"Heads up, your funder sold your account to us last week. Before your next payment goes out, I need three months of bank statements to set up the new schedule."
He knows your funder's name. He knows roughly when you signed. He sounds bored, like it's paperwork.
This is Part 29 of Stop the Calls. Today: how to check who really holds your advance in about 20 minutes, without telling the caller a thing.
General information, not legal advice. The call above and Lantern Row Bike Repair (a made-up shop) below are invented examples.
Why "we bought your account" works
A broker has to ask for your business. A company that claims to hold your advance sounds like someone you owe, so owners stop screening and start cooperating. The details that make it sound real usually come from a public UCC filing, which Part 4 unpacks.
Watch for the ask that comes next:
- The pitch: "Since we hold it now, we can lower your payment if you re-sign today." That's a new deal in a costume, like the pitch in Part 21.
- The redirect: "Send your next payments to our account instead." This one costs real money.
The tactic: the 20-minute ownership check
Lantern Row's owner got this call on a Thursday at 2:40 PM. She hung up and ran four checks.
Check 1: call the funder you signed with. Use the number or email in your signed contract, never one the caller gives you. Ask one thing: whether your agreement has been sold or assigned, and to whom. Part 20 has the full call-back test.
Check 2: get the answer in writing. Send this from an email you control:
"Please confirm in writing whether my agreement [contract number] has been sold, assigned or transferred. If it has, tell me the new company's legal name, who services my payments, and whether my payment account or amount changes. Until I hear from you, I'll keep paying the way my contract says."
Check 3: search the public record. Look up your legal business name in your state's UCC database, usually on the Secretary of State's site. A funder can record an assignment by filing an amendment that names the new secured party (UCC 9-514). Filing one is optional, so a missing amendment proves nothing. Check 2 is the one that counts.
Check 4: compare the names. Does the caller's company match the name your funder gave you, or the name on an amendment? If it matches neither, a broker is borrowing your funder's name.
Lantern Row's funder answered the next morning. The account had never been sold. The caller's company showed up nowhere.
What to say while he's still on the line
"I don't discuss my account with inbound callers. If my agreement was sold, my funder will confirm it in writing. I'm not sending statements or changing any payment today. Give me your name, your company's legal name and its phone number. Put this number on your internal do-not-call list."
Payment changes come only from your funder
Never move a payment because of a call, a text or an email from someone new. Confirm any sale with the funder you signed with, using contact details you already had. Same rule as Part 25: nothing sensitive goes to an inbound caller.
Already sent money to a new account after a call like this? Call your bank right away. Then report it on the FTC fraud reporting site and to the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center.
AI assist: paste your call notes and your contract's assignment section into any AI chat. Ask it to separate what the caller claimed from what only your funder can confirm.
What the rules cover here
- Posing as your funder's buyer: the FTC's impersonation rule bans falsely posing as a business or misrepresenting an affiliation with one (16 CFR 461.3).
- Giving a name: FCC rules require telemarketing callers to identify themselves, the company behind the call, and a phone number or address (47 CFR 64.1200(d)(4)).
- Your business line: the National Do Not Call Registry doesn't cover business lines at all. It's for personal numbers. Most of the Telemarketing Sales Rule exempts business-to-business calls (16 CFR 310.6). The main federal law on phone calls is 47 U.S.C. 227, and what applies depends on the call and the line.
None of this promises an outcome. A licensed attorney can tell you how your contract and these rules fit your situation. More in Know Your Rights, the MCAFax toolkit and the guide to stopping MCA broker calls.
Your checklist
- Say nothing about your account on the call.
- Call your funder at the number in your contract.
- Get the sold-or-not answer in writing.
- Search your state's UCC records for an assignment.
- Change no payment until your funder confirms it.
- Log the call in your call log.
Coming in Part 30: the "your accountant referred us" call, and how to check a referral without trusting the caller.
