Six questions for Mortgage Loan Originators to consider when looking at compensation, each answerable with a number. That is the test worth putting to any flat-fee offer before it decides where your license goes.
MLOs, the headline fee is where the first question starts, not where the list ends. The others ask what is billed monthly, what changes where W-2 employment is required, how long pay takes after funding, whether a tier sits behind your comp level, and who controls that level.
Any shop you are considering should be able to answer each one in a sentence or two. Our own answer sits under each question. The $695 flat fee page explains how the fee works, and this post is the checklist that sits in front of it. If you would rather skip ahead, start with the Interview Us questionnaire.
1. What is the fee actually taken from?
A fee only means something once you know what it comes out of. Ask whether it is deducted from your compensation or from somewhere else, and whether it changes by plan or by loan size.
Our answer: $695 per funded loan, taken from your elected compensation. On the individual plan you receive 100% of your elected compensation, less the $695. On the team plan, you and your team leader or branch manager share 100% of elected compensation, less the $695, on an agreed split. The $695 is the same on the individual plan and the team plan, and it does not move with loan amount.
2. What sits outside the fee?
A per-file fee can be accurate and still not be the whole cost, because recurring charges usually live on a different line.
Our answer: The individual plan carries an LOS technology fee of $79.99 a month for ARIVE, with unlimited multi-device access. On the team plan you either submit through your team leader's LOS access or remit the same $79.99 a month for individual access. Treat it as a fixed monthly cost in your math, separate from the $695.
3. What changes where W-2 employment is required?
A fee quoted for 1099 originators may not describe what you would actually receive where W-2 employment is required, so ask for the W-2 version of the number before you assume the headline applies to you.
Our answer: Where W-2 employment is required, originators receive 85% of net after the $695 transaction fee. We cover the broader tradeoff in W-2 vs. 1099 compensation.
4. When does the money arrive, measured from funding?
Get the payout term as a count of hours or days from funding, written down next to the fee. The fee sets what comes off each file, and this term sets when the rest reaches you.
Our answer: within 24 hours of funding. We laid out what funded-to-paid looks like in practice.
5. Is there a tier, quota or cap behind the headline number?
A flat fee can sit on top of a tiered comp schedule, where the basis points you are allowed to elect depend on volume, or next to a production minimum you have to hit to keep the arrangement. Ask whether your comp level is available on your first loan or earned into, and what happens to it in a slow quarter.
Our answer: There are no tiered compensation levels. You elect your compensation, up to 275 bps, and nothing about your production has to happen before that election applies. No production quotas, no commission caps. More on what tiered commission models do to a comp plan.
6. Who sets your comp, and how often can it change?
Ask who chooses the compensation level, whether it is set per file or per borrower, and how often you can revisit it. The LO comp rule shapes how this works, and our LO comp rule explainer covers the borrower-paid and lender-paid side.
Our answer: The election is yours, and you can modify it quarterly. It is not set per file or per borrower.
One file, worked through
Here is how the answers combine on a single loan. This is an illustration at 275 bps. You elect your own compensation, up to 275 bps, so your figure may be lower.
On the individual plan, on a $200,000 loan at 275 bps, compensation is $5,500. The $695 comes off that, leaving $4,805. At this loan size the fee is 12.6% of the compensation.
That is the end of the range worth testing, because the $695 takes its largest share of comp on the smallest loans. If the fee holds up on your smallest files, every larger file only shrinks its share.
Where W-2 employment is required, you would receive 85% of the net after the $695. These figures are before the $79.99 monthly LOS fee, which is charged monthly rather than per file.
That is one file. How the $695 flat fee works sets the same math beside larger loan amounts in one table.
Use the list on everyone, including us
If you are comparing more than one flat fee mortgage broker, put these six questions to each of them and write the answers down as numbers. When two offers quote similar headline fees, the monthly line, the W-2 version, the payout clock and the tier schedule are where to look.
Our answers are all above, and the plan detail is on the compensation page. Innovative was established in 2004 and is licensed in 25 states.
When you want to put these six questions to us directly, start with the Interview Us questionnaire.
Innovative Mortgage Services, Inc. NMLS ID # 250769 (https://nmlsconsumeraccess.org/)