What Does a Commercial Underwriter Do?

A commercial underwriter is responsible for processing commercial loan applications, evaluating payment agreements and terms of service, validating customers' information, and requesting additional documents as needed. Commercial underwriters analyze the credit qualifications of an applicant, including financial history, account statements, and outstanding loan applications, if any. They identify potential credit risks for the loan request and advice the applicants for alternative loan options according to their needs and qualifications. A commercial underwriter responds to the applicants' inquiries and concerns regarding their loan applications and provides timely decisions for their requests.

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Commercial Underwriter Responsibilities

Here are examples of responsibilities from real commercial underwriter resumes representing typical tasks they are likely to perform in their roles.

Handle new and renewal multi-line policies.
Quoted new business and handle multi-line commercial accounts for this retailer.
Front office administration; maintain A/R and A/P for 1000+ commercial lines clients and 2000+ personal lines clients.
Market banking services to individuals, as well as to small businesses and corporations through networking and cross-selling.
Update loan origination systems to ensure that pipeline reports reflect the most current status for active loan in process.
Work along with the owner and accounting staff on all financial matters, A/R, A/P, payroll, and taxes.
Develop and execute marketing plan to drive new business, including in-person visits, telemarketing and distribution of marketing materials.
Review individual mortgage origination/post origination documentation and perform database research.
File UCC filings on certain customers.
Complete a comprehensive white paper on earthquake and flood risks in Hawaii.
Conduct UCC searches on various entities to mitigate risk associate with request lines of credit.
Analyze and compile documents and information necessary to obtain securities qualification of mortgage bond offering/financing projects.
Utilize RMS to model catastrophic perils risks for both large and small schedules.
Resolve customer complaints and concerns with strong verbal and negotiation skills.
Review individual mortgage origination/post origination documentation and perform database research.

Commercial Underwriter Job Description

Between the years 2018 and 2028, commercial underwriter jobs are expected to undergo a growth rate described as "decline" at -5%, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. So if the thought "should I become a commercial underwriter?" Has crossed your mind, maybe you should take the growth rate into account. In addition, the number of commercial underwriter opportunities that are projected to become available by 2028 is -5,400.

A commercial underwriter annual salary averages $59,051, which breaks down to $28.39 an hour. However, commercial underwriters can earn anywhere from upwards of $41,000 to $84,000 a year. This means that the top-earning commercial underwriters make $48,000 more than the lowest-earning ones.

Once you've become a commercial underwriter, you may be curious about what other opportunities are out there. Careers aren't one size fits all. For that reason, we discovered some other jobs that you may find appealing. Some jobs you might find interesting include a bank officer, mortgage banker, credit officer, and loan officer.

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5 Commercial Underwriter Resume Examples

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Lauren Powell Commercial Underwriter Contact Information Wilmington, DE (260) 555-1103 lpowell@example.com Skills Underwriting Guidelines Real Estate Credit Lines Financial Statements Prospective Customers Business Development Credit Reports Surplus Lines Cpcu Credit Limits Employment History Commercial Underwriter 2019 - Present American International Group Wilmington, DE Analyzed company's financial statements. Process contracts and loan applications. Assured that all underwriting guidelines have been met for approval. Bank Officer 2017 - 2019 BB&T Greensboro, NC Prepared and maintained documentation of accounting processes and procedures, compiling with GAAP, internal and external auditing regulations. Communicate results of analysis and/or research to appropriate corporate compliance/enterprise risk management personnel including conclusions and recommendations for next steps. Managed $9,000,000 loan portfolio. Credit Administrator 2014 - 2017 American Express Greensboro, NC Trained vendors to mirror best practices of Internal Credit Department improving customer satisfaction. Use of Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint * Monitor accounts to reduce credit risk to company. Received incoming calls from cardholders requesting credit limit increases. Collected and skiptraced delinquent accounts. Run credit reports and Dunn and Bradstreet reports on all applications and review debit to credit ratio on all cases. Analyzed and approved Financial Institution and Corporate credit risk and cross-country risk. Education Bachelor's Degree Business 2006 - 2009 Liberty University Lynchburg, VA


