1. Product and legal structure
- •Identify whether the product is a loan, line of credit, merchant cash advance, receivables purchase, card product, or pay-over-time product.
- •Confirm the legal entity offering/funding the product and any bank/sponsor/lender partner.
- •Map where merchants are located and which state/commercial financing disclosure laws may apply.
- •Document whether the platform is acting as referral source, agent, broker, servicer, program manager, or co-risk participant.
2. Data sharing and underwriting
- •List every data field shared with the provider: sales history, payouts, bank data, identity, processor data, accounting data, complaints, and risk signals.
- •Confirm merchant consent language and whether existing terms permit this data use.
- •Review privacy, GLBA/state privacy, data retention, model training, subprocessors, and breach notification obligations.
- •Require data minimization: provider should only receive what it needs for eligibility, underwriting, servicing, and compliance.
3. Merchant experience and disclosures
- •Review all merchant-facing copy, offer screens, repayment examples, fee disclosures, emails, and support scripts.
- •Confirm who owns adverse-action, decline, expired offer, renewal, late payment, default, and complaint messaging.
- •Avoid UI patterns that imply guaranteed approval, platform endorsement, or risk-free financing.
- •Make provider identity, terms, and support path clear before merchant acceptance.
4. Contract terms to negotiate
Risk allocation
Credit losses, fraud, repayment disputes, chargebacks, collections, regulatory complaints, and data incidents.
Economics
Rev share basis, minimums, clawbacks, servicing fees, program fees, payment timing, and audit rights.
Controls
Offer approval rules, merchant segments, geography, pricing bounds, marketing review, and pause rights.
Exit
Data return/deletion, merchant continuity, sunset period, replacement provider rights, and post-termination servicing.