Small Business Loans in Florida: Read the Disclosure First

Why a Florida owner should care about this law

If you collect more than one offer, they may not be presented the same way. One might lead with a rate and another with only a weekly payment, which makes it hard to tell which is cheaper. Cost surprises happen: in the Federal Reserve Banks’ 2025 Small Business Credit Survey, 60% of employer firms that borrowed from online lenders reported that actual borrowing costs were higher than expected. The same survey found that the share of applicants seeking financing at online fintech lenders rose from 17% in the 2020 survey to 29% in the 2025 survey.

Florida’s law pushes covered offers toward a common set of dollar figures. If you know what those figures are, you can line up two offers and compare them without guessing.

Step 1: Check whether your deal is likely in scope

According to the Florida Statutes, the Commercial Financing Disclosure Law applies to commercial financing transactions consummated on or after January 1, 2024. The statute also lists exclusions. Among them, it does not apply to:

• Transactions of more than $500,000.
• Providers that are federally insured depository institutions.
• Transactions secured by real property.
• Leases.

Those are not the only exclusions in the statute, so do not try to decide coverage on your own from a summary. A simple way to handle it: ask the provider in writing, “Will you give me the disclosure under Florida’s Commercial Financing Disclosure Law for this offer?” If the answer is no, ask why. If you need a firm answer about whether a particular deal is covered, that is a question for an attorney.

Step 2: Know the six items, and what each one tells you

The Florida Statutes list what a covered provider’s written disclosure must include. Here they are, paired with the plain question each one answers for you as the owner:

Items 1 and 2 together show the gap between the headline amount and the cash you can actually spend. Items 3 and 4 show the price in dollars. Item 5 tells you how the payments will feel in your bank account week to week. Item 6 tells you whether paying off early is worth anything.

Step 3: Line up two offers using the six items

Here is an illustrative example. Both offers are made up for this guide and are not real quotes from any lender. Imagine a Florida business looking at two offers for the same headline amount:

Reading this illustration the way you would read real disclosures:

• Offer B puts slightly more cash in your hands because less is deducted up front, but it costs more in total dollars if you run it to the end.
• Offer A is cheaper if you keep it to term, but you gain nothing by paying it off early.
• Offer B could close the gap if you expect to pay early. Ask the provider to show you, in writing, what the total would be if you paid it off at a specific date.
• The weekly payments are close, so the choice comes down to how long you expect to keep the money, not the payment size.

Notice that neither offer is “better” in the abstract. The right answer depends on your plan for the money, which is why it helps to write that plan down before you compare anything.

Step 4: Ask for the same six answers on deals outside the law

Maybe your request is above $500,000, or you are talking to a bank, or the deal is secured by property. The statute may not require a disclosure in those cases, but nothing stops you from asking. Send every provider the same short list: amount provided, amount disbursed, total to be paid, total dollar cost, payment details, and prepayment terms. Offers you cannot compare on those six lines are offers you cannot really compare at all.

It also helps to know who is on the other side of the table. The FTC wrote in 2020 that the FTC Act gives it broad authority to stop deceptive and unfair practices by companies involved in every step of small business financing, including lenders and finance providers, marketers, independent sales organizations (ISOs), brokers, lead generators, servicers and debt collectors. Ask anyone you deal with what role they play and who the actual lender is.

A short checklist before you sign in Florida

1. Write down what the money is for and how long you expect to need it.
2. Ask each provider whether it will give you the Florida disclosure for this offer.
3. Put every offer’s six items in one table, like the illustration above.
4. Compare total dollar cost against the amount actually disbursed, not the headline amount.
5. Check that your slowest recent month can carry the payment schedule.
6. Ask whether the deal involves collateral or a UCC filing. Our guide on what a UCC filing is explains what to look for.
7. Read the final agreement, and have an attorney or accountant review anything you do not understand.

How States Funding fits for Florida businesses

States Funding is not a lender. It operates a platform that matches U.S. small and medium businesses, including Florida businesses, with funding offers from independent third-party lenders. Those lenders originate and service the financing, and they decide approval, rates and terms. Ask the lender behind any offer whether it will give you the Florida disclosure.

One form lets you compare offers across the lender network, with every rate, term and fee shown up front, and any offer you qualify for appears side by side with full term details, total payback and effective APR. That makes the comparison in Step 3 easier to run. States Funding does not charge the business a fee; lenders pay it a referral fee on funded deals, and it is not paid based on the rate or fees of any specific offer. Lender fees on an offer you accept are separate and belong in your comparison.

The typical floors to apply are about 6 months in business and $10K or more in monthly revenue. Those are floors, not approval criteria, and there is no guarantee that an application leads to an offer or that funding closes by any date. Applying and comparing through States Funding uses a soft credit pull only. Only the final acceptance step requires a brief credit unlock for the lender, and lenders may run their own checks before funding. You can connect your bank account through Plaid or upload your last four months of bank statements. Lenders may ask for more during their review. Offers are non-binding until you e-sign a funding agreement directly with the lender, and that agreement governs the loan, fees and repayment. The actual lender written terms govern. If you do business in Texas too, see our Texas guide. When you are ready, read how States Funding works or start your application.

This guide is general information for U.S. business owners, not financial, legal or tax advice. States Funding is not a lender. Loans, advances and other financing products are originated and serviced by independent partner lenders, and States Funding does not guarantee that any application will result in an offer. Any examples are illustrative. The actual lender written terms govern any offer you receive.