The agreement is on your screen, the rep is standing by, and here is the fact nobody in the transaction will say out loud: everyone else involved gets paid the moment you sign. The funder books the deal, the broker books the commission, the rep books the quota. You are the only person at the table whose costs all start after the signature, which makes you the only person with a real interest in the next twenty minutes going slowly.
So take the twenty minutes. Below are the questions that matter, in the order they matter, with what a good answer looks like and what a bad one sounds like. A funder or broker who answers them plainly is showing you how the next six months will feel. One who dodges, rushes, or resents them has answered a bigger question than the one you asked. And yes, ask us these questions too: we are a broker, this list is exactly the treatment we expect to get, and the industry gets cleaner every time an owner runs it.
The money questions: what does this actually cost?
Start with the four numbers that define the deal, and insist on all four in writing: the amount funded, the total payback in dollars, every fee, and the net amount that will actually land in your account after those fees. Reps quote rates because rates sound small; dollars are where the truth lives. A 1.30 factor rate on $50,000 is $65,000 back and $15,000 of cost, and if $2,000 of fees comes off the top you received $48,000, which quietly raises the real price of every borrowed dollar.
Then convert to the one number that lets you compare this deal to any other: cost per dollar received. The full comparison method takes ten minutes, the offer comparison tool does the arithmetic instantly, and the fee guide lists the charges to specifically ask about, origination, PSF, wire, and the rest. A provider who cannot or will not state the total payback and the net-to-you figure in writing has failed the cheapest test you will ever run.
The early payoff question, which is really a cost question
Ask: if I pay this off in half the time, what do I owe? The answers vary more than almost any other term. Some agreements discount the remaining cost on early payoff, some offer scheduled discounts by month, and many advances require the full payback amount no matter how fast you repay. On the $50,000 example above, paying off in three months instead of eight with no discount means the $15,000 cost did not shrink with the time; your money just got much more expensive per month you actually used it.
There is no universally right answer to which structure is better; it depends on how likely you are to repay early. But you cannot weigh it if you never asked, and this term routinely separates two offers that looked identical on the surface.
The payment questions: what exactly leaves my account, and what if revenue drops?
Get the debit specific: the exact amount, the exact frequency, which account it pulls from, and what happens on a day the balance cannot cover it, including what a failed debit costs in fees and how many failures the agreement tolerates. Then test that payment against your real revenue pattern with the payment affordability checker before you sign, not after. A payment that only clears in your best weeks is a default clause with a delay on it.
For any advance, ask the revenue-drop question directly: does this agreement include [reconciliation](/glossary/reconciliation), and how do I invoke it? An advance is structured as a purchase of a share of your future receivables, so a workable reconciliation clause, one that adjusts the remittance down when your revenue genuinely falls, is the term doing the most to protect you in a bad month. A vague answer here, or an agreement with no reconciliation language at all, is worth treating as a serious warning, and what happens when payments stop clearing explains exactly why you will care later.
The security questions: what am I pledging, and who finds out?
Three asks here, and take notes on the answers. First, the personal guarantee: is there one, what does it cover, and under what conditions does it reach past the business to you personally? What a personal guarantee commits you to is worth reading before this call. Second, liens: will a UCC-1 be filed, against what, and who may be notified? A UCC filing is standard practice for many products, but it can complicate your next round of funding, and you deserve to know it is happening. Third, ask in plain words: is there a confession of judgment anywhere in this stack? If the answer is yes or unclear, that specific document is worth an attorney's eyes before you sign, full stop.
None of these terms is automatically a dealbreaker. All of them are things you should hear about from the provider before signing rather than discover afterward, and how forthcoming the answers are is itself information.
The relationship questions: who am I actually dealing with?
If you came through a broker, ask which company is actually funding the deal and who services it after closing, meaning who you call when something goes sideways in month four. Ask the broker plainly: how are you paid on this deal, and does your compensation change based on which offer I pick? An honest broker answers without flinching; how MCA brokers get paid explains the mechanics, including why a broker's commission can rise with your factor rate, which is exactly why the question matters.
