. If you see one, ask an attorney before signing.

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How to Read Your Florida Disclosure Statement

Compare Multiple Offers

The value of a standardized disclosure is that offers can sit side by side. Start with the amount you actually receive, then the total repayment and dollar cost, then the payment schedule. A deal with a smaller dollar cost is not automatically better if its payments are too large for your weekly deposits, so check both.

Identify Hidden Fees

Some products fold fees into the factor rate or take them from the proceeds. If the dollar cost looks high relative to the funding, ask the funder to itemize every fee and show where each one appears. A legitimate funder should be able to explain each component.

Understand Factor Rates vs. APR

A factor rate of 1.3 sounds modest, but it says nothing about time. Paying $6,000 for $20,000 over two years is very different from paying it over six months. An annual percentage rate, or APR, expresses cost as a yearly rate, so it captures that difference. If you want an annualized comparison between a short-term advance and a longer loan, ask the funder to put an estimated annualized cost in writing and explain how it was calculated, or have your accountant work it out from the payment schedule.

Why This Law Matters for Your Small Business

Less Room for Hidden Costs

When the core numbers must be in writing before you sign, it is harder for a cost to stay hidden until the first payment clears. If a funder hesitates to provide the disclosure, or the numbers on it do not match what you were told, treat that as a red flag and slow down.

Ability to Shop Around

Standardized figures let you compare a merchant cash advance from a Miami funder with an equipment lease from a Tampa company on the same basics: what you receive, what you repay, and how you repay it. That lets you choose on facts rather than on a sales pitch, and it gives you something concrete to negotiate with.

Practical Tips for Using Disclosures When Applying

Request the Disclosure Before Signing

Ask for the disclosure before you sign any application or agreement that commits you to anything. If it does not arrive, do not proceed until it does, and be wary of any funder that treats the request as an inconvenience.

Ask Questions

If any number is unclear, such as a payment amount, the total repayment, or how fees were handled, ask the funder for a written breakdown. A reputable funding partner will walk you through it, and the written answer gives you something to check against the contract.

Use a Matching Service to Compare Offers

Get MCA Funding Fast helps business owners in Fort Lauderdale, Orlando, Jacksonville, and across the state connect with vetted funding partners at no cost. You still receive each funder's offer and disclosure directly, and the decision stays with you.

Common Mistakes Small-Business Owners Make

Ignoring How Fast You Repay

Two offers with the same dollar cost can be very different deals if one is repaid in six months and the other in eighteen. The faster one takes much larger payments out of your account each week. Always read the time frame alongside the cost.

Focusing Only on the Payment Amount

A payment that fits your budget can still add up to a large total. For example, a $500 weekly payment for 52 weeks totals $26,000. If you received $20,000, that is $6,000 for the use of the money for a year, which you should weigh against what the funding will earn you.

Not Verifying the Total Cost

If the disclosure shows a $6,000 cost on a $20,000 advance, confirm that the contract says the same thing. Look for fees in the contract that do not appear in the disclosure's figures, and ask about any difference before you sign.

Conclusion

Florida's disclosure law gives you a clear starting point: before you sign, many funders must show you what you will receive, what you will repay, what it costs, how payments work, and whether paying early helps. That information only protects you if you use it. Ask for the disclosure, read it with the contract, compare more than one offer, and get your answers in writing.

If an offer turns out to be different from what you were told, keep copies of every document and message, ask the funder in writing to explain the difference, and report deceptive practices to the Florida Attorney General's office or the FTC. A business attorney can tell you what options you have.