The short answer

New York requires an estimated APR on commercial financing up to $2.5 million, bars confessions of judgment against out-of-state merchants, and is where nearly every merchant cash advance recharacterisation case is decided.

Checked 30 August 2026. This is a summary of what the rules are, not legal advice on what to do about them — and secondary sources disagree on several of these effective dates, usually because a statute’s own effective date and the date compliance is actually required are different. Confirm against the statute.

The disclosure requirement

Statute

Commercial Finance Disclosure Law, with Department of Financial Services regulations

In force

The statute took effect in 2023; DFS’s final regulations set the compliance date at 1 August 2024. Sources cite both years, which is why.

Reaches

Transactions of $2,500,000 or less — by far the highest ceiling of any state

Must contain

Amount financed, finance charge, annual percentage rate, total repayment, term, payment amounts, prepayment terms and a description of collateral.

Annualised rate

Required, and the DFS methodology for calculating it on sales-based financing is prescribed rather than left to the provider.

Registration and licensing

No separate commercial financing registry, which understates the position considerably. New York’s Attorney General has brought the largest enforcement actions in the sector, including a judgment exceeding $77 million against Richmond Capital Group and affiliated funders for usury and fraud.

Calling into New York

Federal TCPA plus New York’s own do-not-call provisions. No FTSA-style private right of action for autodialled business calls.

What changes for a broker

• The $2.5 million ceiling means essentially every advance you will ever broker into New York is covered. There is no small-deal carve-out worth relying on.
• The 2019 confession of judgment law bars a COJ against a debtor outside New York in transactions of $250,000 or less. Paper still circulates with COJ clauses that would not be enforceable as drafted.
• New York courts apply a three-factor test to decide whether an advance is really a loan: is there a meaningful reconciliation provision, is the term genuinely indefinite, and does the funder actually bear the risk of the merchant failing.
• Courts now look past the contract to conduct. A reconciliation clause the funder never honours is evidence against the funder, not protection for it — which makes reconciliation a question worth asking a funder before you place files with them.

What New York files look like

Dense and transaction-heavy. Restaurants, retail, construction and professional services dominate by count. Deal sizes skew larger than the national picture, partly because operating costs are higher and partly because New York merchants are the most advance-literate in the country — many are on a third or fourth position and know exactly what they are being offered.

Questions