The average upfront commission rate paid on loans written by Mortgage Choice brokers during the six months to December was 61 basis points - an improvement on the average of 59 basis points recorded in the 2011/12 financial year.The difference might not seem great, but Mortgage Choice's chief executive, Michael Russell, described it as one of the company's highlights during the December half.  Commission rates have been under pressure ever since the financial crisis and origination commission represents 35 per cent of the company's revenue.The higher commission rate came from three sources: Macquarie Bank, which increased its rate to 65 basis points; Homeloans, which increased its rate from 60 to 70 basis points on certain products; and Mortgage Choice itself, which earned a higher rate from a couple of other lenders by improving the conversion rate on applications.The average trail rate remained steady at 17 basis points.The company reported a net profit of A$7.5 million for the half-year - an increase of 17 per cent over the previous corresponding period. On a cash basis, profit was up 20 per cent to $7.8 million.Settlements were worth $5.1 billion and were up 7.4 per cent over the previous corresponding period, and the loan book increased by 6.4 per cent, to $46.3 billion.These figures are a little misleading, however. The company's core brokerage business saw settlements increase by only 2.1 per cent and the loan book increase by 4.7 per cent. The growth came from an increase in the number of brokers aligned with LoanKit, an aggregator that Mortgage Choice acquired in 2009. Leaving the LoanKit numbers out of the equation, Mortgage Choice's market share fell by 0.1 per cent during the half.Russell said this was largely because of a decision to hold back marketing spending for a big campaign launch in March.The group added one new lender, Citibank, to its panel during the half.