Early last year I wrote a blog post condemning Lloyds Bank Commercial Finance for their offer to factoring brokers to pay them 40% of their factoring commission income for the life of the facility.
The point that I made at the time was that this commission rate “is significantly higher than the industry norm and is potentially highly lucrative for factoring brokers many of whom will now start to introduce new clients to Lloyds Bank Commercial Finance for the their high rewards alone irrespective of whether that particular factoring company is the best fit for the company or not.”
Judging by their recent press release it appears that my fears were justified as it seems that so many greed driven factoring brokers drove their client base towards Lloyds that they have now set up a dedicated broker team to cope with the influx of business.
Lloyds claim that since they introduced their new commission structure the number of broker deals has more than doubled which bears out my concerns as the product hasn’t changed which leaves the broker’s commission income as the driver. Surely anyone apart from the pigs with their snouts in the trough will see that this is wrong as a broker is supposed to add value and if these people are just introducing business to Lloyds Bank Commercial Finance so that they can grab a bigger slice of the pie for themselves then that is morally wrong.
It isn’t just new factoring clients that are likely to be directed towards the brokers’ money tree that is Lloyds Bank Commercial Finance but existing clients whose current factoring arrangements are up for renewal will also be targeted and persuaded to switch as that will be even more lucrative for the broker than a new client in many cases.
Factoring Solutions receives a variety of commission rates from the different providers that they deal with but none anywhere near what is on offer from Lloyds Bank. Despite that we are happy to continue with our current provider panel happy in the knowledge that we are adding value to the client and not our own bank balance
I’ll end this short blog post by re-iterating the post title and if any prospective customer finds that their broker is trying to introduce them to Lloyds Bank Commercial Finance think hard about whether that is because it is the best fit for your business or else it’s because 40% of whatever Lloyds make will be returned to your broker as commission.