Placeholder
Originally from Ireland, I came to Australia in 2007 as a backpacker and like most backpackers fell in love with the Australian life style and knew it would become my home.
I started my financial career when I was in college as a trainee accountant. While working for that company I realised I had a massive interest in the area of home loans and wanted to work closer with the public with a more hands on approach. I moved to lending at that point where I worked for 7 years.
Looking to expand my career further and learn more about the industry, I moved to a sub-prime company where I worked as an underwriter. After a few years I became a team leader for the offers/valuation area.
Joining the Astute team is very exciting for me as we share the same passion for customer service, while understanding the importance of finding the prefect product for each person.
I look forward to my growth within Astute as I look forward to working with you closely.
debbie.fagan@astutefinancial.com.au
136 Mulgrave Road, Cairns, QLD 4870
Astute are very professional & helpful. Would recommend these guys to anyone looking at refinancing or purchasing. Started with this team when they were in their little office, my how they have grown. Special thanks to Verena for all her help but all the staff are wonderful and great with the little ones as well 🙂 Thanks heaps.
First, Tania: Quite simply, a complete, caring professional. I am not sure where on the spectrum the amount of work she did to get us into our current home falls in her professional career (mind-blowingly easy, somewhat challenging, borderline impossible…), but to us it literally meant the world. The reason we came back to her (and Astute) is because of the level of care and attention she gave us–we don’t feel like a number, an account, a bottom line, or a percentage point. I would recommend her (and go back to her for advice) again and again and again; when we found ourselves in the position to invest and/or buy again, our first thought was we needed to talk to Tania before doing literally anything else.
Building on that, Astute: Again, I would (and do) recommend them to anyone when talk of buying a home or investing comes up. Long story short, I work for a guy named Scotty Garden, and there is very little under the Earth’s sun I would not do for him; ergo I take his advice on anything as gospel. When I causally mentioned a few years back that Michelle and I were thinking of buying a house, he enthusiastically recommended we talk to John Watts at Cairns Home Loans and we did, and John gave us solid, practical advice: Save a bit more and come back to us. And we did, because he looked after us as people (again not an account). He could have talked us into buying something we couldn’t afford, or buying something we didn’t really want, or (as one local branch of an unnamed John Symond-run group told us) we were grumpily told it was “unrealistic” to think of buying a home in our position. Working in tourism/hospitality, I appreciate the personal attention, as well as helping a local business continue doing what it does well.
Sorry to gush, but Michelle and I really do hold you and your whole team in the highest regard. Thank you again, and I will [not] try to stay out of trouble.
John and the team looked after us on many fronts from mortgage, superannuation and even life insurance. We even compared rates on our new vehicle lease and Astute came through better than any bank.
These guys definitely have the XFactor
We recently had an appointment with Astute to help us sort out our mortgage needs. From the moment we stepped into the building we were made to feel welcome. From Shae on the front desk to Damian during our appointment. Damian went above and beyond to help us with our needs, explaining things simply and offering further support. It all makes so much more sense when you have someone who knows what they’re talking about! Thank you so much.
Billie is friendly and genuine. She is knowledgeable about the products she talks about and comes across as someone who will work hard to get you the best possible deal.
We have been using John since we bought our first house in 2008 and taken sound advice from him in all our finance dealing ever since; which has included, opening a business, building our second house and now purchasing an investment property. We trust the advice given to us and not understanding the finance world hugely rely on the knowledge given to us in making decisions. We thank Verena very much with her patience throughout each deal and her simple way of explaining the overwhelming fluff that the banks put on paper. Johns stickmen and drawings helped us immensely 🙂 We really feel like we have actually made some good friends when dealing with Astute.
We just wanted to say thank you for all your help & hard work!
We would have been lost in this whole process without you.