Mortgage networks and clubs in the UK: the honest comparison

What is the difference between a mortgage club and a network?

The distinction is simple, but it matters more than most people realise, because it maps directly to how your business is regulated.

• Mortgage club = you are directly authorised (DA). You hold your own FCA permissions, you manage your own compliance, and you join one or more clubs to access lender panels, negotiated proc fees and support services. You can use multiple clubs at once and pick the best deal per case.
• Mortgage network = you are an appointed representative (AR). The network holds the FCA permissions on your behalf. It manages compliance, PI insurance and regulatory reporting. You trade under its umbrella. You can only be an AR of one network at a time.

A useful way to think about it: clubs give you access, networks give you a licence. If you already have the licence (DA), a club is a bolt-on. If you want someone else to hold the licence, you join a network.

Key practical differences

Neither route is universally better. The right answer depends on where you are in your career, how comfortable you are with compliance, and how much control you want. More on that in the decision framework below.

Every major UK mortgage club and network compared

This is the table I could not find anywhere when I was researching this. Clubs first (for DA brokers), then networks (for ARs). Figures come from provider websites, industry press and the Network Consulting directory, as of June 2026.

Mortgage clubs (for DA brokers)

Mortgage networks (for AR brokers)

Source: AR firm counts from Network Consulting Q1 2026 league table. Commission and fee structures from provider websites and industry press. Most networks negotiate terms individually, so treat published figures as starting points.

Is L&G Mortgage Club worth it?

L&G Mortgage Club (Legal & General) is the largest and longest-running mortgage club in the UK. It is involved in nearly one in three intermediated mortgages, which tells you something about its reach.

• Panel: 90+ lenders, covering high-street and specialist.
• Proc fees: Enhanced rates negotiated by L&G, and they pay on exchange of contracts rather than completion. That is a cash-flow advantage most brokers underestimate until they experience it.
• Cost: Free to join.
• Tech: SmartrFit sourcing, SmartrCriteria for eligibility checks, and a case-tracking platform.

If you are DA, it is hard to justify not being registered with L&G. The panel is the broadest, the tech is decent, and it costs nothing. Most DA brokers I know have L&G as their primary club and use PMS or TMA alongside it for specific lenders or products where those clubs have exclusive deals.

What about PMS Mortgage Club?

PMS claims the largest dedicated relationship manager team of any UK mortgage club, and their panel of 105+ lenders is actually bigger than L&G's on pure numbers. They have been going for over 20 years.

• Panel: 105+ lenders and referral partners.
• Proc fees: Enhanced, with exclusive PMS-only products from certain lenders.
• Cost: Free to join.
• Support: Business consultancy, later-life and new-build specialist support, conveyancing and surveying referral income.

Where PMS stands out is the hands-on support. If you want someone to ring when a case gets complicated, their RM team is larger and more accessible than most. The ancillary income streams (GI, conveyancing, surveying referrals) also add up over a year.

How does TMA Club stack up?

TMA is DA-only (they do not work with ARs at all) and they lean hard into the community side. Free accredited events, a compliance support package you can tailor to your firm, and a profit-share model that rewards loyalty.

• Panel: Large and growing (TMA does not publish an exact number).
• Proc fees: Market-leading rates plus a profit-share arrangement.
• Cost: Free to join.
• Compliance: Bespoke compliance package, fraud prevention hub, PI insurance hub.

The profit share is the headline. Unlike a flat proc fee, TMA shares a portion of its own revenue back to members based on volume. For a DA firm writing decent numbers, that adds a meaningful layer on top of the proc fee itself. The compliance bolt-on is also worth looking at if you are DA and want support without handing over control to a network.

Should you join a network like Stonebridge, Primis or MAB?

If you want someone else to manage FCA permissions, compliance, PI insurance and regulatory reporting, a network is the straightforward answer. The question is which one, and they differ more than most comparison pages let on.

Stonebridge

Stonebridge grew to 707 member firms in 2025, adding more AR firms than the first and third largest networks combined. Their model is unusual: no monthly adviser fees, no fixed costs. You pay as you earn, weekly, on exchange. That removes the cash-flow pressure that trips up newer advisers. Their in-house Revolution platform covers mortgage sourcing, protection, GI and referrals. Entry requirement: CeMAP plus 12 months' advising experience.

