We do not provide cash rebates. Instead, should there be commissions or referral fees, we have the leeway to reduce our fee as credits provided it is legally to do so. The exact classes of products eligible for such credit offsets and the formulae in determining such are provided to the client in writing in the agreement prior to the actual commencement of work.

We will not rebate or reduce the financial planning fees for the remuneration earned by other professionals and specialists. For example, if I would to refer the client to another colleague specializing in certain field, the commissions that he or she earned will not be rebated. In another example, if I would to refer the client to a lawyer, the legal fee earned by the lawyer will not be rebated to the client.

With effect from 1 February 2010, credits can only be used to offset Retainer Service Fees. It cannot be used to offset the Initial Financial Planning. I used to allow these credits the reduce the Initial Planning Fee but these transactions have become too complex to monitor. As an illustration of complexity, I would collect a partial Initial Planning Fee after the Financial Planning is completed to mitigate bad debts. However, the account has to remain open in order to wait for the client to decide whether to buy the product or sign up for the recommended service. If the client does sign up, I have to recompute any outstanding balance after taking into consideration of the credit offsets. This can take up to 3 months to close the account from the day which the Financial Planning was completed. As a result of this, there are too many outstanding accounts to monitor. Moreover, this has resulted in increased in bad debts. Obviously, this makes no difference for those who will sign up for the Retainer Service but it does make a difference to those who are only keen on the Initial Financial Planning.