Compensation
How this firm gets paid, in full.
A broker who will not tell you who pays him is telling you something. There are 2 ways money reaches Citadel Ridge, they work differently, and 1 of them carries a conflict that has to be named rather than managed quietly. This page sets out both, says plainly where the incentive points, and lists what the firm does about it on every file.
Last reviewed September 18, 2026.
The 2 desks
Different payer, different incentive.
Which desk your file sits on determines who writes the check.
The funding desk. When Citadel Ridge arranges a facility, the lender or funder pays the firm a commission at funding. You do not pay Citadel Ridge a fee to place a facility, and the firm does not collect any fee from you before a closing. The commission is a percentage of the amount funded, it is set by the counterparty rather than by us, and the specific figure on your transaction is disclosed to you in writing before you sign anything.
The advisory desk. Advisory mandates are the opposite arrangement: you pay a fixed fee, set out in a single mandate document, paid at execution by wire. No counterparty pays the firm on a mandate. The fee buys analysis and work product that belongs to you regardless of which lender funds the facility, or whether you take any offer at all. On a business sale, a success fee at closing is the customary structure and it is stated in the engagement before signature.
A file can move from 1 desk to the other, and when it does, the change in who pays is stated at the time rather than assumed.
The part most brokers leave out
Yes, it varies by counterparty.
Commission is not uniform across a funder panel. Different counterparties pay different percentages on the same size transaction, and on revenue based products the commission usually rises with the factor rate. Left alone, that structure pays a broker more for placing you in worse paper. Pretending otherwise is the ordinary practice in this industry and it is not what this firm does.
Where the conflict actually sits
On a merchant cash advance, the funder that prices you at a higher factor commonly pays the broker a higher percentage. On term facilities the spread between counterparties is narrower but it is not zero. The conflict is therefore sharpest on exactly the product where a business can least afford a broker following his own incentive.
What it could influence
Which counterparties see your file, the order offers are presented in, and how hard an alternative structure is argued for. Those are the 3 places a compensation difference can quietly change your outcome, so those are the 3 places the rules below are aimed.
What it does not change
Whether you are approved, the amount a counterparty will fund, or the terms it offers. Those are set by the counterparty's underwriting on your file. A broker cannot improve a decision by being paid more, and no commission arrangement gives Citadel Ridge authority over any credit decision.
The rules
6 commitments on every file.
These are conduct rules the firm holds itself to. Several of them are also legal requirements in a number of states, which is set out on the state disclosures page.
The number, in writing, before you sign
You are told what Citadel Ridge is paid on your transaction, in dollars or as a percentage of the amount funded, before you sign the counterparty's agreement. Not after closing, and not on request.
No fee from you on a placement, ever, and none in advance
Citadel Ridge does not charge application fees, packaging fees, processing fees, or any other advance fee to place a facility. If anyone presenting themselves as working with this firm asks you for money before a closing, that is not us, and we want to hear about it.
Offers are presented in order of cost to you
When more than 1 counterparty returns an offer, they are laid out ranked by what each actually costs you, computed the same way for each, with the compensation to the firm shown on each line. The cheapest offer appears first even when it pays the firm least.
The true cost is read to you
Every revenue based offer is converted to an annualized cost before you are asked to decide, using the same method as the factor rate converter on this site. Where a term structure is cheaper and the file supports it, we say so, including when it means a smaller transaction and a smaller commission.
The provider's statutory disclosure goes to you unaltered
Where a state requires the provider to deliver a standard commercial financing disclosure through the broker, it reaches you exactly as the provider issued it, with nothing removed, summarized, or reworded.
We will tell you not to do it
If the file does not support the transaction, or the only available paper would do more damage than the problem it solves, that is the read you get. The firm would rather decline a commission than place something it would not put its own name against.
Questions
What owners ask about this.
Does it cost me more to go through a broker?
On most transactions, no. The commission is paid out of the counterparty's pricing rather than added on top of it, and the same counterparty commonly quotes the same paper direct. What a competing process changes is which counterparties see the file and what they have to price against, which is where the saving comes from when there is one.
Can I see the actual commission on my deal?
Yes, and you will, in writing, before you sign. If you want it earlier than that, ask at any point and it will be given.
Do you get paid if I do not close?
On a placement, no. On an advisory mandate, the fixed fee is earned for the analysis and work product and is not contingent on a funding outcome, which is stated in the mandate document before you execute it.
Do you get paid more for a larger advance?
A percentage commission rises with the amount funded, so yes, arithmetically. That is exactly why rule 3 and rule 4 above exist and why the firm puts the annualized cost of every offer in front of you before you decide.
Are you a lender?
No. Citadel Ridge LLC is a commercial finance brokerage and capital advisory firm. It does not lend its own money, does not make credit decisions, and does not set the terms of any offer. Every facility is arranged through third party lenders and funders and is subject to their underwriting, documentation and approval.
Do you accept payment for referrals from the other direction?
Referral partners who send files to the firm are compensated under a written referral agreement, which is set out on the partners page. That arrangement pays the partner out of the firm's own commission; it never increases the cost of your facility, and it is disclosed on the same schedule as everything else.
Start with the file
A straight read within 2 business days.
Send the basics through the intake form: what the file supports, what is missing, and the next step if there is one. If we are not the right desk for it, we say so.