An overhaul of its broker remuneration arrangements was the main contributor to a significant decline in earnings for franchise group Mortgage Choice in the December half.In a disappointing result, the company also reported a fall in franchise numbers, lower financial planning income and a big fall in the rate of growth in loan settlements.Mortgage Choice earned A$78 million of commission income and paid $56.3 million to brokers. Net commission income was $21.7 million - down 28 per cent from $30.2 million in the December half in 2017.Net profit fell from $11.4 million to $6.4 million over the same period - a 44 per cent fall. On a cash basis, profit fell 43 per cent to $7.1 million.In July last year, the company announced that it had agreed to increase brokers' share of commissions. Starting in August, brokers were offered an increase in the commission payout rate from 65 per cent to 74 per cent. Trail commissions were restructured to "pay the best monthly outcome on either a flow basis or book basis".Some additional measures were introduced to protect brokers from market volatility. The company said it would undertake an efficiency program to offset some of the lost revenue.Slowing credit growth was another factor that hit the company. Settlements fell 12.1 per cent year-on-year to $5.3 billion and the loan book grew by just 1 per cent to $54.5 billion. The company said December approvals were the lowest for December since 2013.Another factor is that tighter lending standards have resulted in applications taking longer to process.Franchise numbers fell from 449 in June last year to 403 at the end of December. The company said new franchise recruitment was impacted by the uncertainty created by the royal commission. There was also a one-off reduction due to franchise mergers.In response to the royal commission's recommendation that loan broker commissions be phased out and the government's announcement that trail commissions would be banned, Mortgage Choice says: "The quantum of the upfront commission paid would need to increase to be commensurate with the cost of providing the service to the customer. If the upfront is not commensurate, the broking industry will shrink, leaving consumers with less choice, less access to credit and giving more power to the big banks."A highlight for the company was a 28.8 per cent increase in funds under advice in its financial planning division. FUA now stands at $816.9million.However, financial planning is a very small contributor to earnings, with net revenue of around $1 million.