What to say when you call your MCA funder about hardship

This call is different from a written reconciliation request

At some point in a rough stretch, the right move stops being a letter and starts being a phone call. Maybe you already sent a written reconciliation request and are waiting on an answer. Maybe you never had grounds for one, because revenue held steady but two or three positions are pulling more than the account can carry. Either way, a live conversation with the funder is its own event, with its own preparation and its own script, and it can happen with or without a formal reconciliation claim sitting behind it.

This page is not the first 72 hours after a missed payment (see the first 72 hours if that is where you are), and it does not re-teach the written reconciliation process. It is the playbook for the call itself: what to have in front of you before you dial, what to actually say once someone picks up, how to end the call without leaving anything vague, and what to confirm in writing the same day. Treat it like a checklist to run every time you pick up the phone about this account, not a one-time script for a single bad week.

Most hardship situations are not settled in one call. A first call gets you a temporary arrangement, a second checks whether it held, and a third handles what happens when circumstances change again. Running the same disciplined script each time, rather than treating every call as a fresh improvisation, is what keeps a multi-week stretch from turning into a string of half-remembered conversations that neither side can quite reconstruct later.

Before you dial: five things to have in front of you

A hardship call goes badly for one reason more than any other: the owner is improvising with numbers pulled from memory. Funders hear vague numbers all day. A caller with the real figures in front of them sounds like a business managing a problem, not a business hoping to talk its way out of one, and the same documents that make the call go smoothly also become your own record of what you told them, in case anyone ever needs to check it later. Assemble these five things before you pick up the phone:

• Your signed agreement, open to the remittance schedule and the default section, so you can answer questions accurately instead of guessing, and so a claim about what your contract allows can be checked against the actual page.
• A one-line list of every advance position you carry: which funder, the remaining balance, and what it pulls daily or weekly. If you are only calling about one, know how the others affect what the account can absorb, since a funder will sometimes ask.
• Your last three months of bank statements, so you can state what actually cleared, not what you think cleared, and so a specific week or a specific missed deposit is easy to point to if asked.
• One number: the amount you can sustain per day or per week, worked out from real deposits, not hope. This is the number you will actually say on the call, and the one you will hold to afterward.
• A payoff figure if you can get one. Funders typically produce these on request, and our payoff letter guide covers what a clean one includes; the payoff calculator can estimate the number while you wait on the real one.

Before you dial: decide on one ask, not a wish list

Pick a single, specific ask before you call. A funder who hears a list of maybes has nothing to respond to; a funder who hears one concrete request has something to say yes, no, or counter to. Common asks include a temporarily reduced remittance for a set number of weeks, a longer term that lowers what pulls each day or week, a switch from daily to weekly pulls, or a reconciliation adjustment if revenue genuinely fell. If you are current and simply carrying too much, the ask might instead be restructuring the whole stack: a traditional consolidation replaces several positions with one facility and one payment, and a reverse consolidation offsets the existing pulls on a schedule instead of replacing them outright. Either can mean a lower payment and more breathing room, not necessarily less total cost, because a longer term can leave the total repaid the same or more.

Whatever you pick, know your floor before you dial: the smallest change that would actually solve the problem, and the point below which you would rather escalate than agree to something you cannot keep. A call that opens with one clear ask tends to end with an answer. A call that opens with "I don't know, whatever you can do" tends to end with nothing.

Attach a defined length to the ask, not an open-ended one. "A reduced remittance for six weeks" is easier for a funder to approve than "a reduced remittance until things get better," because the second version has no end date either side can plan around. It is also easier for you: a defined window forces a second conversation before the arrangement is due to expire, rather than an arrangement quietly lapsing back to the original number without anyone deciding that on purpose.

Opening the call: the first thirty seconds

Identify yourself and your account, state why you are calling, and say what you want before the conversation can drift somewhere else. Funders field a lot of calls; the ones that get handled well tend to open plainly, without a long preamble or an apology tour.

• "Hi, this is [your name] with [business name]. I'm calling about my funding account, and I want to talk through the payment schedule."
• "Revenue dropped starting [month] because of [one plain reason], and the current remittance doesn't match what the account can carry right now."
• "I want to stay current and keep this in good standing. I'm calling to ask about [your specific ask], not to skip anything."
• "Can you pull up my account, or tell me who handles requests like this?"
• If you land on a general line or voicemail: "I'm not looking for customer service, I need whoever handles payment adjustments or hardship requests. Can you transfer me, or tell me the best number to reach them?"
• If you have to leave a message: state your name, business name, account or position number, callback number, and one sentence on why you're calling. "I want to discuss adjusting my remittance, please call me back at [number]." A specific message gets routed faster than a vague one.