Juan Rice Commercial Underwriter Contact Info Dallas, TX (710) 555-2066 jrice@example.com Skills Ensure ComplianceRLegal DocumentsPortfolioRisk ManagementProceduresFinancial StatementsForeclosureRisk AssessmentsAnalyze Data Employment History Commercial Underwriter 2012 - Present Capital One Dallas, TX Estimated income and reviewed financial statements for personal and business returns. Applied analytical and business expertise in the interpretation of applicable internal and regulatory underwriting guidelines. Worked in DU and LP systems underwriting FHA and VA loans conforming and non-conforming. Direct endorsement underwriter as wall as VA LAPP & SAR licensed underwriter Risk Analyst 2002 - 2012 Capital One Dallas, TX Educated customers on contract terms while Adhere to company policies and procedures. Assisted with identifying, designing, and executing the appropriate risk management processes and practices for establishing a well-managed business. Worked directly with Risk Stewards to ensure completion of risk management initiatives. Key member of the Global Risk Data Quality Team that was in charge of the credit risk system. Commercial Credit Analyst 1999 - 2002 Bank of America Dallas, TX Sourced information from various product processors to perform credit analysis and due diligence on customers. Completed the monthly financial statements review and quarterly risk rating to identify risk deterioration. Reviewed customer's financial statements and assessed credit worthiness. Education Bachelor's Degree Business 1996 - 1999 Ashford University San Diego, CA


Juan Rice Commercial Underwriter Dallas, TX (710) 555-2066 jrice@example.com Experience Commercial Underwriter2012 - Present Capital One•Dallas, TX Estimated income and reviewed financial statements for personal and business returns. Applied analytical and business expertise in the interpretation of applicable internal and regulatory underwriting guidelines. Worked in DU and LP systems underwriting FHA and VA loans conforming and non-conforming. Direct endorsement underwriter as wall as VA LAPP & SAR licensed underwriter Risk Analyst2002 - 2012 Capital One•Dallas, TX Educated customers on contract terms while Adhere to company policies and procedures. Assisted with identifying, designing, and executing the appropriate risk management processes and practices for establishing a well-managed business. Worked directly with Risk Stewards to ensure completion of risk management initiatives. Key member of the Global Risk Data Quality Team that was in charge of the credit risk system. Commercial Credit Analyst1999 - 2002 Bank of America•Dallas, TX Sourced information from various product processors to perform credit analysis and due diligence on customers. Completed the monthly financial statements review and quarterly risk rating to identify risk deterioration. Reviewed customer's financial statements and assessed credit worthiness. Skills Ensure ComplianceRLegal DocumentsPortfolioRisk ManagementProceduresFinancial StatementsForeclosureRisk AssessmentsAnalyze Data Education Bachelor's Degree Business1996 - 1999 Ashford University•San Diego, CA

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Commercial Underwriter Skills and Personality Traits

We calculated that 10% of Commercial Underwriters are proficient in Real Estate, Customer Service, and Financial Analysis. They’re also known for soft skills such as Analytical skills, Math skills, and Detail oriented.

We break down the percentage of Commercial Underwriters that have these skills listed on their resume here:

Real Estate, 10%
Collected and analyzed financial information and prepared underwriting packages for commercial and commercial real estate loans.
Customer Service, 8%
Provided excellent customer service to maintain broker relationships and better influence negotiating leverage of coverage terms or pricing.
Financial Analysis, 8%
Perform historical financial analysis with an emphasis on liquidity, cash flow, profitability, leverage.
Credit Analysis, 6%
Prepared credit analysis as needed and spread financial statements utilizing Moody's software.
Cash Flow, 4%
Review balance sheets, income statements, cash flow, projections, budgets and other financial statements for commercial loan applicants.
Risk Management, 4%
Improved profitability by skillful risk management, minimizing loss while also retaining business.

