[mistamca]

Steve, are you advocating all fee agreements to be against the law? Why can't business owners make their own decisions? Does Big Brother have to look after every transaction? Whenever I finance a deal that the bank doesn't pay me, I have to get a fee agreement in place, otherwise it's not worth my time. Yes, the SBA outlaws it, so I don't do it there. However, my skill, which translates into value, as a broker is to know how to do these complicated things, why should I be able to get paid? Just because the lender also pays?

This. There is a time and place for everything. Also, the SBA does allow fees but you need to really follow the letter of the law. I have charged north of 5K worth of fees on a SBA deal but you better believe that every dime is documented & has an audit trail. (Standard doc prep fee, bookkeeping fee, in-depth doc prep, training, etc)

[goatFunding]

I agree with Micah and Also BR Nightmare...

Some brokershops I know would not be profitable with out them (they spend crazy money on marketing)..

I am always clear with the merchant exactly what our fee is and what the funder fee is... How much they will net etc.. If you are upfront and honest about fees they are not looked at so negatively.

All Broker/funder/merchant problems boil down to dishonesty... When you are honest you don't need to keep changing entities and making up fake aliases all day.

[BR-Nightmare]

I agree with Micah and Also BR Nightmare...

Some brokershops I know would not be profitable with out them (they spend crazy money on marketing)..

I am always clear with the merchant exactly what our fee is and what the funder fee is... How much they will net etc.. If you are upfront and honest about fees they are not looked at so negatively.

All Broker/funder/merchant problems boil down to dishonesty... When you are honest you don't need to keep changing entities and making up fake aliases all day.

I guarantee they are not doing this to Virginia Merchants now...