Loan Officer: What is the cost of hiring?

Why hire a loan officer?

The need for new staff can affect both your existing team and your bottom line. A great loan officer hire can help your business:

• Evaluate the creditworthiness of loan applicants considering different parameters and checking the documentation for approval or denial
• Conduct follow-up interviews with prospective customers to determine financial eligibility for loans
• Complete loan contracts, communicate with clients for any required information and maintain loan approval records

What are the types of loan officers?

When you want to hire a loan officer it’s important to understand the type of loan officer you need. Each type of loan officer specializes in a certain area (e.g., real estate, consumer loans). Here are some of the most common types of loan officers:

Commercial loan officer: Responsible for assessing and processing applications for business loans.

Consumer loan officer: Helps customers secure financing by organizing and processing applications for personal loans.

Mortgage loan originator (MLO): Guides people who are applying for a residential mortgage through the approval process — from preparing the loan to closing. 

Where to find loan officers

To find the right loan officer for your business, consider trying out a few different recruiting strategies:

• Hire from within: Do any of your current employees meet the qualifications for your loan officer role? If so, consider hiring from within. Not only do current employees already understand your business and how it works, but internal promotions can also boost team morale. 
• Ask for referrals: Ask employees, friends, family and others in your professional network if they know anyone who would be good fit for your loan officer role.
• Tap into professional associations: There are many state and local mortgage banking associations. With a membership, you can often access directories of members who match your hiring criteria. 
• Post your job online: Try posting your loan officer job on Indeed to find and attract quality loan officer candidates.

Skills to look for in a great loan officer

Loan officers are the credit health checker of companies. They ensure loans get approved to the right applicant with minimum repayment risk. A great loan officer candidate will have training, qualifications and experience that reflect these top loan officer skills and qualifications:

• A bachelor’s degree in finance, accounting or a related field
• Demonstrated experience as a loan officer or similar role
• Familiarity and working knowledge of banking and financial software applications
• Strong understanding of lending practices and products across the industry
• Customer focused with strong sales acumen
• Effective communication and interpersonal skills

Writing a loan officer job description

A thoughtful description is important to finding qualified loan officer candidates. A loan officer job description should include a compelling summary of the role, a detailed list of duties and responsibilities, and the required and preferred skills for the position.

When writing your loan officer job description, consider including some or all of the following keywords to improve the visibility of your job posting. These are the most popular search terms leading to clicks on loan officer jobs, according to Indeed data:

• Loan officer
• Mortgage loan officer
• Banking
• Mortgage
• Remote work from home
• Loan officer assistant
• Real estate
• Loan processor
• Mortgage loan originator
• Real estate assistant

Interviewing loan officer candidates

To hire a dynamic and ethical loan officer, come up with interview questions that will test each candidate’s skill set and knowledge of the industry. Strong candidates for loan officer positions will be confident when answering a variety of questions about the following topics:

• Different lending procedures and their implications
• Step-by-step approaches of loan approval and required paperwork
• Whether or not they’re focused on achieving a credit target or granting loans only to eligible applicants by through ethical means

Need help coming up with interview questions? See our list of loan officer interview questions for examples (with sample answers).