Hi all,

Got an interesting case here that involved a 5 way conversation with myself, my in house VP of UW, my CFO and Cucumbers Co CEO and our Rep in order to try to resolve the situation but the Co CEO didn't want to make it right. For Clarity, we are a broker who has an in house funding side with a separate CRM and we hold our own deals on balance sheet if we can do it. We do not accept other brokers submissions or fund ISO business.

Back in April we funded a 500k deal at Cucumber. 1.49, over 100 days, 10% fees, paying 12% standard. No problems. Commission paid. Merchant paying fine. Normal process.

We end up getting the deal in early around mid June and merchant asking for more money etc etc. We tell Cucumber the merchant looking for more do you want to renew or maybe do a self stack to hold the merchant off. Cucumber declined.

Beginning of July rolls around and we get a call from the merchant that Cucumber refi'd his balance. He owed about 275k left off the total and merchant netted about 8k in the bank. Cucumber did a 315k deal with 10% fees and extended the term about 2 months since apparently the merchant was asking for help on payments and didnt make a payment for a week or so, so in their eyes it was considered a 'default'. But they had no problem doing a 'no cash out refi' basically while wacking him with 10% fees and they were basically made whole in terms of dollars out on the original deal since the merchant paid back so much. So once we got word about the renewal (merchant sent us the contract). We called our Rep to say 'WTF' and our rep didnt even know the deal got funded since he gets paid 2% commission on all deals funded from his ISOs so at this point now the Rep is upset since he feels his own company kept him in the dark.

We end up having the above call like I original mentioned. My VP of UW presented the facts from a UW/Collection perspective and since he also used to manage ISOs as well in the past, but essentially saying how Cucumber did a no cash out refi, wack the guy with 10% fees, you extend the renewal 2 months and you dont pay us anything? While also screwing over their own rep since they kept him in the dark about the deal (as per the ISO agreement we are entitled to 12%). The CEO said he agrees with the logic and understands but in their mind it was a 'default' so no commission was to be paid. If they would of funded it and sent us an email saying 'hey we renewed your deal, here is 4-5%" then there is no story and we say 'thank you for renewing it for us' (no complaining about points). Which Libertas did on a similar situation for us on another file.

We are now at the point of our attorney sending them a letter and going the legal route. The CEO said in response initially to the letter "once the deal pays off, we will pay you 4%". So wait, we are entitled to 12%, you smack the guy with a fee, and if you get completely whole and make all that juice, you only want to pay us only 4%? why wouldn't it be 12% in that case? But their rep has no comment and as they continue to keep him in the dark as well but the response from Cucumber is quite crazy given how they worked this deal behind everyone's back and they got caught and cant just pay commission. Would have been nice to have reached out to asset with the request for assistance from the client given we came back to them for a add on a week or so prior with the deal instead of stacking them... What's everyone else's opinion?

P.S. after asking around , it seems this is the norm for Cucumber when it comes to renewals and not paying.

Would be happy to report back if they end up making it right or even remove the post.