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Most commercial underwriters list "real estate," "customer service," and "financial analysis" as skills on their resumes. We go into more details on the most important commercial underwriter responsibilities here:

Arguably the most important personality trait for a commercial underwriter to have happens to be analytical skills. An example from a resume said this about the skill, "underwriters must be able to evaluate information from a variety of sources and solve complex problems." Additionally, other resumes have pointed out that commercial underwriters can use analytical skills to "created excel spreadsheets to manage data and keep track of pricing quotes, sales, and loss ratios. "

Another trait important for fulfilling commercial underwriter duties is math skills. According to a commercial underwriter resume, "determining the probability of losses on an insurance policy and calculating appropriate premiums require mathematical ability." Here's an example of how commercial underwriters are able to utilize math skills: "performed duties of a commercial credit analyst, which involved financial statement and quantitative risk analysis for commercial lending purposes. "

Detail oriented is also an important skill for commercial underwriters to have. This example of how commercial underwriters use this skill comes from a commercial underwriter resume, "underwriters must pay attention to detail, because each individual item on an insurance application can affect the coverage decision." Read this excerpt from a resume to understand how vital it is to their everyday roles and responsibilities, "executed management reports including top 25 business auto loss ratio and 5 year detail combo production reports. "

A commercial underwriter responsibilities sometimes require "interpersonal skills." The responsibilities that rely on this skills are shown by this resume excerpt: "underwriters need good communication and interpersonal skills because much of their work involves dealing with other people, such as insurance agents." This resume example shows how this skill is used by commercial underwriters: "supported key account underwriting goals through thorough analysis and problem solving skills, result- oriented teamwork and effective interpersonal skills. "

See the full list of commercial underwriter skills.

We've found that 75.5% of commercial underwriters have earned a bachelor's degree. Furthermore, 9.0% earned their master's degrees before becoming a commercial underwriter. While it's true that most commercial underwriters have a college degree, it's generally possible to become one with only a high school degree. In fact, one out of every nine commercial underwriters did not spend the extra money to attend college.

Those commercial underwriters who do attend college, typically earn either a business degree or a finance degree. Less commonly earned degrees for commercial underwriters include a insurance degree or a accounting degree.

Once you've obtained the level of education you're comfortable with, you might start applying to companies to become a commercial underwriter. We've found that most commercial underwriter resumes include experience from Bank of America, The PNC Financial Services Group, and The Independent Traveler. Of recent, Bank of America had 134 positions open for commercial underwriters. Meanwhile, there are 46 job openings at The PNC Financial Services Group and 28 at The Independent Traveler.

But if you're interested in companies where you might earn a high salary, commercial underwriters tend to earn the biggest salaries at J.P. Morgan, Stripe, and Santander Private Banking International. Take J.P. Morgan for example. The median commercial underwriter salary is $95,840. At Stripe, commercial underwriters earn an average of $94,946, while the average at Santander Private Banking International is $92,551. You should take into consideration how difficult it might be to secure a job with one of these companies.

View more details on commercial underwriter salaries across the United States.

We also looked into companies who hire commercial underwriters from the top 100 educational institutions in the U.S. The top three companies that hire the most from these institutions include Wells Fargo, Bank of America, and JPMorgan Chase & Co.

The three companies that hire the most prestigious commercial underwriters are:

Bank of America134 Commercial Underwriters Jobs
The PNC Financial Services Group46 Commercial Underwriters Jobs
The Independent Traveler28 Commercial Underwriters Jobs

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What Bank Officers Do

A bank officer is in charge of overseeing the daily operations at banking establishments, ensuring efficiency and client satisfaction. Their responsibilities include gathering and analyzing requests, approving and denying loan applications, providing consultations, processing client requests, and producing progress reports. There are also instances where they sign important documents, delegate tasks, and resolve issues and concerns. Moreover, as a bank officer, it is essential to lead and encourage staff to reach goals, all while implementing the company's policies and regulations.

We looked at the average commercial underwriter annual salary and compared it with the average of a bank officer. Generally speaking, bank officers receive $20,511 higher pay than commercial underwriters per year.

While the salaries between these two careers can be different, they do share some of the same responsibilities. Employees in both commercial underwriters and bank officers positions are skilled in real estate, customer service, and financial analysis.

