Cathie Gandy has come a long way in a short amount of time – she wrote $87 million in her first financial year and is now averaging 80 loans a quarter. The Queensland-based broker talks about getting her start in the industry and the things about broking she finds so rewarding.
How did you go from being a barista to a mortgage broker?
Around five years ago, I was across the road from Madd Loans making coffee whilst I was still studying at uni. And I think a lot of people… will probably recognise [Madd Loans founder] George Samios. He used to come into the cafe every single day.
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We always had really good conversations about me studying finance at uni and what I wanted to do once I graduated. I was a little bit unsure what I wanted to actually go and do.I started off potentially wanting to be a financial planner and George actually said to me one day, “Why don’t you come across and have a chat?”
What was your approach to broker qualifications?
I started doing the Cert IV [in Finance and Mortgage Broking] literally as soon as George gave me the job! I went and signed myself up and started doing the Cert IV that night. I had pretty much finished it the first week or the second week of working at Madd.
Being a uni student, I knew all about having to do lots of courses, late nights especially. And I was like: “I’m going to do this. I’m going to prove myself.”
What was the first loan you ever wrote?
It wasn’t a nice, straightforward, easy ’vanilla’ deal, as we like to call them. It was self-employed tax debt, GST debt and he just had really bad credit.
It was really testing everything that I’d learned.
How many loans do you typically write now?
I think for this quarter we’re up to around just under 80 loans settled.
How do you get through so much work?
The number one thing is having an amazing team behind me. I couldn't do it without them. They’re also very highly organised, and I think that plays a big role here at Madd.
George has built the foundations of a fantastic streamlined process. So, when we jump into the meeting, I’ve already run my eyes over the deal. I know exactly what’s going on, and I know exactly how we’re going to play it out.
What advice would you share with someone who wants to become a broker?
Back yourself. At the end of the day, being a mortgage broker is definitely not something I ever thought I would fall into. But what I can safely say is that I don’t feel [as though] I come into work. That’s the thing. I love my job that much. It never feels like a day of work.
You can find out more about Cathie Gandy in the New Broker podcast.
Tune in to the podcast, ‘Why Cathie Gandy is madd about loans’, here:
