In the Spotlight with Matt Cottle of Y3S Group

Matt Cottle of Y3S Group talks awards, animals and why we shouldn't underestimate the secured loans industry...

 

1. How long have you been at Y3S and what is your role?

My title is Commercial Director, meaning that I look after everything to do with the way the way we portray ourselves as a business. I work with the directors of the group’s subsidiary companies to help them get the right message across to our target market of financial intermediaries, affiliates and networks. My business partner Barney Drake and I started the company ten years ago. 

 

2. What do you see happening in the secured lending industry in the next 12 months?

Despite the uncertain times we live in, the UK’s secured loan lenders are doing a great job of driving the industry forward right now, with new products, increased LTV’s and advances and lower rates. Secured loan brokers, never ones to be shy, are taking what’s on offer to as many clients as they can find. People in the secured loan industry should never be underestimated; they’re a hardy bunch. 

 

3. What is the best thing about your job?

I love my job, no matter how tough it gets. Y3S is known to be innovative and dynamic. We have a great management team and we work well together creating new ideas and delivering ways to help clear the path for intermediaries to earn money from secured loans, bridging loans, mortgages and debt management.  Collecting awards for ‘Best B2B Secured Loan Packager’ and an ‘Outstanding Contribution’ to the industry at the Blemain Group Awards last week makes it worth the effort that goes in. 

 

4. And the worst thing?

The uncertainty and sheer depth of the economic depression has been astounding. Witnessing the market shrink to ten times its previous level and not being able to give loans to perfectly viable customers is a real shame and such a waste of a demand that can’t be met.  

 

5. If you could be an animal what would it be and why?

Random. I think I’d like to be one of my dogs. They are fit and muscular because they don’t drink alcohol or eat junk food, and they run for miles every day without getting out of breath.  They only care about food, shelter and good company, and best of all they really have no concerns about the economic climate whatsoever. 

 

6. If you weren’t working at Y3S what would you be doing?

I would probably be a car salesman at a quality garage. That way, I could drive lots of nice cars without losing a small fortune each time I got out of them! 

 

7. What do you like to do on your weekends off?

I spend all my spare time with my family and our collection of various animals. My wife used to be a veterinary nurse and so all the waifs and strays end up at our place for an indeterminate amount of time. We did have a Shetland pony living on our back lawn for a while, but he’s gone to a new home now. The lawn is ruined of course.

 

8. What’s the biggest issue you have to deal with at the moment in the secured lending area?

Due to restricted funding, there is currently more money available to lend than there are people in a position to borrow it. It’s a bizarre position considering there was no money not so long back, but there is still a long way to go. I hope that in two or three years’ time, we will have a free-flowing financial system so that we can get good people the money they need. 

 

9. Where is your favourite destination in the world and why?

There is a very small privately-owned coral island in the Seychelles with just 50 inhabitants. It’s called Denis Island. We were fortunate enough to spend our holiday there a few years ago. There is no TV, no internet; no mobile signal, no 3G, and you can’t buy anything there. I thought it would be hell, but it was paradise, beyond perfect. It was a proper Robinson Crusoe moment.