Loan Officer interview questions and answers
This Loan Officer interview profile brings together a snapshot of what to look for in candidates with a balanced sample of suitable interview questions.
Loan Officer Interview Questions
Skilled Loan Officer candidates are not as scarce as you might think. The most important skill for this position is sales experience, not banking experience. To hire great new loan originators, hiring managers may consider forgoing banking experience in favor of sales skills. If they do that, they can open up the pipeline to qualified candidates across all industries.
That said, for hiring mid-career or rainmaker loan officers, keep eyes peeled for applications that mention a mortgage lending background. This may go by the terms “minimal mortgage”, “hard money”, or “minimum productions.” Loan officers are often employed by commercial banks, mortgage companies, credit unions, and other financial institutions.
These open-ended and situational questions can be used to hire new loan originators. To hire more experienced loan officers, add a few more questions that delve into their sales and relationship-building skills. For example, you might want to know how many realtors they currently work with, or how high they rank on their team’s sales performance. For best results, tailor questions to the working environment they’ll be in and the skill level you need. In general, great candidates ask smart and relevant questions. They will also have done their research and will be somewhat familiar with your company.
Operational and Situational questions
- How do you get new business at your current/previous workplace?
- How would you describe your selling style?
- What interests you about the mortgage business?
- How would you learn about our sales culture during your first week on the job?
- How many clients do you have in your portfolio? How many of those did you bring in?
- How would you walk a client through the loan process?
- Describe your experience with brokered loans.
- What do you do when you don’t have new prospect appointments scheduled for the day?
- How many prospect appointments did you schedule for this week?
- How would you handle being transferred to the same team as a difficult coworker?
- Recall the most difficult sale you’ve ever closed.
- Recall a time you had to resolve a problem with an angry client.
- How do you ensure excellent customer service for your clients?
- Recall a time you turned a negative situation with a client into a positive one.