How the money actually moves
Money flows from the funding side, not from you. Depending on the arrangement, an introducer is paid when it passes on a qualified application, or when a funder writes the deal, or both.
The commission is a real cost and it is reflected in your pricing, in the sense that a funder prices a brokered deal knowing it pays a commission on it. That is worth understanding, not worth hiding.
Which is why the question worth asking is not whether someone is paid — everyone is — but who pays them, how many parties end up with your details, and whether they will tell you both without hedging.
The advance-fee scam
The pattern is always the same: an approval that seems too good, then a fee required before release. It is described as insurance, a processing charge, a first payment, or a good-faith deposit.
Legitimate funding takes fees out of the advance or builds them into the terms. Nobody needs money from you before you have money from them.
If you have paid one, report it to the FTC. It is a common enough fraud that reporting genuinely feeds enforcement.
What to ask any broker
Who pays you, and how much on this deal? A straight answer is a good sign; evasion is information.
How many funders will see my application, and will you tell me which? You are entitled to know where your details go.
How many companies will end up with my details, and can you name them? This is the question that actually predicts how many calls you get, and it is the one evasive operators dislike most.
Is there any fee I pay directly, in any circumstance?