Description
Assess and underwrite consumer, mortgage, and commercial loan applications by evaluating credit risk, collateral, and repayment capacity. Approve, decline, or condition loans within authority while ensuring complete documentation, accurate analysis, and compliance with company policy, investor guidelines, and regulations.
- • Detect and escalate potential fraud or misrepresentation per company procedures.
- • Coordinate with collections or special assets on early warning signs or covenant breaches.
- • Contribute to credit policy updates based on trends, exceptions, and QC findings.
- • Approve or decline loans within delegated authority; escalate outside limits to management or credit committee.
- • Analyze financial statements, credit reports, cash flow, and collateral to assess risk and feasibility.
- • Verify income, assets, employment, and liabilities with documentation and third-party sources.
- • Review appraisals, title work, and property evaluations for accuracy and acceptability.
- • Audit loan files for completeness, accuracy, and adherence to underwriting guidelines and policy.
- • Set and document loan terms, covenants, and conditions to mitigate risk.
- • Issue conditional approvals and track clearance of stipulations.
- • Prepare credit memoranda summarizing analysis and decision rationale.
- • Ensure compliance with laws, regulations, and investor or insurer guidelines.
- • Use automated underwriting systems and internal risk models; interpret findings and apply overlays.
- • Calculate debt-to-income, loan-to-value, and debt service coverage ratios.
- • Communicate decisions and required conditions to loan officers, processors, and brokers.
- • Collaborate with loan officers, processors, appraisers, and title companies to resolve file deficiencies.
- • Request and evaluate additional documentation or letters of explanation as needed.
- • Prioritize and manage a pipeline to meet turn times and service-level commitments.
- • Recommend policy exceptions with clear, risk-based justification.
- • Maintain data integrity in loan origination and document management systems.
- • Participate in quality control, post-close audits, and portfolio reviews; remediate findings.
- • Share feedback on guideline changes and recurring defects with sales and processing teams.
- • Stay current on underwriting guidelines, market conditions, and new loan products.
- • Partner with credit analysts and risk teams on complex or high-exposure credits.
- • Train, mentor, or provide second-sign reviews for junior underwriters.
- • Assign risk ratings and recommend exposure levels in accordance with policy.
- • Structure loans to align with risk appetite, including collateral, guarantees, and amortization.
- • Prepare and issue adverse action notices and required disclosures for declined applications.
- • Validate closing documents to ensure approved terms and conditions before funding.
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Financial Services
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O*NET occupational data (work activities, skills, knowledge).
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This site includes information from O*NET by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA), used under the CC BY 4.0 license. Career Clutch has modified some of this information for student readability. USDOL/ETA has not approved, endorsed, or tested these modifications. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA.
Last reviewed: Jan 2026
