If trail commission stops or drops without a refinance, compare this month’s and last month’s statements loan by loan to find the missing commission. Then establish whether each affected loan has stopped earning trail, changed loan number or missed a payment it still qualifies for.
A client saying they have not refinanced is useful information. The lender’s account status and your commission agreement explain whether there is money to recover.
Why Trail Commission Goes Missing
Trail can disappear because the loan changed, the lender suspended payment or the payment failed to reach the right broker account. Start with two complete statements covering consecutive trail periods. Confirm you are comparing the same broker, lender and loan-book filters.
Work through these causes in order. The checks separate a genuine loss of trail from an amount you can claim.
| Possible Cause | Signal to Look For | Check and Next Action |
|---|---|---|
| Discharge or internal refinance | One loan disappears or a replacement account appears | Confirm the payout or transfer and who receives trail on the replacement. Record genuine runoff separately. |
| Arrears or hardship | The loan stays open but trail stops | Confirm account status, the suspension rule and the restart condition. Record whether the suspended period qualifies for back-pay. |
| Lender merger or product closure | Several old references disappear together | Match the old references to replacement accounts before raising missing-payment claims. |
| Lapsed accreditation or changed authorisation | Payments stop across one lender or after an appointment change | Ask the accreditation team to confirm your status and commission mapping. Correct the record and request a payment review. |
| Aggregator processing error | The lender confirms a payment that your statement omits | Give the aggregator its payment reference and request an allocation or correction. |
| Offset reduces the eligible balance to zero | The loan remains open with little or no trail | Compare the offset and loan balance under the applicable commission formula. Record a valid nil payment separately. |
A fall across the whole book can also reflect smaller balances or a shorter payment period. Resolve those differences before treating the entire fall as unpaid trail.
Arrears and Hardship: Trail That Stops While the Loan Stays
Arrears can suspend trail even while the client still owes the lender money. Restarting payments and back-paying the suspended period are separate questions.
For example, YBR Aggregation’s published 2024 commission policy lists a 60-day arrears threshold for Commonwealth Bank trail. Its Bankwest commercial entry says payment resumes after the facility returns to order, with no backdating for the unpaid period. Those examples apply to their named entries, rather than every lender or loan.
Ask the lender to confirm the arrears position during each missing period. If the client has a hardship arrangement, establish how the lender treats that arrangement for commission purposes. A payment variation and an account still recorded as overdue can produce different results under the agreement.
Record the suspension reason, the condition for restarting trail and the first eligible payment period. If the loan meets that condition but the next statement still omits it, raise a commission enquiry with that evidence. Keep client assistance separate from the payment investigation. The guide to mortgage defaults and hardship covers helping the borrower.
Lender Mergers, Product Closures and New Loan Numbers
A loan-number change can make continuing trail look lost because the old reference disappears and a replacement appears elsewhere on the statement. This can happen when a lender merges systems, closes a product or migrates accounts.
Search the later statement by client as well as loan number. Match the lender’s account-change notice against the earlier loan balance and the replacement account. Split loans need each part matched individually.
Keep a record with the old number, replacement number and the period of the change. Confirm the match with the lender if the statement alone leaves more than one possible account. Similar names or balances are clues, not enough to close an enquiry.
Once the replacement is confirmed, add together payments across both references for the relevant periods. Continuing trail under the replacement reference resolves the apparent loss. A gap between the last old-reference payment and first replacement payment still needs an entitlement check and, where payable, a claim.
Lapsed Accreditation and Changed Authorisations
Accreditation, credit representative appointments and aggregator changes need separate checks because each can affect payment administration or entitlement. A stop across several loans with the same lender makes these checks more urgent.
Check the lender’s accreditation record first. Ask whether the status changed and whether that change affects existing trail. Restoring accreditation does not by itself establish entitlement to every unpaid period.
For a changed credit representative appointment, compare the appointment record with the lender’s recorded broker and licensee details. Resolve any mismatch through your licensee and the lender’s accreditation team.
After an aggregator switch, compare the old and new broker identifiers with the agreed trail-book transfer arrangements. Confirm which aggregator receives existing trail and whether the lender has completed the mapping. New applications appearing under your new aggregator does not prove your existing book transferred too.
Request written confirmation of the correction and the periods the commission team will review. YBR’s broker services page lists separate contacts for accreditation and commission enquiries, so route each part of the problem to the relevant team.
