You have already heard this, but it is so important that it must be said again: Never Take Money From Your Applicants…Repeat, Never!
When you, as an independent Case Broker, take any money from your Applicant, you go from telling to selling and the Applicant’s trust factor that you have built up plummets. In addition, if the Applicant doesn’t get their advance, who are they going to blame? You! And who are they going to go after to get their money back…You!
Make this easy on yourself. Your job is finished when you submit the Applicant’s case information to the advance company. Unless the advance company notes a problem with the case that you may be asked to remedy (and this is rare), then all you have to do is wait and see if there is a commission payment heading your way from the advance company.
But this worry-free attitude will not be the case if you’ve taken money from the client. You never want to be owing or directly responsible to the Applicant (and you will be if you take any money from them).