Explore jobs
Find specific jobs
Explore careers
Explore professions
Best companies
Explore companies
The differences between underwriters and commercial underwriters can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, an underwriter has an average salary of $61,751, which is higher than the $59,051 average annual salary of a commercial underwriter.
The top three skills for an underwriter include customer service, investor guidelines and mortgage loans. The most important skills for a commercial underwriter are real estate, customer service, and financial analysis.
| Underwriter | Commercial Underwriter | |
| Yearly salary | $61,751 | $59,051 |
| Hourly rate | $29.69 | $28.39 |
| Growth rate | -4% | -4% |
| Number of jobs | 8,510 | 31,908 |
| Job satisfaction | 3 | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 66% | Bachelor's Degree, 75% |
| Average age | 44 | 44 |
| Years of experience | - | - |
An underwriter's duties depend on the line of work or industry involved, such as mortgage companies, insurance, or lending firms. However, an Underwriter's responsibility will mainly revolve around using their extensive expertise on how a company will achieve financial gains, and assessing the possible financial risks of a client by reviewing various aspects to determine their capacity to uphold monetary obligations. Most of the time, the Underwriter's tasks will also involve evaluating a client's credit history, health, assets, overall financial history.
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.
Underwriters and commercial underwriters have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Underwriter | Commercial Underwriter | |
| Average salary | $61,751 | $59,051 |
| Salary range | Between $39,000 And $96,000 | Between $41,000 And $84,000 |
| Highest paying City | Boston, MA | Olympia, WA |
| Highest paying state | Massachusetts | Washington |
| Best paying company | J.P. Morgan | |
| Best paying industry | Manufacturing | Finance |
There are a few differences between an underwriter and a commercial underwriter in terms of educational background:
| Underwriter | Commercial Underwriter | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 66% | Bachelor's Degree, 75% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | University of Pennsylvania | University of Pennsylvania |
Here are the differences between underwriters' and commercial underwriters' demographics:
| Underwriter | Commercial Underwriter | |
| Average age | 44 | 44 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 38.4% Female, 61.6% | Male, 48.7% Female, 51.3% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 9.2% Unknown, 2.5% Hispanic or Latino, 9.6% Asian, 5.6% White, 72.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.4% | Black or African American, 9.9% Unknown, 2.5% Hispanic or Latino, 9.3% Asian, 5.5% White, 72.4% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.4% |
| LGBT Percentage | 9% | 9% |