Documents That Start a Business Debt Resolution
The File That Supports Review

The documents decide whether the first conversation produces a usable assessment or merely repeats the owner description of the pressure.

A business does not need a perfect archive before seeking assistance. It does need enough information to identify obligations, available resources and notices that require action while the review proceeds.

Four groups of paper answer most of the reviewer questions: the agreements, the payment record with its communications, the cash forecast, and the notices that will not wait.

Executed Agreements and Amendments

Collect and preserve the complete contracts, guarantees and attachments for each account. Include renewals and amendments rather than assuming the first agreement still describes the current obligation.

Identify the legal business name and any owner or entity separately liable. The adviser needs to know which party signed which promise before discussing a release.

A renewal signed fourteen months after the original advance superseded three pages of pricing terms. The file should show which pages survived.

Simply mark missing pages and request them. A partial file can support a preliminary conversation, but its limits should remain visible. Most owners apologize for the state of the file. No apology is necessary.

The signed version matters.

Payments, Receipts and Communications

Provide statements showing funding received and payments made. Identify charges or amounts claimed that do not match the business records, with the relevant entries preserved in context. A narrative without statements is a request to be believed.

For a merchant advance, include requests to adjust withdrawals and the provider responses. In LG Funding v United Senior Properties, New York appellate judges considered reconciliation, term and bankruptcy recourse in assessing whether repayment was absolute, so applicable legal analysis may require both the clause and evidence of its operation.

Have the adviser review and analyze communications alongside the account history. Opposing counsel tends to ask for the bank statements first and to read the narrative later, which is why the statements should be complete before the narrative is polished.

Counsel should ensure formal notices are identified, and should ensure the file includes service details where litigation or arbitration has begun. Those documents require attention even while the business collects other records.

Keep negotiations in date order, including prior offers that were declined. An earlier attempt does not prevent another proposal, but the history can explain the creditor current position. Include an aging report for receivables where it helps explain available cash (the report, which the reviewer will read as a prediction about the future rather than as a statement of present funds, should carry dates that allow that reading).

Match each payment with the account it was intended to address. Where several funders appear in the records, a transfer description may not identify the obligation, and the recipient instructions, if we are being precise, matter more than the memo line.

The Cash Forecast the Business Can Defend

List collected funds, expected receipts and necessary operating expenses. Identify obligations that remain payable while negotiations proceed.

Mark estimates as estimates and note the source of proposed settlement funds. A future customer payment should not be presented as available cash.

It needs to show what the business can perform without undermining continuing operations. An extremely favorable forecast helps no one if the weak month breaks it. Only after the statements arrive does the negotiation begin in earnest.

The forecast was honest. It was also wrong. The record of having planned still counts for more than the variance.

Delancey Street and the Initial Review

Delancey Street offers a free confidential initial review focused on merchant advance distress, and coordinates legal matters with independently licensed counsel. The company is a debt settlement company, so legal representation should be confirmed under the appropriate engagement.

Ask which accounts qualify and what records the particular assessment requires. Confirm fees and the scope before providing additional sensitive information. The record of what was sent, or withheld, should stay with the business.

• Executed agreements with guarantees, renewals and amendments.
• Statements showing funding, payments and disputed charges.
• A cash forecast with estimates marked and fund sources noted.
• Formal notices with service details preserved.

Resist the urge to place even a casual call to the funder before counsel has reviewed the file. Use the verified intake method and retain a record of what was supplied. No intake we have reviewed failed for having too many statements attached.

The owner should know who has received the file and which person will request any missing information.

A File That Stays Current

Assign someone inside the business to maintain the account schedule after enrollment. New statements, withdrawals and correspondence can change the position the reviewer first assessed. That is the discipline that keeps the review honest.

Keep accepted agreements separate from pending offers. An account may remain unresolved while negotiations continue, and the operating forecast should reflect actual commitments with proposed amounts marked as conditional. There are settled accounts that reopen, though the file should treat the release as holding until counsel says otherwise.

A creditor may issue an offer or begin proceedings in order to test whether the business is still watching. Anything sent in haste can be used against the business, so establish how updates should be supplied and which events require immediate communication.

Tax records may also become relevant to the final assessment. The IRS guidance on canceled debt explains that canceled debt can create income, subject to exceptions and exclusions, which should be reviewed for the actual taxpayer.

The inbox is where updates go to be forgotten. A current shared record prevents that gap. The process becomes extremely difficult when new information stays in the owner inbox while the adviser works from an older forecast. The closing file should grow from the same organized record used at intake, with executed terms, proof of payment and the final acknowledgment that closes each account added as they arrive. That continuity is more useful than any second file assembled after the service ends.