Glossary
Referral service
A service that connects borrowers with lenders rather than lending itself. Leverage is a free referral service: lenders pay a referral fee on settled loans, and that fee doesn't change your pricing.
By Leverage Finance · Updated 17 July 2026
A referral service sits between you and the lending market. It doesn't lend money, set rates, or make credit decisions. It takes your application, matches it against a panel of lenders, and puts you in front of the one most likely to suit your file. The lender assesses you and makes the offer.
The business model is worth understanding because it explains why the service is free: when a loan settles, the lender pays the referral service a fee. That fee is the lender's cost of acquiring a customer. It doesn't get added to your loan and doesn't change the pricing you're offered. If you don't proceed, nobody pays anything.
A referral service is also not a financial adviser. It provides general information and a connection to lenders. The decision to switch, and the assessment of the loan, sit with you and the lender respectively.
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