The desk comes first.

I have been working as a mortgage broker since 2009, and I hold CeRER and Cert CII (MP) qualifications. From the start I was drawn to the corners of lending where good advice makes the biggest difference: buy-to-let, homeowner loans, bad credit and the other complex cases where clients most need an experienced adviser on their side.

In 2012 I co-founded my whole-of-market mortgage brokerage, Echo Finance, with my good friend and fellow adviser, Lee Trett. Our vision was simple: combine robust compliance with razor-sharp digital infrastructure. That obsession with streamlining user journeys eventually led us to found LeadCrowd, which has gone on to become one of the biggest lead generation platforms for mortgage brokers and financial advisers in the UK.

In 2021 we brought that same thinking straight to consumers with Money Helpdesk - clear, jargon-free mortgage guidance and a direct route to a real adviser. Since then we have launched BrokerBricks, a customisable tech stack for mortgage brokers that includes an industry-first free criteria lookup tool.

Still an adviser first

Alongside running the brands under our umbrella, I have never stopped advising. My specialisms remain buy-to-let mortgages, homeowner loans and bad credit cases - complex, niche lending where experience counts.

That knowledge feeds back into everything we build: I peer-review the mortgage guides our brands publish, bringing what I see in real cases to the content our readers rely on. I am incredibly proud of the collaborative, nationwide broker team we have built at Echo Finance, which now has a headcount of over 70 - advisers we treat as true partners in growth.