Mortgage broker fees, explained properly
Who pays a broker, how much, and when - including how we make money, because a site explaining fees should show its own workings.
Plain-English guide · no advice, just how the market works
The four ways brokers get paid
1. Lender commission (procuration fee)
When a mortgage completes, the lender pays the broker a procuration fee, typically a small fraction of the loan. This is standard across the industry and it’s how fee-free brokers can charge you nothing: the lender’s fee is their income. Brokers must disclose it, and it doesn’t change the rate you pay.
2. Fixed fee
A set amount for the advice and the application work, commonly a few hundred pounds, sometimes payable partly upfront and partly on offer or completion. Often paired with lender commission, which the broker should say plainly.
3. Percentage of the loan
Some brokers, particularly on complex or specialist cases, charge a percentage of the mortgage amount. On large loans this adds up fast, do the multiplication before you nod.
4. Hourly rate
Rarer, but it exists. Fine in principle; just ask for an estimate of total hours.
Is fee-free worse?
Not inherently. Excellent brokers run fee-free on commission alone, and excellent brokers charge fees for hard-won specialist expertise - adverse credit and complex buy-to-let cases genuinely take more work. The fee model tells you less than three other things: whole-of-market access, specialism in cases like yours, and clear disclosure before you commit. A broker who is vague about money is the only universally bad answer. Our guide to choosing a broker gives you the exact questions to ask.
What Broker Finder costs you (and how we’re paid)
Using Broker Finder is free for consumers, always. Here’s our own disclosure, in the spirit of the page: brokers on our panel pay us a fee when we introduce them to a client who chose them. That fee never changes what you pay your broker or your lender, and it buys brokers no influence over your matches - you compare and choose entirely on their profiles. Any advice fee your chosen broker charges is separate, set by them, and something they must disclose to you upfront like any other broker.
Questions that prevent every fee surprise
- “What will I pay you, in pounds, and at what stages?”
- “Do you also receive commission from the lender, and how much?”
- “If my application is declined, do I still pay?”
- “Are there any circumstances where the fee changes?”
A good broker answers all four without a flicker. Get the answers in writing, regulated brokers document their fees as a matter of course.
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