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What are the top 3 traits or skills every credit analyst must have to excel?

Can you suggest any tips or insights to develop your credit analyst expertise?

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Host said: What are the top 3 traits or skills every credit analyst must have to excel?

Can you suggest any tips or insights to develop your credit analyst expertise?

I have been a Credit Analyst for many years. There is a website called www.finysis.net which sells some really good books and software to help Credit Analysts: the Volume 1 books cover how to analyze companies and the Volume 2 ones provide some great real-life examples. Give it a try.

Well that depends on what type of credit analyst you are becoming. Is it sales oriented? If so, first and foremost you have to be yourself with your customers and clients. Don't ever follow a script the company provides you. You'll never be successful that way. You have to treat each customer/client the same and the same respect will be given back to you. I've had clients give me business when they weren't necessarily profiting more going with my company, only because they rather do business with me than the next analyst. In my history most clients don't care who I work for, they want the best deal and someone who isn't going to bs them all day with nonsense.

The rest is just boring math and paperwork.

i want to become a credit analyst, i m doing some collection right now... i do have some background in finance. i would like to know if my collection experience can be an asset.

I have a question....
What are the job responsiblities that you have as a Credit Analyst? I'm a Sr. Analyst at a Public company...I'm curious to compare job Responsibilites.

Below are mine:
1. Review all financials for tenants entering into agreement in our malls.
2. Work Directly with LGL, and BNK counsel to do analysis and workouts for our outside counsel. These "workouts" show delinquencies, interest and late fees, and show a real time delinquency for tenant.
3. Net Present Values for Leases that are vacating early from their Obligation.
4. Rent Relief, today in this environment, I negotiate relief for tenants in need. I figure out Occupancy Costs, cash flow analysis, whether a relief will even help this tenant.
5. Analyze and process reports for CFO and VP Acct. & Finance.
6. We have a Collections Manager, but I go through and view accounts that our collectors need to call.
7. Manage the Bad Debt Reserve for our company, which means staying ahead of the news in order to reserve the correct tenants before Debt gets to material.

I have other responsibilites, but I get paid $55K from a Public company doing this. I would like to know what you others get paid, and if your responsiblities are comparable.

Thank you and have a good night.

When I was an analyst I was on the low end side of salary only because I was young and got promoted fast, but a decent salary for a credit analyst is anywhere between 50-60k a year, hopefully with the opportunity to make commission. I got laid off and unless I try to go back to the company that I left when everything was right in the world, theres not much out there. But in this economy I'd take 40 grand just to get back into the game and work my way up from there. I just hate the corporate office structure. I very rarely see a decent credit analyst position online for offer and if there is, theres probably 500 other people applying for it.

The only plus side in the business is networks. Keep your networks. Theres always hope when someone tries out another pool to see how the temperature is.

Also for the credit industry I was in my responsibilities were to establish a niche with our bank in local businesses competing with other banks. It was mostly relationship developing and getting businesses to work with your company rather than the other. The rest was just paperwork that other people took care of. Of course I had to read credit reports and establish a rates and make large credit decisions but that stuff is easy, 90% of banks you work for are going to have a structure that you have to follow regardless.

See I think Credit Analyst is too broad of a title. You work with banks, we have a Treasury Dept. that works with the banks, being a REIT, I'm just completely on the other side of it, with the financials, LGL, negotiations, leasing, and accounting on occassions. I was just curious as to what other Analysts made in comparison to what I was, because I feel pretty underpaid, when a Collections Manager is making almost what I make without a degree and I do a lot of his work, it chaps my ass to see no one recognize this.

Can anyone please explain me what exactly is to SPREAD Financials? I have an idea of what it means; however, I need bit more insight.

Thanks in advance.

J.

Spreading means taking the financial information from tax returns, audited statements, and any company prepared statement and putting the numbers together in a format similar that allows a company to make a decision regarding whether they want to extend credit to the client.

Thanks for your reply.

Appreciate it.

J.

Ha ha. I never knew analyzing tax returns etc. to establish a credit file had a proper name.