NPR. This is the indicator from Planet Money. I'm Waylon Wong, and we have NPR business correspondent Alina Selyuk

back with us today. Hello, hello. Always great to see you. And Alina, you've taken a

field trip recently into a particular corner of the financial world. It's a pretty shadowy corner.

It's an industry that offers very fast cash for very high fees to businesses in distress.

Your file shows you're nearly approved for $159,000.

Okay, that does not sound real, but it sure does sound like a nice chunk of cash I could use.

The thing is, these can be real, real money from real lenders who are largely unregulated.

During the pandemic, these firms went after struggling restaurants and music venues.

Now they found a new market of small businesses that desperately need cash to pay tariffs.

Today on the show, the story of a financial lifeline that can turn into a financial chokehold.

And how one business owner went from a year that was slated to be his best to a year of owing

a fortune to lenders that took their money straight from his bank account.

I'm a million dollars in debt with merchant cash advance loans right now.

That's coming up after the break.

Okay, so a few months ago, I met with a big group of small business owners, and there was this moment when someone brought up these loan pitches, these never-ending calls and texts that

they're getting promising quick cash.

And so we were like, is this like predatory loans? And the room almost vibrated.

Yes. Absolutely. I can talk for hours about. I get five calls a day.

That is the story that no one's talking about in our country right now.

But we will talk about it.

Yes.

So I heard someone say MCA.

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