If you are a mortgage broker, financial advisor, IP, accountant, solicitor, claims company, lettings agent or similar, you may be looking at introducing clients to debt management companies in return for a commission. But are the companies you are considering referring to going to be paying you enough for your debt management leads?

There are few doubts that the debt advice industry is massive and growing, and more and more companies are realising this and taking advantage on a daily basis. In the past, there were few barriers of entry into the debt solutions market and new start companies needed little more than the ability to obtain a Consumer Credit License to set up a debt help company. With the OFT cracking down on rogue debt management firms recently, anyone applying for a new license these days will come under intense scrutiny, almost to the point where many companies are not even bothering anymore. Therefore, becoming an Introducer rather than a fully fledged debt management business is a route many are taking instead.

There are many attractive reasons to strike up a business relationship with an already established and fully licensed debt management partner. Firstly, you can earn excellent commissions simply going through your existing back book and identifying cases that fit the criteria, and refer them without having to do much more work than that.
Secondly, the opportunity is there for businesses who arent interested in breaking into the debt advice market to introduce cases without having the hassle of having to administer the debt management plans, and all the associated costs that come with it.

Thirdly, in some circumstances, some debt management companies may be able to offer selected partners the chance to operate under an agency agreement umbrella. This can be particularly useful to businesses who want to introduce business whilst applying to the OFT to obtain their consumer credit license.

Being an introducer to a debt management company can be even more lucrative than actually operating the debt plans yourself, if you find the right partner to work with. Although many DMCs will try to get away with paying 50% of the clients first payment as a referral fee, there are companies paying four times this amount, and at least one company pays six times this figure! Therefore, you can send cases, pick up a great referral commission, and not have to pay the administration costs of operating the plans.