I think that our community can make a positive discussion towards encouraging deal-flow. There's nobody here that hasn't felt, "If I could just rely on not being backdoored, I would love to submit deals to get better offers and get them to close faster."

The problem is trust. A solution starts at an ISO/affiliate agreement. However, it's not air-tight:
(1) We know that some funders also back-door.
(2) A broker you agreed to work with might back-door and make a calculated risk on a $150k deal for now, ignoring the future $20k deals
(3) An ISO agreement might be very one-sided

I think as a community, we should all come up with a standard ISO/affiliate agreement. We can then be more open and honest about the broker/direct funders relationships.

Part (1) Enforceable by applicable laws [US and applicable religious laws included]
Part (2) includes some form of fine for those who ignore it
Part (3) Includes a community-standard co-broker split

Part I
We just need someone (who has been to a lawyer) to publish a good standardized ISO agreement on a website somewhere that us brokers feel comfortable using, can fill in our blanks, and send it back and forth. Perhaps you have one that you use with a direct funder. Any takers?

It should become standard practice that when submitting a deal to a lender/funder, that the funder should know the deal is co-brokered so that they can get the deal funded without this huge broker chain. I've been involved in deals that everyone was honest, but nobody wanted to let the person who knew what they were talking about actually talk to the merchant. It's hard and tiring on everyone, and everyone might lose the deal. The potential advantage is worth the money. White-labeling each other ("Hi, I'm calling from Funding X") is the best way to ensure trust.

(When available - I know SFS has a very nice portal to submit deals rather than emailing.)

Direct lenders won't like this, but we ISOs would like the ability to have the funders split fees directly (1 point to X, 7 points to Y), rather than 8 points to X and rely on him to pay Y. I don't know if it's practical, but it certainly would help increase trust. Renewals should be included unconditionally, hence the direct funders won't like it.

Direct lenders do NOT like their ISOs dressing up as direct lenders and submitting deals as brokers. I have had experience.

Part II
This part needs thought - if backdoored, there should be a monetary fine, so at least we can quantify the damage and feel how much it hurts, even if not enforceable.

Part III
There are many parts and many types of deals.
Types of deals we work with on DF
- MCAs via ACH - Generally paid as points
- MCAs via Credit card split - Generally paid as a percentage of profits
- Credit lines
- Real estate deals - 2-5 points on a buy & hold, for a deal like LiftForward or a fix & flip, it can be 2 points.
- Factoring - 10-15% of profits referral fees [Kevin, back me up on this]

Parts of the deal:
- Initial contact with customer, starting a conversation, getting a positive "I am interested" response. In-bound or out-bound.
- Building trust with the client that they're willing to work with you, and figuring out what type of deal they fit into
- Collecting the docs - Sometimes one of the most challenging parts (I have a merchant who I filled out the app for him, but he keeps saying he'll send the bank statements and never does!)
- Finding a home for said merchant - Real estate, factoring, credit line, MCA, etc (without killing the merchant's credit with inquiries?) I have a deal I'm working on now with 15 negative days in May and no CC (gov't owes her $250k!), and I'm getting great support from co-brokers!
- The up-sell and potential PSF. Who has the final say?
- Future renewals, factoring or loans when the client is in a different place in several years.

What's each part of the deal worth?

For Example: I like a 10% fee for the introduction to the merchant ("I need money"), 10% referencing to a direct lender, or 33% if it was a very unique situation (like syndication lenders). However, the relationship with the merchant is worth a minimum of 66-75%. Of course, collecting docs is also hard. Closing is a nice help, but that might be included in the last 10% of finding a home.

Even if each deal is different, there needs to be a point of reference for the easy jobs.

TO KEEP ORDER:
(a) Discuss if this a good idea on this thread - Doom-sayers, just don't get involved. There are many honest people here, I've been in touch with a dozen of them.
(b) Discuss if there are more parts
(c) Split the thread into 3 threads, one for each Part, perhaps each part of Part III needs its own thread

Let's talk about the general concept (in a positive light please!) and then we can discuss the details.