Which funding products does this apply to?

Merchant Cash Advance, Working Capital, Term Loan, Revenue-Based Financing. Each has its own page listing the funders in this directory that offer it and what each one publishes about its terms.

Are the figures here quotes?

No. Every worked example is labelled illustrative and exists to show the arithmetic. What a particular lender charges is on that lender's page, where it publishes it at all.

The Find Me Funders research desk. Some drafting is AI-assisted, and every page that is says so at the top, including whether a person has checked its claims yet.

How do I know a figure here is right?

Where a page carries the green notice, its claims were checked against the sources listed at the end and a reviewer is named. Where it carries the amber one, nobody has verified it yet and you should confirm anything you plan to act on.

Are the examples real deals?

No. Every worked example is labelled illustrative and exists to show the arithmetic. What any particular lender charges is on that lender's page, where it publishes it.

Why do you never say what a typical rate is?

Because we cannot source it. A market average assembled from lenders who do not publish prices is a guess with a decimal point on it. Where a lender publishes a figure, we show that figure and say where it came from.

Is this financial or legal advice?

No. It is general information about how these products work. Outcomes depend on your contract and your state, and a lawyer or accountant licensed where you are is the person to ask about your situation.

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Arbitration clauses in business funding agreements

Arbitration clauses, and the carve-out that usually sits beside them

A private forum, limited discovery, a fee schedule set by the provider's rules, and almost no appeal — often binding on you while the holder keeps the courthouse.

By Find Me Funders research desk Updated 14 September 2026 977 words 4 min read

Drafted with AI assistance. Not yet independently checked. Nobody has verified the claims on this page against a source, so treat the figures and legal points as a starting point rather than as settled, and confirm anything you are about to act on. How we check things.

What does an arbitration clause in a business funding agreement do?

It moves disputes out of court into a private proceeding, usually before a provider and under rules chosen by whoever drafted the contract. Discovery is limited, the hearing is not public, costs follow the provider's fee schedule, and grounds to challenge an award are very narrow. Under the Federal Arbitration Act, 9 U.S.C. §2, courts generally enforce these agreements. Many commercial finance clauses are one-sided: your claims go to arbitration while the holder retains the right to go to court for collection, self-help or injunctive relief.

The elements to find in yours

The provider and the rules.Named arbitration organisation and rule set. The rules determine filing fees, arbitrator selection, how much discovery is allowed and whether there is a written reasoned award.

The seat.Where the arbitration takes place. Often the holder's home city, which carries the same travel cost as a distant courtroom.

Who pays.Some clauses split fees, some shift them to the losing party, some require the claimant to advance them. Commercial arbitration fees can be substantial relative to a modest claim, which is a practical barrier worth pricing before you assume arbitration is a cheaper route.

The carve-out.This is the clause to read most carefully. It commonly preserves the holder's right to seek judicial relief for collection, replevin, enforcement of the security interest, injunctive relief, or entry of a judgment by confession. Where that carve-out exists, arbitration binds the disputes you would bring and not the ones the holder would.

The class action waiver.Usually adjacent, and it means claims are brought individually.

The delegation clause.Language giving the arbitrator, rather than a court, the power to decide questions about the arbitration agreement's own scope and validity.

An opt-out.Some clauses allow you to reject arbitration by written notice within a short window after signing. If yours has one, the window is short and it is the only chance.

The small-claims carve-out.Some clauses preserve either party's right to bring a qualifying claim in small claims court. Where one exists, it is occasionally the most useful sentence in the document, because it is the only forum in which a modest dispute is economic to pursue without counsel. Check the dollar ceiling in your state.

What it means practically

Arbitration is not automatically worse for a small business. It can be faster than a crowded docket and it is private, which some owners value. What changes is the shape of the risk: limited discovery makes it harder to develop a case that depends on the other side's records, the absence of a jury removes one dynamic, review of an award is extremely narrow even where an arbitrator gets something wrong, and an award can generally be confirmed into an enforceable judgment.

The cost, which is the part that decides most small claims

Court filing fees are set by statute and are modest. Arbitration fees are set by the provider's schedule and are not, and on a commercial claim they typically include a filing fee, a case administration fee scaled to the amount in dispute, and the arbitrator's time at a daily or hourly rate.

Illustrative only —suppose a provider's schedule produces a $2,500 filing fee, $1,750 of administration and an arbitrator at $1,500 a day across a two-day hearing. That is $7,250 before a single hour of your own lawyer's time, on a claim of $45,000 — roughly 16% of what you are trying to recover.

Two things follow. Where the clause requires the claimant to advance those costs, a modest claim can be uneconomic to bring at all, which is a real effect of the clause regardless of what the clause says about fairness. And where the clause is one-sided in the way described above, the holder's route — court, for collection — carries the statutory filing fee instead.

So price it before you assume arbitration is the cheap option. Find the named provider's published fee schedule, find the band your likely claim falls into, and read who advances and who ultimately bears the cost.

What arbitration does not pause

An arbitration clause governs how a dispute is resolved. It does not suspend the deal while that happens.

Debits continue. A UCC-1 stays filed. A personal or validity guarantee remains enforceable, and where the carve-out preserves judicial collection, the holder can be in court against you while your claim sits in arbitration. Nothing about filing a demand operates as a stay.

That sequencing is the practical argument for keeping payments current while a dispute runs, if you can, and for raising a problem in writing early — before a payment issue gives the other side a second, simpler case.

Before you sign

Ask whether the clause is mutual. Ask for the seat to be your county rather than theirs. Ask for the carve-out to be reciprocal or removed. These are ordinary commercial requests; the answer tells you how negotiable the rest of the document is.

Three things to check on a demand

If a demand for arbitration arrives, three checks are worth making the same day, because each is easier to raise at the start than after an arbitrator is appointed.

Was it filed with the provider your contract names?Clauses name a specific organisation, and a demand filed elsewhere is a point.

Does the seat match the clause?A demand seated in the claimant's city when the clause says otherwise is a point.

Do the claims fall inside the clause's scope?Some clauses cover only disputes "arising under this agreement" and not related torts or claims against affiliates.

None of those is a defence on the merits. All three are things a lawyer can use, and all three are visible on the face of two documents you already have.

If a dispute has already started

Deadlines in arbitration rules are real and can be shorter than court deadlines. If you have been served with a demand for arbitration, or you want to bring a claim, the clause and the provider's rules govern the timetable from that point. That is the moment for advice rather than research.

This is general information rather than legal advice. Enforceability, scope and procedure under an arbitration clause depend on its wording and on federal and state law, and a lawyer licensed in your state is the person to advise on your specific clause.