Glossary
Flex commission
A practice where the dealer arranging a loan could increase the loan's pricing above the lender's base and keep the difference as commission.
By Leverage Finance · Updated 17 July 2026
Under flex commission arrangements, the lender set a base for the borrower and the dealer had discretion to write the loan higher, earning more commission the higher the loan was priced. The borrower rarely knew the pricing was negotiable, or that the person setting it was paid more for setting it higher.
Regulators in Australia banned the practice, and it has been widely criticised and wound back in New Zealand. But loans written under such arrangements don't rewrite themselves. If your loan was arranged at a dealership some years ago, its pricing may reflect the dealer's margin rather than what your file deserved. That's exactly the kind of loan a refinance re-check exists for.
By contrast, the referral fee a lender pays Leverage is fixed by the lender and doesn't change the pricing you're offered.
Same car. See what a better loan looks like.
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