Discharges, Internal Refinances and Offsets at Zero
A paid-out loan, a channel-changing internal refinance or a fully offset eligible balance can produce a valid end to trail. Classify the cause before estimating arrears of commission.
A discharge ends the old loan. Confirm the payout through the lender’s records and retain the final eligible trail period. Use the runoff guide when measuring loans that have genuinely left your book.
An internal refinance can leave the client with the same banking brand while changing your entitlement. YBR’s CBA entry excludes certain customer-initiated transfers to another business unit. Its trail calculation also deducts linked offset balances. A same-bank transaction therefore needs the replacement account and commission terms checked.
For an offset-related stop, compare the eligible loan balance with linked offset funds on the calculation basis the agreement uses. If the eligible net balance is zero, nil trail can be correct. When that balance becomes positive again, check the next eligible payment period instead of assuming the earlier zero periods are recoverable.
Keep a genuine payout, a changed commission entitlement and a continuing loan with a zero eligible balance as separate outcomes. They explain different changes in income.
How to Find Missing Trail on Aggregator Statements
Find missing trail by matching every earlier loan to the later statement, then investigating the absent or reduced payments individually. Keep the original reports so you can trace each amount back to its source.
- List every loan in the earlier statement. Retain the loan reference, client and lender alongside its trail amount and payment period.
- Match each loan to the later statement. Search replacement references and split accounts before marking a loan absent.
- Compare the payments. Put absent loans and reduced amounts on an enquiry list, with the difference shown for each period.
- Confirm each loan’s status with the lender. Establish whether it remains open, changed reference, entered arrears or moved to another channel.
- Classify the cause. Separate valid reductions and suspensions from processing errors or payable gaps. Leave an unresolved item open until you have the explanation.
For the software route, check the affected loans in Track My Trail. Quick Analysis uses two monthly reports to show missing loans and changes such as discharges, arrears and large balance movements. The supported aggregators guide explains report coverage.
For gaps across several periods, Missing Trail Analysis flags loans whose trail stopped and later came back, separately from discharges. It gives you the missing months and amounts to chase with the aggregator. Investigate the lender’s reason before treating a flagged amount as money owed.
If a loan remains absent, keep following it through later statements. A reappearance can reveal an earlier gap that a single two-period comparison misses.
How to Recover Unpaid Trail
Recover unpaid trail by giving the aggregator’s commission team a loan-by-loan claim supported by the statements and the applicable payment rule. Submit promptly under the claim or dispute provisions in your own agreement. Use the time limit that agreement sets.
Prepare a separate row for each affected loan and period. Your evidence pack needs:
- The loan number, replacement number if applicable and client name.
- The lender and broker identifier used on the original payment.
- Every missing payment period and the amount actually received.
- Your expected amount, its calculation and its tax basis.
- The cause found, lender confirmation and supporting statement extracts.
- Previous enquiry references and any promised correction.
Use the eligible balance and applicable trail rate for each period when calculating the claim. Apply your aggregator split and deductions consistently. The last paid amount is a starting estimate if the balance has since changed.
Send the pack through the aggregator’s commission-enquiry channel. Ask it to establish whether the lender paid, whether the payment was allocated correctly and which periods remain disputed. Request a reference number and a written response for each item.
If the aggregator needs the lender to investigate, have it escalate the same evidence pack. Follow the lender’s commission process where direct broker enquiries are accepted. If payment is rejected, ask for the agreement clause and account facts supporting the rejection. Use the agreement’s dispute process for an unresolved entitlement issue.
One Track My Trail customer recovered $1,450 from an account that had gone 25 months unpaid. That customer’s recovery shows why older gaps deserve investigation. The amount recoverable on your loan depends on its payment history and entitlement.
Close a claim only after the correction appears on a statement and matches the agreed amount. Check the following period too, so a one-off adjustment does not hide a continuing allocation problem.
Stop Trail Going Missing Again
Reconcile trail every month and carry unresolved claims into the next review until payment or a documented explanation closes them. The monthly trail tracking guide covers the ongoing reconciliation routine.
Keep lender accreditations and authorisation records current. After an aggregator switch, retain confirmation of the existing book’s payment arrangements alongside your new broker identifiers.
Record loan-number changes as they happen. After a product switch, lender merger or system migration, compare the first affected statement against the prior one. Check that each continuing loan has a matching reference and the expected payment treatment.
Assign one person to each open enquiry and record the next follow-up date. At the next monthly review, confirm both the missing-period adjustment and continuing trail before closing the item.
