AMA Recovery Group: Who They Are, What the BBB Record Shows, and What to Do If They Contact You

Who is AMA Recovery Group?

AMA Recovery Group, LLC is a collections agency at 3131 Eastside Street, Suite 350, Houston, Texas 77098. Its website describes it as launched in 2015 by a Houston attorney with twenty years of commercial debt collection experience, and says its strategy has been, from the beginning, 100 percent dedicated to collecting revenue based financing products including merchant cash advances and commercial loans. It lists delinquent and defaulted account collection, litigation management from filing through judgment and receivership, asset skipping to locate merchants who have gone dark, enforcement of liens on purchased receivables, and judgment liquidation.

The BBB file was opened January 24, 2018, with a business start date of November 23, 2015. AMA is not BBB accredited and carries no BBB rating because the BBB reports insufficient information to issue one. That is not a negative rating; it means the BBB has not rated it.

What AMA is not: a lender. Nothing on its site offers financing, and its BBB responses describe every account as originating from a secured commercial contract with one of its clients. The funder that advanced you money, and the agreement you signed with that funder, set the balance, the factor, and the personal guaranty. AMA works those terms; it did not write them.

Why is AMA Recovery Group contacting you?

Because a funder placed your account with them after a default. In the BBB record, AMA describes its process plainly: a merchant breaches a business loan or receivables purchase agreement, the outstanding balance is placed with AMA for collection and enforcement of the security interest in that agreement, and AMA retains outside counsel to bring legal collection actions when negotiation does not resolve it. One response names the placement date and the balance, so expect AMA to know the exact figure it is working from.

AMA also says it has settlement authority on the accounts it works. That matters: the person on the phone may be able to agree a reduced payoff, and one BBB response shows AMA proposing a down payment plus an eighteen month weekly plan in exchange for dropping legal action.

The processor hold: how AMA can freeze your Square or card processing account

The most useful item in the public record is a complaint from November 2025. A merchant reported that AMA had sent a lien to Square in the wrong business name and that Square was withholding funds from a business with no debt. AMA's answer explains the mechanism it uses on any defaulted receivables agreement: the funder was granted a security interest in the merchant's receivables, so AMA sent the processor a Notice of Assignment and Request for Turnover under Article 9 of the Uniform Commercial Code, naming the business and its tax ID. The processor located the account and placed a hold on it.

Two lessons from that exchange. First, a processor hold does not require a lawsuit or a judgment; it follows from the security interest in the original agreement, which is why the paperwork you signed matters more than anything the collector says. Second, AMA's position is that once the notice is sent, what the processor does with it is the processor's decision, and it told the merchant to take the dispute to Square. If your processing has been frozen, you are dealing with two parties at once, and the way out runs through the funder's claim, not just the processor's support desk.

What the negotiation looks like, from AMA's own responses

The second complaint, from July 2025, is a negotiation that failed in public. The merchant had a balance of about $47,577 and offered a $13,000 lump sum on hardship grounds. AMA declined and, by its own account, asked for a counter closer to 80 percent of the balance. AMA later offered to take the $13,000 as a down payment with weekly payments of $480.24 for about eighteen months. The merchant declined, the deadline passed, and AMA's final response accused the merchant of negotiating in bad faith and of using the BBB to get a better deal. The account then moved to the funder's attorney.

Read it as a data point, not a rule: an opening position near 80 percent, a willingness to structure a plan, and a hard stance once the merchant went public. It also shows what AMA treats as leverage on its side (a personal guaranty and the threat of litigation) and what the merchant had on his (a dissolved entity and a credible bankruptcy alternative, which he raised). A negotiation that starts with the agreement, the debit history, and a realistic number tends to go better than one that starts with a low anchor and no documentation.

What to establish from your own paperwork

• Which funder placed the account. AMA collects for many clients; the agreement with that funder governs everything.
• Purchase price versus purchased amount, and what has been paid. Bank statements for every debit. A collector's balance does not always credit late or partial payments.
• The security interest and UCC language. That clause is what lets AMA send a turnover notice to your processor. Know whether you signed it.
• Personal guaranty and any confession of judgment. These determine what can be enforced against you personally and how fast.
• Whether a suit has been filed. AMA says it retains outside counsel to litigate. A demand is not a summons; a summons has a deadline, usually 20 to 30 days from service.

If a lawsuit has been filed

Do not ignore a summons. A default judgment for the full balance plus fees ends the negotiation and starts enforcement. Filing an answer preserves defenses and keeps the door open; New York courts have denied MCA funders summary judgment when their papers could not prove what was actually funded. If you have been served, see what to do when AMA Recovery Group sues.

Can a balance AMA is collecting be settled?

Yes, and AMA's own record shows it: settlement authority, a plan offered, an 80 percent anchor. The room is the gap between the contracted balance and the cash actually advanced, plus the funder's cost and uncertainty in litigating. It narrows sharply after a judgment or a processor hold that is already draining your receivables. See how a balance AMA is collecting can be settled, and how MCA debt relief works.

Business Debt Adjusters reviews the agreement, the debit history, and any notices or filings, and tells you what is realistic before you commit to anything.

Sources

• BBB Business Profile: AMA Recovery Group, Houston, TX
• BBB complaint record: AMA Recovery Group (2 complaints, 3 years)
• AMA Recovery Group company website

Facts on this page were checked against the linked sources on September 23, 2026. Business Debt Adjusters is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or authorized to represent the company described.