Brilliant has scrapped its packager fees after growth in specialist lending has allowed the firm to switch the burden of cost from the client to the lender, a decision he believes all packagers should be taking.

Managing director Matthew Arena (pictured) said plans to remove the fees have been two years in the making, as the firm re-positioned its business model to remain profitable without charging for packaging.

Arena said there had been a shift in lender attitudes towards paying packagers for their services. In the past, he added, only a few lenders had paid for packaging and the amounts they paid were fairly low but terms have started to improve. “This is allowing us to earn more per case and, teamed with the rise in specialist lenders, has ramped up the volume of the cases we receive.”

Intermediaries had told Brilliant that packaging fees were ‘a major sticking point’ when selling the merits of their services to their clients. With alternative, cheaper channels available to intermediaries, Arena said he wanted to remove all financial and service barriers to brokers using Brilliant’s services.

The company has invested in its software to increase the efficiency of its intermediary platform to make it easier for brokers to do business with it. Brilliant has also invested in staff training and improvements in product knowledge which has increased the firm’s conversion rate of submitted to completed applications.

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