Evaluates and approves loans for people and businesses: cars, homes, businesses or farms.
You meet a couple buying their first home, review their pay stubs and credit, explain loan options and walk their application through approval.
Many loan officers earn commission, so pay rises and falls with interest rates and home sales.
Bachelor's degree (4-year), about 4 years after high school. Bachelor's in finance or business; mortgage loan officers need a federal NMLS license.
Ways in: 4-year college, Certification, On-the-job training. Training cost: $15k – $60k.
Majors to look at: Finance, Business Administration, Economics.
Growing about average (about 2% over 10 years). About average.
Medium risk in 5 years, high in 10. Automated underwriting approves most consumer loans in minutes; officers keep complex, relationship and small-business lending, but fewer are needed.
Classes: Personal finance, Accounting, Algebra II, Speech.
Official data: O*NET occupation 13-2072.
Career Universe is an early version. Pay, training and AI-risk figures are estimates to start your own research, not verified facts. The research was written with AI research assistants, checked by validation scripts and spot-checked by hand. Check anything important with schools, employers and official sources. How the numbers work.