These skill sets are where the common ground ends though. A commercial underwriter responsibility is more likely to require skills like "cash flow," "risk management," "credit worthiness," and "underwriting guidelines." Whereas a bank officer requires skills like "business development," "bank products," "client relationships," and "loan applications." Just by understanding these different skills you can see how different these careers are.

Bank officers tend to make the most money in the finance industry by averaging a salary of $69,266. In contrast, commercial underwriters make the biggest average salary of $68,368 in the finance industry.

Bank officers tend to reach similar levels of education than commercial underwriters. In fact, bank officers are 3.5% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.1% less likely to have a Doctoral Degree.

What Are The Duties Of a Mortgage Banker?

A Mortgage Banker is specialized in offering financing to buy homes or refinance previous mortgages. They work as part of a banks loan department.

Now we're going to look at the mortgage banker profession. On average, mortgage bankers earn a $31,720 lower salary than commercial underwriters a year.

While the salary may be different for these job positions, there is one similarity and that's a few of the skills needed to perform certain duties. We used info from lots of resumes to find that both commercial underwriters and mortgage bankers are known to have skills such as "customer service," "credit analysis," and "commercial loans. "

While some skills are similar in these professions, other skills aren't so similar. For example, several resumes showed us that commercial underwriter responsibilities requires skills like "real estate," "financial analysis," "cash flow," and "risk management." But a mortgage banker might use skills, such as, "nmls," "federal regulations," "bank products," and "loan programs."

On the topic of education, mortgage bankers earn similar levels of education than commercial underwriters. In general, they're 1.8% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.1% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.

How a Credit Officer Compares

A credit officer is responsible for evaluating financial documents and account statements to determine the eligibility of an applicant for a loan option. Credit officers communicate with the applicant to discuss the loan process, explain the terms of service, and provide them alternative options that would fit their payment ability and loan needs. They create financial reports and recommend the qualified applicant to the manager for approval. A credit officer should have excellent communication and analytical skills, ensuring that the loan policies adhere to the federal and state regulations.

Let's now take a look at the credit officer profession. On average, these workers make higher salaries than commercial underwriters with a $70,427 difference per year.

Using commercial underwriters and credit officers resumes, we found that both professions have similar skills such as "real estate," "customer service," and "credit analysis," but the other skills required are very different.

Some important key differences between the two careers are a few of the skills necessary to fulfill responsibilities. Some examples from commercial underwriter resumes include skills like "financial analysis," "financial statements," "loss control," and "underwriting process," whereas a credit officer might be skilled in "credit approval," "portfolio management," "renewable energy," and "loan documentation. "

Interestingly enough, credit officers earn the most pay in the finance industry, where they command an average salary of $120,621. As mentioned previously, commercial underwriters highest annual salary comes from the finance industry with an average salary of $68,368.

When it comes to education, credit officers tend to earn higher education levels than commercial underwriters. In fact, they're 9.1% more likely to earn a Master's Degree, and 0.0% more likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.

Description Of a Loan Officer

Loan officers are responsible for assisting borrowers on the best type of loans to avail and guiding the clients throughout the application process. A loan officer must be highly knowledgeable about different lending products, payment plans, loan regulations, and essential files for fast loan approval. Loan officers also act as the first point of contact, conducting an initial screening of the customers, process loan contracts and appropriate documentation, update account records, and respond to customer's inquiries. A loan officer also has the right to reject loan applicants who do not meet loan qualifications.

Loan officers tend to earn a lower pay than commercial underwriters by about $13,234 per year.

According to resumes from both commercial underwriters and loan officers, some of the skills necessary to complete the responsibilities of each role are similar. These skills include "customer service," "credit analysis," and "cash flow analysis. "

Each job requires different skills like "real estate," "financial analysis," "cash flow," and "risk management," which might show up on a commercial underwriter resume. Whereas loan officer might include skills like "loan origination," "fha," "nmls," and "loan products."

Now, let's take a closer look at the financials in each career. The finance industry tends to pay more for loan officers with an average of $42,046. While the highest commercial underwriter annual salary comes from the finance industry.

Loan officers reach similar levels of education when compared to commercial underwriters. The difference is that they're 3.0% more likely to earn a Master's Degree less, and 0.1% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.

Updated October 2, 2020