Top 3 Georgia MCA Debt
Relief Lawyers

Best Georgia MCA Debt Relief Lawyers: Courts, Deadlines and Defenses That Matter in 2026

The best Georgia MCA debt relief lawyers are licensed to practice in Georgia with the State Bar of Georgia, have experience defending MCA lawsuits in New York and Georgia, have handled domesticated judgments and bank garnishments within the limited time frame Georgia statutes allow, and use Georgia's usury statute, which caps interest at 5% per month.

Where will the MCA funder sue me if my business is in Georgia?

Most MCA funders sue in New York because the MCA contract usually states the contract is subject to New York law and New York courts. However, since 2019 New York can no longer use confessions of judgment against Georgia owners. To use a confession of judgment in New York, it must be filed in the county where the defendant lives according to CPLR 3218.

In Georgia, a confession of judgment can only be filed in the county where the defendant lived at the inception of the action, and the action must be filed and docketed like any other lawsuit. See O.C.G.A. 9-12-18. In 1931, the Georgia Supreme Court held that an agreement to confess judgment signed months before the lawsuit was filed was not a valid authorization to confess judgment. Information Buying Co. v. Miller, 173 Ga. 786 (1931). However, Georgia courts will enforce a cognovit judgment entered in another state. In 1979, the Georgia Court of Appeals held that a confession of judgment entered in Pennsylvania against a Georgia resident was entitled to full faith and credit. Parker v. Fidelity Bank, 151 Ga. App. 733 (1979).

The funder can sue in New York or Georgia, or domesticate another state's judgment in a Georgia court. If sued in Georgia, the lawsuit can be brought in Magistrate Court (limited to $15,000 according to O.C.G.A. 15-10-2), State Court or Superior Court. Georgia created the State-wide Business Court in August 2020, but for a case to be brought there, the funder must seek at least $500,000 in damages. Most suits on a single MCA position will not meet this threshold. If the funder does file there and sues you as a guarantor, you would have 30 days after being served to object to the case being in Business Court.

How long do I have to respond to an MCA lawsuit in Georgia?

In Georgia, you have 30 days after being served the summons and complaint to serve your answer pursuant to O.C.G.A. 9-11-12(a). If you fail to answer within the 30 days, the funder can ask the court for a default judgment against you. If you are sued in New York, you will need to follow New York's deadline for responding. Some of the most important deadlines in Georgia MCA lawsuits are as follows:

Can an MCA company garnish your Georgia bank account before it wins?

Not until it gets a judgment against you. In Georgia a garnishment is only allowed after judgment, and the funder must file an affidavit verifying the judgment, how much is owed and the court and case number it came from. See O.C.G.A. 18-4-3.

Once they have a judgment, a garnishment on a financial institution will catch what is in the account for a five-day period. Wage garnishments (called continuing garnishments) may be in effect for up to 1,095 days. See O.C.G.A. 18-4-4. If you own the company, signed a guaranty and draw a paycheck, the amount that can be garnished is limited to the lesser of 25% of your disposable earnings for that week, or the amount by which those earnings exceed 30 times the federal minimum hourly wage (currently $217.50). See O.C.G.A. 18-4-5. If you file a claim of interest or exemption under O.C.G.A. 18-4-15, a hearing must be held within ten days and no money can be disbursed until then. In Georgia MCA cases this buys you time to get the case resolved.

What exemptions can I use if I am sued in Georgia for a personal guaranty?

If you are sued in state court and the funder tries to levy on your property, the basic exemption is in O.C.G.A. 44-13-1, whose published text, as of this writing, exempts $5,000 of the debtor's property, or $21,500 for property that is the debtor's primary residence, from levy and sale under any process issued under Georgia law, with exceptions for taxes, purchase money and a few others.

Bankruptcy has its own exemptions. House Bill 1024 increases the homestead exemption beginning July 1, 2026; see the Middle District of Georgia Bankruptcy Court announcement on the increase. Under O.C.G.A. 44-13-100, which applies only for bankruptcy purposes, the residence exemption becomes $50,000, or $100,000 if you and your spouse both use the property as your primary residence and it is titled in only one spouse's name.

