The Direct “Lender” Test – For ISOs/Brokers

May 16, 2016 | By: Sean Murray

direct lender?

ISOs/Brokers: Unsure if the company you’re speaking with is a direct lender? There’s a few ways to immediately spot a faker. Fakers are often confused between loan products and sales of future receivables, an issue that will likely open them up to all kinds of legal liabilities. For this reason alone, you don’t want to end up working with the wrong company. In some states brokering a deal to an unlicensed lender could have severe consequences.

First, if anyone tells you they are a direct lender, a popular phrase these days, ask them how it is they lend. Do they comply with lending laws on a state-by-state basis or do they have a bank charter relationship? If a bank charter, ask them what bank. Verify it. If they have a lending license in a single state or multiple states, verify it. You can look up licensed California lenders here for example.

If they don’t know what you are talking about when you ask about chartered banks or state licensing, you should end the conversation.

If they’re supposedly only in the business of purchasing future revenues or receivables but call themselves a direct “lender,” you should run away as fast as you can. If a company buying future receivables believes they are indeed a lender, they and anyone working with them could face all sorts of penalties, up to and possibly including criminal charges. No amount of commission is worth this.

If a company is only in the business of buying future receivables (what some would call a true or traditional merchant cash advance), a more proper title would be a direct “funder.”

Keep in mind that a lender reliant on a bank charter relationship technically would not qualify as being a “direct lender” either since the bank itself would be the lender.

The differences between loans and sales will be taught in the industry’s upcoming online certification course. I highly recommend that newcomers sign up for it.

Last modified: May 16, 2016