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The history of Squirrel
2021 - Thirteen years on
Squirrel's been around for 13 years now and it's been a journey, growing from just JB to over 70 strong and counting. But throughout it all, we've never lost sight of what we're all about - getting a better, fairer deal for our clients.
We have written over $8 billion of home loans and $100 million in peer-to-peer loans – helping out a lot of Kiwis in the process. Scroll down to go back through the years and see how we started.
2020
The year of the pandemic. Squirrel continued to grow, despite a year of uncertainty and turmoil we stayed true to our purpose. Growing our staff by around 50% and doubling our P2P lending, we launched some exciting new products that benefited both investors and borrowers alike including term investments into residential mortgages and bridging finance.
2016
Squirrel was the first to offer a secondary market to their P2P investors, offering them a way to sell their investments in the marketplace allowing them to get out early if they need to. Continuing to strive to offer a customer-centric service.
Squirrel Mortgages acquires Aspire Advisers, almost doubling the size of the company overnight.
2015
Squirrel Money peer-to-peer (P2P) lending launches. The first NZ P2P lender to be solely funded by Kiwi retail investors, lending to Kiwi borrowers. No institutions involved. Also the first to use a reserve fund to cover any losses meaning the investors get their monthly payments even if one of our borrowers misses a payment.
Squirrel takes all 27 employees on a trip to the Gold Coast, our first company conference. What goes on tour, stays on tour.
2008
On 29th January, John Bolton (aka JB) founded Squirrel during the midst of the GFC. Never one to shy away from a challenge, JB was sick of seeing the same old issues coming up again and again for home buyers. Nobody was in their corner, everyone was working on behalf of the seller.
JB felt it was time to even up the playing field so that's what he did with Squirrel. Squirrel is all about the buyer.
Melvin
New Zealand
Sudam was very helpful and quiet patient. He was available to talk and clear our doubts any time of the day. I will recommend Sudam to my friends and relatives .M
Mary
Auckland, New Zealand
So grateful for Kyle's and Squirrel's guidance. Ours wasn't a simple transaction, so we appreciated having our hands held throughout the whole process resulting in an easy home purchase. Kyle was so informative and incredible speedy. Thanks so much!M
Pete
New Zealand
Excellent service from Kyle. He did a great job arranging our mortgage requirements and kept us informed throughout the process.P
Daniel
Auckland, New Zealand
I would highly recommend Jessica Molony as she got us into our first home. She was very knowledgeable and helped us right through the process.D
Jo
Hamilton, New Zealand
Jessica Molony was brilliant to work with. Was easily available by phone or email and made the whole process seamless. She is a credit to your business.J
Courtney
New Zealand
We have purchased our first home thanks to Squirrels launchpad package. The team were so helpful, so prompt and kept us informed the entire time we couldn't have been able to do it without them!C
Nicole
Patea, New Zealand
All communication throughout the process was fantastic. Any queries I had were answered straight away. The Squirrel agent was very good to talk and extremely helpful. Thank you very much for the service.N
Michelle
Putaruru, New Zealand
Alfonso was helpful and we felt like he had our best interests in mind when arranging the mortgage for us.M
