Referral fee payments have been a contentious area for many years that has divided the profession. For some conveyancers the very mention of paying conveyancing referral fees makes the blood boil but for most they are now a main stream acceptable way of acquiring business.
Whatever your position we are aware of many firms that make a virtue of not paying referral fees but we don’t recall a time when a conveyancer has so publically announced the amount of money that has been paid to attract work.
Goldsmith Williams Solicitors the Liverpool based firm that is led by the well known Eddie Goldsmith has issued a press release to say that it is celebrating the payment of over £4M in referral and broker fee arrangements in its instant fee payment system. Many publications aimed at intermediaries will carry the story this week.
Through its system both the referral fee payable and the cost of the advice the broker is charging to the client is paid on the day of completion.
Goldsmith Williams makes the claim that this service was “an industry first when it launched three years ago”.
Simon Miller, head of remortgage at Goldsmith Williams, says the success of the instant fee payment system reflects the level of frustration among the broker community about the delays associated with more traditional payment methods.
Miller says: “For years, brokers were left kicking their heels, waiting to be paid long after a case had completed. This was an established but unnecessary feature of the industry and one that we set out to change.
“The fact that we’ve already surpassed the £4m mark in just under three years demonstrates how our initiative tapped into the needs and frustrations of brokers and other intermediaries to give them the kind of service they wanted"
“Perhaps the greatest endorsement of our efforts is that a number of competitors are now attempting to launch similar initiatives. Imitation is the greatest form of flattery but we’ve already set our sights on reaching the £10m mark.”
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