From high school dropout to broker of the year

FBAA 2024 Queensland and Northern Territory Finance Broker of the Year winner Cathie Gandy has proved in her short mortgage broking career that tenacity, drive and passion pay off.

The 30-year-old broker, who works at Madd Loans in Brisbane, dropped out of high school in New Zealand at the age of 15 but didn’t let that stop her from working hard and achieving success.

Gandy (pictured above) has only been a mortgage broker for two-and-half years, since April 2022, but her positive attitude, willingness to learn, communication skills and the backing of a supportive team at Madd Loans have enabled her to achieve amazing results in a short period of time.

In her first full financial year of broking in 2023, Gandy wrote more than $87 million in loans – and as of October 2024, this had risen to almost $278m, involving clients from across Australia.

In her most successful month, Gandy settled 36 loans valued at just under $20m, a feat she attributed to being able to work alongside “such amazing people”.

Gandy was crowned FBAA Finance Broker of the Year for Queensland and the NT (pictured below) at the FBAA 2024 national conference and awards held on the Gold Coast on Nov. 1.

MPA caught up with Gandy to find out about her career journey, her ability to embrace challenges and new opportunities, and what motivates her to help people fulfil their financial dreams.

Leaving high school at 15

Gandy was born in the UK and moved to New Zealand with her family at the age of 10, living  in Christchurch and Wellington.

“I always did really well at school, right through from primary school all the way through to when I actually left. I was getting top grades,” said Gandy.

It was while Gandy was a 15-year-old at high school in Christchurch that she was told she should find another school to attend due to her behaviour. “I was finishing my work so quickly and was always getting in trouble for distracting the other students.”

“I said to mum and dad, ‘I don’t want to go to another school and make new friends all over again, I’m going to leave school and find work’.”

So that’s exactly what Gandy did, working as a barista in cafes for 10 years.

Gandy said when she was 18, she reached a point where she had to make a decision about her future. Because she hadn’t completed high school, it meant she couldn’t get into university without a diploma, so Gandy attended Christchurch Polytechnic Institute of Technology where she completed a Certificate IV in business and then a diploma in business.

Still not entirely sure what the future held, Gandy moved to Wellington, making coffee for the accountants and financiers that came into the café where she worked.

“I’ve always been good at maths, and talking to the customers, they said, ‘You’d be really good in finance because you’ve got the personality and you’re able to talk to all different clients’,” said Gandy.  “I thought this is something I should look into.”  

She then embarked on a business degree, majoring in finance at Massey University, where she studied online because she was working full-time. Gandy said her original intention was to become a financial planner.

While on a trip to Brisbane to visit some friends, they encouraged Gandy to move to Brisbane. “I said, why not? The first thing I did was call the university to check if I could still study and do my exams in Australia and they said this was fine.”

At the age of 22, Gandy sold everything she owned, keeping only two suitcases of clothes, her textbooks and her dog. “I booked a one-way ticket for us both and never looked back.”

Becoming a mortgage broker

Gandy worked at a café in Brisbane, directly opposite the Madd Loans office. “George Samios, the founder of Madd Loans and one of Australia’s top mortgage brokers, would come in for coffee,” she said. “I got to know him and built up a rapport with him.”

While visiting Madd Loans to secure her own home loan, Samios suggested to Gandy that she should come and work for him.

“I said, ‘I would love to be able to come and work for you. I love talking to you and all the people that come over to the café’. He said, ‘Here’s my number. Give a call, we’ll tee something up’.”

Due to Samios’ busy workload, that job opportunity took a bit longer to materialise. Gandy called him every week, sometimes twice a week, for six months until he eventually asked her to come in for an interview and hired her as a credit analyst.

“I had an interview and he thankfully gave me the job,” Gandy said. “He took a big decision, obviously I had no background in finance, but I’m so glad he did. That’s why I worked so hard for him – because he gave me that opportunity. I’m still so thankful to this day.

“I just ran with it, I’ve never looked back and I just absolutely fell in love with what I was doing.”

Gandy said her original interest was in the financial planning side of the business, Madd Life, but the business wasn’t ready to hire people in that division yet, so Samios encouraged her to work at Madd Loans.

Working as a credit analyst under Samios’ guidance, Gandy said it was inspiring seeing his passion and enthusiasm to help everyday Aussies buy their first home and build wealth through property. She became a mortgage broker at Madd Loans in April 2022.

“It’s really hard to explain but you get this amazing feeling every time you get somebody approved [for a loan]. Even to this day, my favourite part is being able to call people and say, ‘Congratulations, you're going to go and get to pick up the keys to your house.’

“It’s just an unbelievable feeling knowing that you've been able to help all of these people.”

Great team behind Gandy’s success

Gandy said the main reason she had been able to become a successful broker and achieve the FBAA award was Samios’ belief and trust in her, and his mentorship.

“I would not be standing in front of all of our beautiful customers without his help being able to coach me to do that,” she said.

“Secondly, I've got the most amazing team that works with me. No way would I have got that award without the help of those guys, they're fantastic. They're the best people I could have working next to me. It'd be like I feel blessed that they're there because they’re so supportive.”

Gandy said it was exciting to win the FBAA award but it wasn’t a solo effort – the team won it.

The other factor in her success is Madd Loan’s clients, said Gandy.

“Every day I feel so blessed to come into this office being surrounded by my amazing team and being able to have all these amazing people.”

The broking team at Madd Loans features two residential brokers – Gandy and Costa Demetriou, commercial broker Cici Yang, and asset finance broker Serigo Demetriou, plus credit analysts, financial planners and other support staff.

Pictured above are some of the Madd Loans team, from left, brokers Costa Demetriou and Cathie Gandy, founder George Samios, operations manager Tia Niarhos and financial planner Matthew Prentice.

Advice for other new brokers

Asked what she had learnt so far as a broker, Gandy said the biggest lesson would be making sure you always looked after your clients, especially as buying property was a daunting process.

“Always be doing the right thing 100% of the time for the client because you're not doing it for yourself, you're doing it for them … you have to give them that excellent customer service.

“This is a big thing we stand for here at Madd, which I've learned from George personally – these   people aren't just numbers in a book, these people are family. You get to know them on a very personal level.”

Educating people about finance is also a big focus at Madd Loans, said Gandy. Samios visits schools to teach financial literacy to Year 11 and 12 students. The brokerage also runs investor and first home buyer workshops.

Women in broking

While Gandy didn’t want to make a big deal about being a female broker in a traditionally male-dominated profession, she said it was important to encourage women to be confident and realise  that they could do the job just as well as their male counterparts.

“There’s absolutely nothing stopping you from going out and achieving the goals, becoming number one,” said Gandy. “Our commercial broker Cici Yang is fantastic, probably the smartest person I’ve ever met, she’s absolutely incredible.”

While just being nominated for the FBAA award was amazing, to win the award as a young woman “is something else and it might just give other younger women a boost and to just back yourself”, said Gandy.