How Trailing Commissions Work And How To Get That Money Back

Have you ever heard of trailing commissions?  Probably not. Most of the institutions that rely on them don’t want you to know about them. Trail commissions are a lot like hidden fees and charges, the difference is they recur every so often, usually annually, and are paid to people you may have never met.

At iRefund, we help Australians get those fees back.

What Are Trailing Commissions?

Trail commissions are money you pay (usually unknowingly) to a service provider, advisor, representative or broker every year for as long as you own their investment product. Supposedly, this commission encourages the advisor to review your account or policy and provide you with appropriate advice if changes need to be made. In reality, you’ll probably never hear from that advisor again, unless you contact him or her yourself, and the fees are nothing more than a reward to the advisor for keeping you loyal to the product.

The fees that are charged are based on the value of your investment account so they may change every year, depending on the value of your account. They usually range from .4%-1.2% of the value of the account. This money is then paid to the advisor that worked with you or if you bought the product on your own, the investment company that manages it. It may not sound like much, but 1% of a $100,000 investment is $1,000 a year. The numbers go up based on the value of your investment.

Once investors learn about trailing commissions many ask themselves why someone who doesn’t service their account, or worse, someone whom they’ve never even met if the account was set up by the investor himself, should be paid with their money? That’s a good question and one that we at iRefund help to resolve.

Figuring Out If You Have Trailing Commissions

The most direct way to find out if you’re paying trail commissions is to ask the advisor or representative who worked with you to set up the account. Hopefully they’ll be honest and tell you the truth. If you don’t have anyone to ask, you can always read the investment prospectus, which will indicate whether or not trailing commissions are applied to the investment under the section entitled “Management Fees.”

Trailing commissions are commonly found on:

  • Superannuation and Allocated Pension Accounts
  • Personal insurance policies
  • Home Loans

How iRefund Helps You Get Trail Commissions Refunded

At iRefund we help our members get commission rebates and commission refunds by becoming the broker on their accounts. Once that happens, all life insurance commissions, home loan commissions, superannuation commissions and trail commissions associated with that investment are paid to us. We, in turn, pay those commissions to you.

While we’re at it, we change the entry fees associated with these account to nil. That means you’ll never again lose money to trailing commissions!

No Cost To You

The iRefund commission refund and commission rebate costs you nothing!  Here’s how membership works:

We refund 100% your trailing commissions to you after we receive a capped amount of those trailing commissions as payment for our services. Everyone is charged the same amount, no matter how large or small your investment. We don’t think it’s right to have to pay more simply because you have a higher investment portfolio value.

$395 is the amount iRefund receives for our services. That’s it. After that, your trailing commissions are entirely YOURS. And that includes ALL of your trailing commissions. All of your investment accounts are covered under your membership so we only charge one fee. And we receive this fee from trail commissions that are already being paid out, so you owe us nothing out of pocket.

To learn more about iRefund and how our membership services work contact us at 1300 305 898 or learn more about our program at: www.irefund.com.au.

What To Know About Trailing Commissions

Manage (And Protect!) Your Investments: What You Need To Know About Trailing Commissions

It’s no secret that, when it comes to successfully managing and protecting our financial investments, knowledge equals empowerment. While most of us maintain a steady focus on the upswing (or downturns) happening in our portfolio at any given time, we often fail to have a working knowledge on some of the reoccurring, long term fees and obligations we incur throughout the lifespan our of investments. Case in point: trailing commissions.

Not quite sure what trailing commissions involve? You’re certainly not alone. Here at iRefund, many of our financial experts find that even the savviest investor can sometimes feel a bit blurry on some of the small print details attached to their funds. Fortunately, the team at iRefund can help you to understand what a trailing commission is, how it may affect your monetary reserves, and (most importantly) how you can effectively manage and protect what is rightfully yours.

Get The Basics: What Is A Trailing Commission And Where Is It Incurred?

 By definition, trailing commissions are simply reoccurring charges incurred on investments funds. The overall fees are based on a varied percentage of your overall investment value and are allocated to the advisor who coordinated your fund on an ongoing basis. As a general rule of thumb, most fee percentages range from 0.4% - 1.2%. While that doesn’t seem like a huge spread, consider this: over the lifetime of a $100,000 investment, you could be spending $1,000 annually in commission charges. When added up over time, these fees can really make a significant financial impact.

Trailing fees are also included on superannuation and allocated pension accounts as well as:

Personal Insurance Policies: A trailing commission is tacked onto virtually all personal insurance policies. Whenever you pay life, trauma, and/or income protection premiums, it’s a safe bet that you’re paying a trailing commission (generally 10-30%!) to the source that generated coverage for you.

Home Loans: Yes, a trailing home loan commission is attached to loans that required mortgage broker assistance. However, it’s important to note that the overall setup on a home loan commission varies from other trailing fees as the bank has to reimburse the mortgage broker from its own reserves and not from the homeowner’s monthly mortgage payments.

Trailing Commissions: You Do Have Options

Think you’re in the clear because you cut out the middle man advisor and went direct to your super fund or provider? Guess again. Trailing commissions in these scenarios are not refunded to portfolio owners (aka the customer!), but rather kept by the investment managers on the account. It’s all part of the built in infrastructure that mandates trailing commissions can’t be avoided. In short, often it’s not a matter of if a fee is incurred, but rather, where the fee payment will go.

Fortunately, there is hope when it comes to successfully navigating through the trailing commission process. iRefund’s team of professional and reputable financial analysts can help you maintain a steady focus on what you’re currently spending due to these long term charges. Rather than continuing to pay thousands of dollars per annum in trailing commissions, iRefund can help you determine which ones you have a claim to and work with you to get the refund you are entitled to.