Set out plainly, before you ask. If a broker will not tell you what they charge until you have handed over your accounts, that tells you something.
Business finance: no fee to you
For business loans, asset finance, invoice finance, working capital, trade finance and merchant cash advances, we charge you nothing. We are paid a commission by the lender if you proceed with a facility they provide.
The amount and how it is calculated are disclosed to you in writing before you commit to anything, so you can take it into account when comparing offers.
Property-secured lending
Commercial mortgages, bridging and development finance involve materially more work: valuations, solicitors, lender negotiation and a process that typically runs for weeks or months rather than days. Those cases carry a client fee.
| When | What | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| At application | Application fee | £495 |
| On successful completion | Completion fee | 1% of the facility |
The £495 is payable when we submit your application to a lender. It covers the work of preparing and placing the case, which happens whether or not the facility ultimately completes. It is non-refundable, and it is not deducted from the completion fee.
The 1% is payable only if the facility completes and the money is drawn. If the deal does not complete, no completion fee is due.
What that means in practice
Two worked examples, so there is nothing to discover later:
| Facility | At application | On completion | Total if it completes | Total if it does not |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| £250,000 | £495 | £2,500 | £2,995 | £495 |
| £750,000 | £495 | £7,500 | £7,995 | £495 |
On smaller property cases the £495 is proportionally more significant, so it is worth asking us early whether the case is genuinely placeable. We would rather tell you it is not before you have paid anything than take a fee for work that was never going to land.
Why we charge on property and not on business finance
Because the work is different. An asset finance case can be decided in hours. A commercial mortgage runs through valuation, legal work, lender underwriting and frequently several rounds of questions, over a period of months, with no certainty of completion.
Charging on those cases means we can take on the ones worth doing properly rather than only the ones that pay quickly. The bulk of the fee remains contingent on the deal completing, so our interests stay aligned with yours: the £495 covers the placing work, and the substantial part is only earned if you get the money.
What you will never get from us
- A fee sprung on you late in the process
- A fee charged before you have agreed to it in writing
- Your details circulated to dozens of lenders to generate commission
- A recommendation driven by which lender pays us most
If we do not think we can improve on an offer you already have, we will say so. That conversation costs you nothing.
How lender commission works
We work with an unrestricted panel of lenders and receive commission from them when you enter into a finance contract. Different lenders pay different amounts under different models: a fixed fee, a fixed rate of commission, a percentage of the amount borrowed, or a rate-for-risk arrangement based on the risk profile of the business.
Details of the commission model, the calculation and the amount are disclosed to you during the process, before you commit.
Third-party costs
Separately from anything we charge, most property transactions involve costs paid to others: lender arrangement fees, valuation fees, and your own legal costs. These are set by the lender, valuer and solicitor rather than by us.
We will tell you what to expect as early as we can, so the total cost of a transaction is clear before you are committed to it.
Our standards
We are a member of the National Association of Commercial Finance Brokers and adhere to the NACFB Code of Practice, which sets minimum standards on fee transparency, disclosure and conduct.
We are an independent commercial finance brokerage, not a lender. We arrange non-regulated business finance only and are not authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority.
Questions about any of this? Ask before you engage us, not after.