Having spent his career with leading financial institutions, Douglas McCrea founded McCrea Financial Services in 1999 to provide the personalised comprehensive financial planning services he could see his clients needed.

While ensuring his team are among the most qualified financial advisers in the country, securing Platinum Investors in People accreditation, Douglas considers his a 'people business', with client relationships at the heart of high quality, personalised service.

In your 20 years in business, online providers have changed how many people buy mortgages and financial protection. Why is face to face still the best option? 

As much as we’ve all embraced new technology, we find the majority of people still enjoy the personal touch and being able to discuss important matters in person. We are fortunate that we have fantastic staff that our clients build a real rapport and relationship with over the years. I have yet to meet a computer that goes the extra mile to help people.

What do your clients tell you they appreciate most about your personalised approach?

The first question we ask clients is how we can help them. We are fortunate that as we deal in all aspects of our clients’ financial affairs, we can incorporate other areas into the mortgage advice. For example, we can look at budgets and other invested assets and work with clients to ensure their mortgage is paid off by a particular date – possibly when they wish to retire early. Our clients have told us they appreciate this personal attention and in depth understanding of their situation, as it gives them peace of mind that we’re giving them the best possible advice.

Our clients regularly leave testimonials on our website, and most of them are about our people, rather than products. Time and again we hear that people are delighted with the service we offer, and how much time and attention they receive from our specialist team. Much of our new business comes from people who’ve been referred to us by friends and family who are already clients, and I think that says a lot about how happy people are with the experience of working with us.

Finally, what do you think the future of mortgage and financial advice looks like?

I genuinely don’t think our clients’ experience of working with us will change greatly over the coming years. While we continually look to improve and stay up to date with the latest systems, technology and products behind the scenes, we’ll always focus on providing the high quality personalised and professional face to face service that our clients have come to associate with us.

Click here to find out more about how we can help you to achieve your own personal financial goals or read more about our mortgage service here.