Who this site is for
BusinessDebt.net is written for U.S. small-business owners and operators who are dealing with debt that has become hard to manage — and for the bookkeepers, family members, and advisors trying to help them. The most common readers are sole proprietors, LLC owners, and S-corp owners with somewhere between $25,000 and a few million dollars of business obligations across SBA loans, business credit cards, merchant cash advances, equipment financing, business tax debt, and commercial real estate loans.
Anyone in that situation has the same first problem: too many options and not enough orientation. There are debt-relief firms, settlement companies, bankruptcy attorneys, restructuring advisors, lenders pitching consolidation, and brokers pitching new MCAs to pay off old MCAs. Every one of them speaks confidently about what you should do. This site exists to give you a neutral starting point — a way to understand what each path actually is, when it tends to work, and when it tends to make things worse — before you sit down with a professional.
What we cover
The site is organized around three things a reader usually needs to know:
- What kind of debt you have. The debt types hub walks through the six categories most owners encounter, including how each one behaves in default, what personal liability typically attaches, and how dischargeable each is in bankruptcy.
- What relief paths exist. The solutions overview compares refinancing, consolidation, settlement, restructuring, Chapter 11 (including Subchapter V), and Chapter 7 — including the costs, timelines, credit impact, and the conditions under which each tends to be the right call.
- The mechanics of negotiation and protection. The guides hub covers concrete topics that don't fit cleanly into "type" or "solution" — creditor negotiation, personal guarantee exposure, choosing between business and personal bankruptcy, and the merchant-cash-advance cycle.
Two free tools sit alongside the articles: a payoff calculator that runs amortization math against a hypothetical 7% consolidation, and a self-assessment that asks five questions and recommends a relief path. Both run entirely in your browser. Neither asks for a name, an email, or a phone number.
Editorial approach
Articles are written from public, generally available sources: the U.S. Bankruptcy Code, IRS publications, SBA Standard Operating Procedures, federal and state rules of civil procedure, and the procedures published by federal courts and the SBA. Where a topic is contested or jurisdiction-dependent — wage garnishment caps, confession-of-judgment rules, exemption schedules — the article says so and tells the reader to verify against their own state.
We avoid two specific things on purpose:
- Specific lender, attorney, and settlement-company recommendations. The market is too local and too variable for a national site to make those calls credibly. We describe the categories and what to look for; you choose the practitioner.
- Numbers we can't source. No invented "average savings" stats, no fabricated client counts, no proprietary studies. Where we cite a range (for example, settlement payoffs at 40–60% of balance), we describe it as a general industry expectation, not a guarantee.
When we get something wrong, we update the article. If you spot a factual error, the contact page tells you how to flag it.
How content is produced
Articles are drafted, fact-checked, and edited in-house against the source materials above. Every page lists a "Last reviewed on" date so you can see how current it is. Substantive pages are reviewed at least annually; topics tied to changing regulation (Subchapter V eligibility caps, SBA OIC guidance, IRS interest rates) are reviewed when the underlying rule changes.
We don't accept guest posts, sponsored articles, or paid placements. The site is supported by display advertising served through Google AdSense — see the privacy policy and cookies policy for what that means for your data.
What this site is not
BusinessDebt.net is not:
- A law firm. Reading an article does not create an attorney-client relationship and does not produce legal advice.
- A debt-relief company. We don't negotiate with creditors, file paperwork, or take any action on your behalf.
- A lender, broker, or financial advisor. We don't make loans, place loans, or recommend specific financial products.
- A CPA or tax preparer. We describe how a 1099-C works in general; we don't advise on your specific tax situation.
For any of those services, you'll need a state-licensed practitioner. The disclaimer spells this out in more detail.
Contact
For corrections, topic suggestions, republication requests, or privacy questions: [email protected]. The contact page describes what we can and cannot help with.
Last reviewed on 2026-04-27.