The educational requirements for a loan officer range from a high school diploma to a college degree. To become a commercial loan officer, you often need an on-campus or online degree in finance or economics.
Often, loan officers advance to their position from other areas of their institution such as customer service or teller.
Often, loan officers advance to their position from other areas of their institution such as customer service or teller.
Related Loan Officer Programs
What does a loan officer do?
Loan officers facilitate lending by finding and serving clients who need loans. One of their responsibilities is to gather the information required to determine whether or not the applicant will repay the loan. If a loan customer is having difficulty qualifying, the loan officer will explain why and possibly suggest another loan product.
The three loan specialties are consumer, commercial and mortgage loans. Loan officers will usually specialize in one of the three. Another loan officer duty is to guide the client through the loan application process. The loan officer gathers all of the information from the client including income, assets and liabilities and their employment situation.
The loan officer obtains a credit report and begins analyzing the risk. The main question the loan officer attempts to answer is does the applicant have the ability to repay the loan. Then they decide whether or not to grant the funds.
For commercial loans, depending on the size, a loan officer may seek out other institutions to share in the risk.
Since some aspect of being a loan officer can include sales, some skill in that area will help you make more loans and get repeat clients.
What kind of education does a loan officer need?
While there are no educational requirements to enter this career, if you’re interested in working with larger loans, a business degree with an emphasis on finance might be appropriate.
Courses you’ll take in that curriculum include finance, accounting and risk management. These will help you understand the financial documents you’ll be seeing as a loan officer.
How much does a loan officer earn?
Bureau of Labor Statistics suggest that median annual salaries for loan officers are at around $54,700.
Where can a loan officer work?
Almost nine out of ten loan officers work for savings institutions, banks, credit unions and other financial institutions