MBF Leasing is an equipment lease provider and DBA of Northern
Leasing Systems. In addition to Northern Leasing and MBF Leasing, the
Northern Leasing family of companies includes Lease Finance Group,
Golden Eagle Leasing, and Lease Source-LSI, LLC. As of this writing, MBF
Leasing’s website is no longer active, but it appears that Northern
Leasing still utilizes MBF Leasing as a business name. This is suprising
due to the negative reputation MBF Leasing has built for itself through
poor business practices, which ultimately resulted in a lawsuit and the
creation of a large, independent merchant forum specifically built to
warn business owners against using the company.
MBF Leasing is not a merchant account provider; rather, it leases credit
card processing equipment like terminals, printers, barcode scanners,
and other point-of-sale technology. Like other equipment providers, the
company’s services and products are often packaged within the merchant
account contracts of credit card processors. Because of this, merchants
regularly sign equipment leases through MBF without realizing that they
are entering into agreements that are separate from their merchant
account contracts. As with other Northern Leasing Systems companies, MBF
Leasing’s contract terms are non-cancellable and usually run for 48
months.
In March of 2013, MBF Leasing and its associated companies paid out a
multimillion-dollar settlement to hundreds of small business owners as
part of an agreement reached with the New York Attorney General. MBF
Leasing and its DBA, Northern Leasing, stood accused of creating a shell
company called SKS Associates LLC, which it used to deceive merchants
and withdraw money from their checking accounts after their contracts
had expired. Although the Attorney General’s lawsuit ended the existence
of SKS Associates LLC, the Northern Leasing Systems family of companies
continues to operate and has grown into a very large network of
equipment providers. Jay Cohen is listed as the CEO of Northern Leasing
Systems (and, by extension, MBF Leasing).
For a full analysis of the primary company in this network, please see
our Northern Leasing Systems review.