What does a branch lending officer do?
A branch lending officer is typically in charge of processing loan applications, ensuring accuracy and smooth workflow. Their responsibilities revolve around liaising with clients to identify their needs, conducting interviews and assessments, gathering and reviewing requirements, and coordinating with analysts and other staff. They may also perform clerical tasks such as answering calls and correspondence, arranging appointments, and maintaining records of all transactions. Furthermore, as a branch lending officer, it is essential to provide efficient customer service, all while adhering to the company's policies and regulations, including its vision and mission.
Branch lending officer responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real branch lending officer resumes:
- Manage financial resources from budget, treasury, expenditure commitments, accounting and finance, report from different departments to donors/stakeholders.
- Obtain unique identifier with the NMLS.
- Train in FNMA and FHLMC retention, including producing and production staff.
- Originate and process conventional/VA loans in compliance with FNMA, FHLMC, and non-conforming investor guidelines.
- Review and evaluate both credit packages and appraisal to determine credit worthiness and compliance to FHA guidelines.
- Maximize margin by upselling customers.
- Analyze lenders underwriting guidelines and closing procedures.
- Establish procedures for commercial loan origination and servicing.
- Prepare comprehensive damage reports and cost estimating per lenders guidelines
- Supervise credit staff and relate lending areas, including loan underwriting, origination, servicing, portfolio/risk management and monitoring.
- Review final HUD with borrower.
- Handle everyday branch operations including: payment collection and account management.
- Focuse on portfolio growth, relationship management, product promotion and office management.
Branch lending officer skills and personality traits
We calculated that 19% of Branch Lending Officers are proficient in Business Relationships, Origination, and FHA. They’re also known for soft skills such as Detail oriented, Initiative, and Interpersonal skills.
We break down the percentage of Branch Lending Officers that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Business Relationships, 19%
Maintain effective business relationships with customers to ensure retention of existing businesses and referrals of new clients.
- Origination, 15%
Supervised credit staff and related lending areas, including loan underwriting, origination, servicing, portfolio/risk management and monitoring.
- FHA, 12%
Originate mortgage loans including Home Equity Lines of Credit, FHA, VA, conforming & nonconforming, etc.
- Mortgage Loans, 8%
Originated mortgage loans brokered to secondary market.
- Loan Products, 8%
Assisted in the formulation and implementation of a mortgage operation plan, researched various loan products and established new correspondent relationships.
- Customer Service, 8%
Maintain a high standard of customer service and ensure accuracy of transactions processed within established guidelines.
Common skills that a branch lending officer uses to do their job include "business relationships," "origination," and "fha." You can find details on the most important branch lending officer responsibilities below.
Detail oriented. To carry out their duties, the most important skill for a branch lending officer to have is detail oriented. Their role and responsibilities require that "information on an application affects the potential profitability of a loan, so loan officers must pay attention to details." Branch lending officers often use detail oriented in their day-to-day job, as shown by this real resume: "action-oriented recommendations made to senior loan committee frequently resulted and revised structuring of loan terms. "
Initiative. Another soft skill that's essential for fulfilling branch lending officer duties is initiative. The role rewards competence in this skill because "loan officers may act as salespeople in promoting their lending institution, so they must contact people and businesses to determine their need for a loan." According to a branch lending officer resume, here's how branch lending officers can utilize initiative in their job responsibilities: "analyzed applicant profiles and credit histories while reviewing loan approval contingencies to execute accurate and speedy pricing initiatives. "
Interpersonal skills. Another skill that relates to the job responsibilities of branch lending officers is interpersonal skills. This skill is critical to many everyday branch lending officer duties, as "loan officers must be able to guide customers through the application process and answer their questions." This example from a resume shows how this skill is used: "demonstrate professional and interpersonal skills and exceptional customer service throughout the loan process. "
The three companies that hire the most branch lending officers are:
- Citi95 branch lending officers jobs
- Bank of America32 branch lending officers jobs
- Bank of the West
13 branch lending officers jobs
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Compare different branch lending officers
Branch lending officer vs. Closer
The duties of a closer depend on one's line of work or industry of employment. Typically, their responsibilities revolve around liaising with clients to ensure that they understand and adhere to all terms of the agreement, completing all requirements and necessary documents, and maintaining records of all transactions. A closer must also monitor the regular payments of clients to ensure their compliance with the agreement, answer any inquiries, perform follow-up calls, and address any issues or concerns, resolving them promptly and efficiently.
There are some key differences in the responsibilities of each position. For example, branch lending officer responsibilities require skills like "business relationships," "origination," "loan products," and "credit data." Meanwhile a typical closer has skills in areas such as "cleanliness," "punctuality," "dependability," and "food orders." This difference in skills reveals the differences in what each career does.
On average, closers reach lower levels of education than branch lending officers. Closers are 6.8% less likely to earn a Master's Degree and 0.2% more likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Branch lending officer vs. Mortgage consultant
A mortgage consultant is an individual who helps customers and businesses identify the best option for mortgage deals based on their financial resources. To maintain an excellent relationship with clients, mortgage consultants must possess a broad knowledge of the company's products to answer all the clients' queries and concerns. They help clients gather and analyze documents that are required for loan approval and create accurate mortgage information. They also develop relationships with banks and real estate agents to help promote bank mortgages for clients.
Each career also uses different skills, according to real branch lending officer resumes. While branch lending officer responsibilities can utilize skills like "mortgage loans," "hmda," "cash flow," and "loan portfolio," mortgage consultants use skills like "nmls," "financial data," "loan approval," and "fannie mae."
On average, mortgage consultants earn a lower salary than branch lending officers. Some industries support higher salaries in each profession. Interestingly enough, mortgage consultants earn the most pay in the finance industry with an average salary of $36,576. Whereas branch lending officers have higher pay in the finance industry, with an average salary of $46,902.Average education levels between the two professions vary. Mortgage consultants tend to reach similar levels of education than branch lending officers. In fact, they're 3.3% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.2% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Branch lending officer vs. Loan administrator
A Loan Administrator is a person that takes care of all the documentation part of the loan process. Loans require a lot of documents and requirements, and a loan administrator is a person that helps the client accomplish all these requirements. It is also their job to help clients resolve issues and problems during the loan process. A Loan Administrator is a crucial and hectic job. The one qualified for this position must be good at handling pressure, be good at resolving issues, handle complaints, and communicate with people.
Some important key differences between the two careers include a few of the skills necessary to fulfill the responsibilities of each. Some examples from branch lending officer resumes include skills like "business relationships," "loan products," "credit data," and "financial services," whereas a loan administrator is more likely to list skills in "data entry," "loan administration," "due diligence," and "booking. "
Loan administrators earn the highest salary when working in the finance industry, where they receive an average salary of $48,093. Comparatively, branch lending officers have the highest earning potential in the finance industry, with an average salary of $46,902.Most loan administrators achieve a similar degree level compared to branch lending officers. For example, they're 2.8% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 0.0% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Branch lending officer vs. Mortgage broker
Even though a few skill sets overlap between branch lending officers and mortgage brokers, there are some differences that are important to note. For one, a branch lending officer might have more use for skills like "origination," "mortgage loans," "customer service," and "credit data." Meanwhile, some responsibilities of mortgage brokers require skills like "va," "loan programs," "loan process," and "real estate brokers. "
The average resume of mortgage brokers showed that they earn similar levels of education compared to branch lending officers. So much so that theyacirc;euro;trade;re 1.9% less likely to earn a Master's Degree and more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree by 0.5%.Types of branch lending officer
Updated January 8, 2025
