Grant Arbuckle, 31, established GA Finance in 2019 in Melbourne, Victoria, as a new broker to the industry.
Before starting GA Finance, Grant worked as a Business Development Manager for eight years, before making the switch:
“I made the move into finance and mortgage broking because I wanted to work one-on-one with customers at a personal level. I’m motivated by the feeling of being there when the client picks up the keys on settlement day, and knowing I’ve helped them get there.”
“The key value I’ve brought to my work as a broker over the last 12-18 months is providing a consistently high level of care. Often this comes down to putting in the time to deliver a result that other brokers can’t.”
Starting out as a solo operator, Grant started GA Finance doing everything by himself from broking to client services to lodging applications, but as his business began to take off, he realised the need to recruit new staff:
“In 2020, as my business grew, I hired two team members to manage client services and administration. This freed me up to focus on what I do best as a finance and lending specialist, which resulted in a 52% increase year-on-year in total settled loans.”
Grant is proud of the team he has built around him to support GA Finance’s continued growth, which was validated by his nomination for ‘New Office of the Year’ in the 2021 Australia Broking Awards.
“Any broker can be great by themselves, but the best businesses are built by teams. I feel incredibly comfortable handing one of my clients over to my team at the loan application stage, which speaks to our strong shared values. This support has enabled me to be a better broker and continue to grow my loan book.”
While still relatively new to broking, Grant’s business has really taken flight with exponential growth.
“GA Finance’s huge growth in the past year is a result of my dedication to first home buyers. No scenario ever goes in the ‘too hard’ category. For example, a client came to me for a straight refinance to save money on their home loan, having slowly built up a number of debts over time. While viewing their entire financial position, however, I was able to save them over $1000 a month in overall liability repayments. This left the client in a significantly better position that they didn’t expect coming in, and they’re now using that money to pay down their home loan.”
