I think it's safe to assume that the community at large funnels deals to each other; many have admitted to me just that. "We work with so-and-so bank." Um, what??? The rate at which I bounce between lenders has really grown over just the last year at the smallest whim of not feeling the relationship honored between broker and bank. If a bank would rather compromise a fruitful relationship by so obviously dishing out a declined deal, they've just lost an entire stream of business from that agent. This is not to say that this was the case in the instance I raised - - but when an Account Manager e-mails me a follow up on a merchant that THEY declined ... asking particulars of the deal: "So was this guy funded by someone else" or "Out of curiosity, what were their other offers?" -- it's such a given that it's offensive.