About Hamilton & Merchant

Hamilton & Merchant was established in 2015 as a loan brokerage. During COVID we watched too many of our own clients get crushed by predatory lending at the worst possible moment — and realized the firms we were sending them to were often making things worse. That experience changed everything about what we do.

Since 2020 we have been focused entirely on business debt relief — and not the polite, hand-wavy kind. We fight like hell for our clients. We negotiate directly with creditors. We rewrite contracts. We renegotiate leases. We consult on the operating questions that carry the business forward. When a case needs a license we do not hold — bankruptcy, litigation, tax defense — we bring in partners we trust and stay in the room with you end-to-end.

What we believe

Most of the debt relief industry is a symptom business. A settlement firm gets paid to settle. A bankruptcy attorney gets paid to file. A consolidator gets paid to refinance. Few of them are paid to ask the fuller question: what in the operating picture is creating the pressure, and how do we address it alongside the debt?

We ask that question on the first call, without judgement — and without flinching. Sometimes the answer is a market shock, a customer who did not pay, or a season that did not deliver — circumstances beyond anyone’s control. Often there is also something quieter: pricing that never got adjusted, a hire that should have been deferred, an advance that was taken because it was easy instead of because it was right, an owner who was afraid to look at the P&L until it delivered bad news. Those are patterns we see constantly. We will name them plainly. Naming them is how the fix starts.

When you work with us, we fight like hell to reduce the debt — and we work with you on the operating side so the business that comes out of this is stronger than the one that went in.

What we do — directly, not as a referral

• Debt reduction & negotiation. We sit across from your creditors and negotiate the number down. Principal, interest, fees, payoff structure.
• MCA intervention. We deal directly with the funder to restructure, settle, or unwind daily and weekly withdrawals.
• Contract renegotiation. Vendor, supplier, processor, subscription, SaaS — more of it is negotiable than most owners realize.
• Lease renegotiation. We negotiate commercial rent reductions, deferrals, restructures, and — when it fits — clean exits.
• Business consulting. The operating work. Pricing, margin, staffing, product mix, cash-flow discipline.
• Cost reduction. Direct audits of insurance, processing, telecom, freight, software, and payroll services.

What we bring partners in for

There is work we do not do in-house because it requires a license we do not hold or a specialty we have not built. Bankruptcy filings. Litigation. Tax defense before the IRS or state. Forensic accounting. SBA workouts. Full corporate turnaround with a CRO. When your situation needs any of these, we bring in a vetted partner, stay in the room with you, and keep the engagement honest. No handoff, no disappearing act.

What we are not

We are not attorneys or a law firm. We are not a lender, a settlement mill, or a bankruptcy factory. We are not a bank, a consolidator, or anyone whose paycheck depends on pushing you into a particular product. That independence is the whole point.

We charge for our work when we engage. The first conversation is always free — we never want money to be the reason an owner in trouble does not pick up the phone. Once we engage, you will have the scope and fee in writing before any paid work begins, and there will be no surprises after that.

How we treat the people we work with

Every client, every partner, every creditor on the other end of a negotiation is treated with professionalism and respect. That is not a soft policy — it is how we get better outcomes. Creditors negotiate harder with firms that bluster; they move when the firm across the table is prepared, direct, and credible. The same honesty we bring to our own clients is the honesty we bring to the rest of the room.

Where we work

We are headquartered at 25 SE 2nd Avenue in Miami and we work with U.S. businesses of all sizes. Most of the work happens by phone, text, video, and email. Location is rarely a barrier.