Although it might only feel like yesterday to owner George Samios, this month sees Madd Loans celebrating a massive ten years in business as one of the nation’s leading and most innovative mortgage brokers. While the Madd brand has certainly come a long way since it’s early days as a one man band in East Brisbane, the aim of the game has remained the same: to help ordinary Queenslanders bring their financial dreams to life.
In fact, George has a swag of awards to prove it, along with features on “Ready, Set, Reno!” and numerous television broadcasts. By providing a memorable and fun experience for consumers navigating the realms of finance, George has stuck to this simple formula in order to maintain and elevate his brand to the best that it can be.
First established in 2012, Madd Loans have managed to kick some serious business goals – all via exceptional customer service and strong industry relationships. In a nutshell, the Madd mission has always been to turn a client into a raving fan. According to George, his diverse crew are the very foundations that have built Madd into an industry powerhouse, and he takes great pride in Madd’s staff retention ratings, education opportunities and career progression. In his own words, the Madd brand came to life after he realised that there was only so much he could do to service clients whilst working in a bank.
“At 23, I was bright eyed, bushy tailed and working in one of the big banks. Even then, I just loved the fact that I could wake up every day and help people, and within two years I’d already become one of the bank’s top lenders. My friends noticed this passion, but my success suddenly didn’t taste so sweet after one of them told me that in order to be the very best at my job, I needed to become a mortgage broker.
At the time, I had no idea what a mortgage broker was. The way it was explained to me was that at the bank, I had the power to write one loan – but as a broker, I could choose from hundreds. It dawned on me that I’d been telling my customers that I’d found them the best deal in Australia, but this was a lie. I also realised that pursuing a career as a mortgage broker offered me a way to help all of those people that had previously been declined for a loan with one particular bank, and that there were several other lending providers who could potentially offer an alternative.”
Although saddled with his own half a million dollar mortgage, George left his position with the bank and embarked on the journey to become a mortgage broker. George met with a wide variety of industry aggregators, and soon signed up for a partnership with Connective – a business relationship that is still going strong today. When brainstorming a name for George’s new enterprise, it was his mother who originally coined MADD loans, or “make a difference daily”.
His newly rented office didn’t exactly have the makings of a state of the art financial institution, so George actively avoided bringing his first customers there and took them out for coffee around Brisbane instead. However, George soon got to work to change this, and painted his workspace green. While this particular hue had long symbolised money and happiness, it also formed the foundations of the Madd Loans branding.
It’s important to note that a wide variety of George’s earliest partnerships are still rock solid today. Madd has the same IT and marketing consultants that they’ve had since the company’s inception, and the very first clients are still loyal to George and the team all these years later. While all of these unique characters have become integral threads in the Madd Loans tapestry, they’ve also embraced change as George has continued to develop the business model to include full scale financial planning as a means to truly assist Australians to reach their own version of financial freedom.
By learning, living, watching and experiencing, George knows people. He’s dealt with the extremes in personalities, and consciously practices what he preaches through leading by example. As a result, Madd Loans is now a multi national award winning mortgage broking firm, and George has assembled a team of some of the best in the business. With Madd Loans set to have half a billion dollars in settlements to their name in 2022 alone, it’s safe to say that both George and the entire team at Madd Loans have big things on the horizon, and a bright future ahead through changing the finance game.