Is my merchant cash advance usurious in Georgia?

Maybe. Georgia makes it a misdemeanor to charge more than 5% per month by any contract, contrivance or device whatsoever. See O.C.G.A. 7-4-18. Georgia looks at usury over the entire term, so you add up the interest and divide it by the number of months. If it is usurious, the lender loses all the interest but can still collect the principal. So if you got $50,000, have to pay back $72,500 and pay it back in 6 months, you would be paying $3,750 per month, which is 7.5% of the amount funded per month. If you pay it back over 10 months, the monthly payment drops to $2,250, which is only 4.5% per month, under the usury cap.

The question is whether the MCA is a loan at all. A Georgia bankruptcy court in the Northern District treated an MCA as a true purchase of receivables in GMI Group in 2019, but the court applied New York law to the transaction. Most MCA contracts have a New York law provision. Things to consider in whether your MCA is a loan in disguise are whether the payments were ever truly reconciled when the business was working, whether the payments fluctuate with sales, whether there was a fixed term and whether filing for bankruptcy was considered a default.

Georgia passed a law in 2023 that seems to help classify MCAs as something other than loans. Under O.C.G.A. 10-1-393.18(c), a provider's label of a transaction as a purchase of accounts receivable is conclusive that it is not a loan "for the purposes of Chapter 1 of Title 7." The question will be whether that applies to the usury statutes, which are in Chapter 4 of Title 7. Regardless, if the MCA company does more than five deals a year in Georgia, it must disclose the total cost of its product and other terms on transactions since January 1, 2024. Only the Georgia Attorney General can enforce the law, however, and a violation does not make the contract unenforceable.

How do you vet the best Georgia MCA debt relief lawyers?

Check whether a lawyer is licensed, and whether he has been disciplined, at the State Bar of Georgia member directory. Then ask whether:

• He is licensed to practice or has co-counsel in New York, where many MCA agreements send lawsuits.
• He has experience moving to set aside domesticated foreign judgments for lack of personal jurisdiction, since under O.C.G.A. 9-12-132 a default judgment from another state carries no presumption of personal jurisdiction.
• He can file a claim to stop a garnishment quickly and has won such claims.
• He will read the contract for reconciliation terms and calculate the monthly cost.
• He will put his fee in writing, given that the Georgia Debt Adjustment Act limits debt adjusters' fees to 7.5% of monthly distributions, but O.C.G.A. 18-5-3 exempts the practice of law.

If you have not been sued yet and are looking for companies to negotiate your balances down, see our article on the best Georgia business debt settlement companies.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can merchant cash advance companies get confessions of judgment in Georgia?

Pursuant to O.C.G.A. 9-12-18, they can only get confessions of judgment in the county in which you resided at the commencement of the action, and only after they have filed the action and docketed the case. Georgia courts will not enter judgments based on confessions of judgment signed before the suit was filed. Judgments validly confessed in other states may be domesticated here.

How long do I have to answer a merchant cash advance lawsuit in Georgia?

Pursuant to O.C.G.A. 9-11-12(a), you have 30 days after being served with the summons and complaint to answer. If the lawsuit is filed in the Georgia State-wide Business Court, you also have 30 days after being served to file an objection to the forum.

Can merchant cash advance companies garnish my bank account in Georgia without a judgment?

No. Pursuant to O.C.G.A. 18-4-3, the MCA company must swear that it has a judgment against you before it can get a garnishment summons to serve on your bank. Once you file a claim to stop the garnishment, the court must set a hearing within 10 days, and the funds cannot be disbursed until after that hearing.

Will Georgia's new $50,000 homestead exemption save my house from a merchant cash advance judgment?

As of July 1, 2026, you can claim a $50,000 homestead exemption in bankruptcy pursuant to O.C.G.A. 44-13-100, but if someone levies on your home outside of bankruptcy, the exemption pursuant to O.C.G.A. 44-13-1 is much less.