Primis

Part of the Fintel group (alongside SimplyBiz and Defaqto), Primis supports around 3,000 advisers. They assign area supervision managers and run a file-checking service that gives you feedback on complex cases before submission. Their Experts Desk handles technical queries. Good for brokers who want close supervision while they build confidence, or who handle a lot of non-standard cases.

Mortgage Advice Bureau (MAB)

MAB is the most recognised intermediary brand in the UK, with over 250 national awards and 2,100+ advisers. They advertise up to 94% commission retention, which is towards the top end for a network. Their investment in lead generation and customer-capture technology is heavy, and they provide marketing support that smaller networks cannot match. Best suited to volume-focused advisers who want brand pull and lead flow baked in.

HL Partnership

HL Partnership had 568 AR firms at the end of Q1 2026, gaining 19 in the quarter alone. I operate under HL myself (Bluewave Mortgages trades under their umbrella). It is an adviser-focused network that has been growing fast while some of the bigger names have been losing firms. The culture is hands-on, the support is solid, and the tech does what you need it to.

Openwork Partnership

Openwork had around 543 AR firms at the end of Q1 2026. It is a large, established operation. AR numbers have dipped recently as some firms have moved to smaller, more agile networks or gone DA. That said, it remains one of the bigger operations with a broad panel and solid infrastructure.

Others worth knowing

• Sesame (gained 17 in Q1 2026): solid mid-size option, shares panel infrastructure with PMS.
• The Right Network: one of the fastest growing, with specialist later-life and private medical insurance propositions.
• TMG Mortgage Network: Rotherham-based, smaller, focuses on mortgage and protection.
• JLM Mortgage Network: Hitchin-based, mortgage and protection only.
• Connect for Intermediaries: unusually offers both a club (for DA) and a network (for AR) under one roof.

Source: AR firm figures from Network Consulting Q1 2026. Network growth/loss data from Mortgage Strategy, May 2026. Individual network details from provider websites.

DA vs AR: how to decide which route is right for you

This is the decision underneath all the club-and-network noise. Everything else flows from it.

Go AR if...

• You are new to advising and want compliance handled for you while you learn.
• You want to be writing cases within weeks, not months.
• You do not want the overhead of managing your own FCA permissions, PI insurance and regulatory reporting.
• You are comfortable keeping 70%–94% of the proc fee in exchange for support.

Go DA if...

• You have been advising long enough to handle compliance yourself (or hire someone to do it).
• You want 100% of the proc fee and full control over your brand, tech and processes.
• You are writing enough volume that the network's commission split costs you more than running your own compliance.
• You want the flexibility to use multiple clubs and pick the best deal per case.

The cost comparison

The crossover point depends on your volume. If you are writing four or five cases a month, the maths starts to favour DA once the proc-fee savings outweigh the compliance and PI costs. Below that, AR is usually cheaper on a total-cost basis. Above ten cases a month, the network split starts to feel expensive.

A common path is to start AR, build a book, learn compliance by osmosis, and switch to DA once you have the volume and confidence. That is a perfectly sensible strategy and plenty of successful brokers have done it.

Your network will not find you clients

One thing I want to be honest about, because I see newer brokers assume otherwise: joining a network or club does not solve your lead problem. A network gives you the infrastructure to advise. It does not put people in your diary.

MAB is the notable exception. They invest heavily in consumer-facing marketing and route enquiries to their advisers, which is part of why they can justify their commission model. Most other networks leave lead generation entirely to you.

That means you still need a plan for getting clients through the door. I wrote a full guide to every client-acquisition channel and the order I would build them in. The short version: referrals and your Google Business Profile are the long game, bought-in booked appointments bridge the gap while those compound. (Curious what those cases are worth? See what mortgage brokers actually earn per case.)

If you want calls in the diary while you build the slow stuff, here is how MortgagesBooked works: pre-qualified, booked appointments at £110 each, credit refunded automatically if they do not show. No subscription, no lock-in.

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