What we cost
What does a mortgage broker cost? For you, usually nothing
The lender pays us when a loan settles. That is the whole arrangement, and the part worth your attention is what it means for the advice you get.
Most people assume there is a catch, and they are right to check. The arrangement is simple enough to state in a sentence, and the interesting question is not what it costs but where it could bend a recommendation. What does a mortgage broker cost me? In almost every case nothing directly. The lender pays the broker a commission when the loan settles, and it does not increase what you pay — the same loan at the same lender costs the same whether you arrange it yourself or we do. Where a fee would ever apply, it is agreed in writing before any work starts.
What you are really asking
Does it cost me more than going direct?
No. Lenders do not price a loan differently because a broker arranged it. What a broker adds is access to lenders you would have to approach one at a time, and knowledge of which of them will say yes to your particular position before you apply.
Do you push whoever pays most?
That is the real question and it deserves a real answer. Our rule is that a recommendation is decided on the lowest net cost to you and nothing else. What a lender pays us never enters it. You can hold us to that by asking us to show you the comparison, which we will.
What happens if I leave early?
If a loan is repaid within a couple of years the lender takes its commission back from us. That is a genuine incentive to keep you where you are, and you should know it exists. It is also why we would rather set a loan up correctly than move you twice.
Where a conflict could sit, and what we hold against it
Being paid by the lender is a conflict and pretending otherwise would be the wrong start. Different lenders pay slightly different amounts, and over a career those differences are not nothing. Any broker who tells you this has no effect on anyone is asking you to trust a claim rather than a mechanism.
The mechanism we use is that the recommendation is made on the lowest net cost to you, and we will show you the working. If a lender paying us less is the better answer for you, that is the answer, and the comparison in front of you is how you check it. Where any referral arrangement exists it is disclosed and discussed individually, in writing, before anything begins.
The questions people are too polite to ask
Free to you in nearly every case, and paid by the lender on settlement. Free is a slightly misleading word for it, which is why the arrangement is stated plainly here rather than advertised as free.
Ask us to show you the comparison. That is how you check any of this.
Updated 13 September 2026