Ask how many funders saw your file and whether your documents go anywhere else from here; backdooring is the industry's ugly habit of files traveling without permission. And ask what happens at renewal: what a payoff letter costs, whether renewing means new fees on the full balance, and how the funder handles a second draw. Renewals are where expensive relationships quietly compound, and the provider's answer now is the honest preview.
Everything verbal is worth exactly nothing: get it in the paper
The final discipline is simple: any promise that matters must appear in the agreement itself. "We always work with merchants who hit a slow patch" is a sentence; a reconciliation clause is a term. "You can pay early and save" is a sentence; an early payoff discount schedule is a term. If a rep's verbal assurance and the written contract disagree, the contract wins every time, so the polite and completely reasonable move is: "great, can we add that to the agreement?"
Then read the final documents against the offer you were quoted, checking that the amount, payback, fees, and payment match, and take a real pause before signing. This is also the moment for an attorney if anything in the stack raised questions, especially guarantees or a confession of judgment; an hour of review is cheap against a six-month mistake. If the numbers check out, the terms are understood, and the answers were straight, you are no longer signing under pressure. You are signing on purpose, which is the entire difference.
Questions to ask before signing a funding agreement
Ask for the total payback and the net-to-you amount in writing
Get the amount funded, every fee, the total dollars you will repay, and the net amount that lands in your account after fees. Compute cost per dollar received from those figures, or let the comparison tool at /tools/compare-funding-offers do it.
Ask what early payoff changes
Have the provider state exactly what you would owe if you repaid in half the term: a discount schedule, a flat payback regardless, or something in between. Get the answer as a written term, not a reassurance.
Ask for the exact debit and the failure rules
Confirm the payment amount, frequency, and account, plus the fee for a failed debit and how many failures the agreement tolerates. Test the payment against your real revenue with the checker at /tools/can-i-afford-this-payment.
Ask whether reconciliation exists and how to invoke it
For any advance, have the provider point to the clause that adjusts remittances when revenue genuinely drops, and note the documentation and timing it requires. No workable clause is a warning worth weighing.
Ask what you are personally guaranteeing
Establish whether there is a personal guarantee, what triggers it, and how far it reaches. If a confession of judgment appears anywhere in the stack, have an attorney read it before you sign.
Ask what liens will be filed and who is notified
Confirm whether a UCC-1 will be filed, against which assets, and whether customers or processors could ever be contacted. Ask how the filing affects your ability to seek other funding later.
Ask who funds the deal and how your broker is paid
Identify the actual funding company, who services the account after closing, and how the broker's compensation works, including whether it changes with the pricing you accept.
Ask for every promise to be written into the agreement
Convert each verbal assurance that influenced your decision into contract language, then read the final documents against the quoted offer before signing. Where the two disagree, the paper wins, so fix the paper.
Frequently asked questions
Is it rude or risky to grill a funder before signing?
It is neither; it is normal diligence on a significant financial contract, and reputable funders and brokers field these questions every day without friction. The reaction is itself useful data: a provider who welcomes scrutiny is showing you what the servicing relationship will feel like, and one who bristles at plain questions about cost and terms is doing the same.
What if the rep says the offer expires today?
Real offers do expire because underwriting reads recent statements, but a legitimate deadline survives a reasonable request like a day to review the contract. Manufactured urgency that gets louder when you ask for time is a pressure tactic, and pressure to sign before you can ask these questions is a reason to slow down, not speed up.
Do I need a lawyer to review a funding agreement?
For a straightforward deal where every answer above came back clean and in writing, many owners proceed without one. The moment the stack includes a confession of judgment, a guarantee whose reach is unclear to you, or contract language that contradicts what you were told, an attorney's review is the right call and costs little compared to what it protects.
What is the single most important number to confirm?
The net amount reaching your account and the total dollars you will repay, because every honest cost calculation flows from those two. Divide the difference by the net amount and you have the cost per borrowed dollar, which is the number that makes this offer comparable to any other structure you are considering.
Can I still negotiate once the agreement is in front of me?
Often yes. Fees, payment frequency, early payoff treatment, and sometimes pricing can move, especially when you hold a competing written offer. The agreement stage is also where verbal promises get converted into terms, and a provider's willingness to put its assurances in writing is the cheapest negotiation win available to you.