The middle of the call: state the number, then stop talking

Once you are through to someone who can actually act, say what happened in one sentence, state the number you can sustain, and make your specific ask. Then stop talking. Silence after an ask feels uncomfortable, but filling it with apologies or extra explanation only weakens the request.

• "Here's what I can sustain right now: [your number] per [day/week], based on the last three months of deposits."
• "What I'm asking for is [a reduced remittance for a set number of weeks, a longer term, a switch to weekly, or a reconciliation review], starting with the next scheduled pull."
• "What can you do on your end, and what do you need from me to make that happen?"

If they push back: how to answer six common responses

Most hardship calls hit at least one of these. Knowing the response ahead of time keeps you from freezing or agreeing to something you cannot actually hold for the weeks that follow.

• If they say the agreement does not allow adjustments: ask them to point to the specific clause, and put the same request in writing regardless. Some agreements have more room than the first person you reach realizes, and a front-line rep is not always the last word on what is possible.
• If they push for a lump sum you do not have: restate your sustainable number and ask what they can do at that level, rather than arguing about the gap between the two figures. Repeating the number calmly, more than once if needed, works better than defending it.
• If they mention default, acceleration, or legal action: stay calm and ask specifically what in the agreement triggers it. Do not respond by threatening to stop paying or block the debit. That kind of statement, even said in frustration, can itself read as the start of a breach, separate from the hardship you are actually calling about.
• If they offer a new advance to cover the shortfall: decline. A new position adds another pull on top of the ones that already do not fit; it does not solve the problem, it multiplies it.
• If they ask you to sign something on the spot: ask for time to read it first, even a few hours. Nothing you sign during a hardship call deserves less scrutiny than the original agreement did.
• If they say a manager will call you back: get a name, a callback window, and a reference number before you hang up. "Someone will follow up" without those three things usually means the file goes quiet.

Ending the call: what to lock down before you hang up

A hardship call is not resolved by a general impression that it went well. It is resolved when specific terms exist. Before you hang up, confirm four things out loud and write them down as you hear them: the exact new number and how long it lasts, the date it takes effect, what documentation they still need from you, and when you will receive something in writing. If any of the four is missing, ask for it before you say goodbye.

Ask one more question before you go: what happens if the very next pull under the new arrangement does not clear. Some funders treat a miss inside an active hardship arrangement more seriously than an ordinary return, since it can look like the arrangement itself was not workable. Knowing the answer ahead of time means you are not guessing later.

Get the name of the person you spoke with, a direct line or extension if one exists, and a reference or ticket number for the call. Funders handle many accounts, and a first name alone will not help you three weeks from now if the arrangement is not honored the way you remember it. A specific number to reference does.

After you hang up: confirm it in writing the same day

Send an email within a few hours, while the conversation is still fresh on both sides, even if the funder said they would send confirmation first. A short recap works better than a long one: the date and time of the call, who you spoke with, what was discussed, and what was agreed, in plain bullet points.

Ask directly for written confirmation of the new terms and their effective date. Keep a copy of what you send and whatever comes back. If a funder never confirms an agreement in writing, the safest assumption is that the terms in your signed agreement are still what controls until something in writing says otherwise, so keep remitting whatever amount is actually confirmed while the paperwork catches up.

One sample structure, adjust it to your call: a subject line naming the account or position, one line stating the date of the call and who you spoke with, three or four bullets covering what changed and starting when, and a closing line asking them to confirm in writing by a specific date.

Put a reminder on your own calendar for a few business days out. If written confirmation has not arrived by then, follow up once, referencing the date of the call, the name you spoke with, and the reference number, and ask again for the terms in writing. A polite second request is normal. Letting the silence go unanswered is what lets an agreed arrangement quietly drift back to being nothing at all.

When to stop negotiating and call an attorney instead

Everything above is general information, not legal advice, and a broker is the right help only up to a point. If a written notice of default has arrived, a lawsuit has been filed, a judgment has been entered, your account has been frozen, or a confession of judgment shows up in the picture where your agreement contains one, stop negotiating on your own and get a qualified attorney to read your actual agreement before you say anything else. Our guide on attorneys versus brokers lays out who handles what, and what actually happens in an MCA default covers the machinery those documents can start.

Short of that line, this call is exactly the kind of problem a plain conversation and a clear number can solve. If you want a second set of eyes before you dial, or help lining up the ask, a relief and consolidation review starts with your positions and a few bank statements, takes about two minutes, and there's no credit pull to start. Everything discussed is an estimate, actual terms are set by underwriting, and nothing here is an offer of credit. Call or text 866-625-4413, Monday to Friday, 8a to 7p ET, before your next scheduled pull, not after.