Compensation and licensing get mixed together in broker Slack channels. Someone says “it’s commercial so you’re fine.” Someone else says “you need a mortgage license to send a working-capital link.” Both are guessing. The honest version is that U.S. states do not agree, consumer and commercial are not the same, and a blog post is not your counsel. What a marketplace can say clearly is how it pays, and what it is not.
Loanable is not a lender and is not your licensing authority. It is a funding marketplace with 150+ lenders. Approved partners receive a unique partner link. Funded deals pay 50/50 of Loanable profit, every Monday via ACH, with no minimum. That description is a payout mechanic. It is not a determination that your website, your ads, or your closer scripts are legal in every state you touch.
Separate three roles in your own head
Referral: you introduce an owner to an application and you do not hold yourself out as arranging credit for a fee in a way your state treats as brokering. Broker: you package, advise, and shop. ISO: you run a sales office. The same Loanable program can pay all three because the split is on the funded placement, not on a job title. Your state may still care which role you are advertising.
- Read your state’s commercial credit services and loan broker statutes yourself or with a lawyer
- Do not copy a competitor’s “no license needed” banner
- Keep consumer-purpose and business-purpose files distinct
- If you hire producers, their scripts are your problem, not the marketplace’s
What you can say about Loanable without overclaiming
You can say you partner with a marketplace that matches businesses to 150+ lenders. You can say products include working capital, term, SBA, equipment, and lines of credit, with larger facilities able to reach $50M. You can say funding may occur as soon as 24 hours on some working-capital files. You cannot say Loanable approved the loan, guaranteed an offer, or issued credit. You cannot invent a public lending API your shop “integrates with” if you are simply sending an apply link.
Commission does not require you to touch closing funds
Monday ACH from Loanable is a partner payout, not a borrower disbursement. Do not commingle it with client money. Do not collect “broker processing fees” on the side unless you have a lawful basis and a disclosure process you actually follow. The clean model is: owner applies on loanableusa.com with your partner link, lender funds the owner, Loanable splits its profit with you.
If your compliance review says you should operate as a pure referrer, you can still use the same link and the same 50/50 economics. You just do less file work. That is allowed by the program. Whether it is allowed by your regulator is the review you should actually calendar.
Get the payout path in place, then do your state homework. Apply to become a Loanable partner for the marketplace link and Monday ACH; bring your own counsel for the license question.