Loan officials, Focus on quality Non -quantity
Some define a loan officer as someone registered with the Nationwide Multistate Licensing System (NMLS); However, an NMLS license holder can be an assistant or a bank employee such as a counter. General NMLS numbers do not varied and show how many loan officials of companies have changed, which have a permit in several states, whether the licensee is actually mortgages – or simply has a license because they can occasionally discuss loan products and need their business. NMLS data does not define the population in useful conditions for recruitment purposes, and it certainly does not offer any accurate representation of how many relevant loans officers produce at a certain moment.
It is more interesting – and more accurate – to revise the population of the loan officer in terms of whom loans take out. This image shows the number of producing loan officials per year in three categories: total number of NMLS labelers who have taken out at least one loan, five to nine loans and ten loans or more. The following information is provided by Ingenius, derived from several sources and mixed for accuracy:
The total LO population only fell 5.6% between 2019 and 2024; However, the number that took five to nine loans fell by 14%and the number that fell ten or more by 19%. A consumer who walks in ABC mortgage and connects with a loan officer that he likes and who likes it cannot give production numbers; But leaders and recruiters do that. Straight NMLS numbers do not offer the business intelligence that is needed to survive and grow in our current withdrawn market environment.
Mortgage leaders know that it costs much more to succeed if a lo than 18 years old, completing twenty hours of education, passing a test and a background control. There are no reports of a shortage of a loan officer and lenders are looking for ways to increase profitability – not necessarily head count. Consumers interested in a mortgage can easily find an originator; But companies that are looking for producers face significant challenges in today’s market. Instead of fixing on how many loan officials there are, the industry should be more interested How they do it.
This image shows the population of the loan officer that has been broken down by their production jug and the percentage of the total volume that they arise:
The most striking fact in this data is that the top 10% of producers do more than 50% of the company. Year after year the figures do not change much: the share of the top producers only varied by 1.27% with the widest margin during the six years from 2019 to 2024, and production numbers in all deciles also remained consistent. The only group that had a production in production at the time for one percent was the second decile group; All other variations were less than half a percent. This data shows that loan officials do not change, even when the market does.
A decrease in the population of the loan officer should not be a surprise. We are in the fourth year of a bumpy economic cycle. Looking back, the dive in the production sent the industry in phases that lay on the five stages of grief: it was easy to deny in 2022 in the aftermath of the record phase of 2021, and anger was a logical response to the mortgage on the mortgage on the reach of a peak of 723 in October of 2023.
The industry has experienced a lot; For those who remain, it’s time to get out of the funeral cycle and face our circumstances. Let us switch to the acceptance of what the real figures are and the important characteristics of the loan officer that will lead to growth and success.
Jeff Walton is the CEO of Ingenius.
This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial department of Housingwire and the owners.
To contact the editor who is responsible for this piece: [email protected].
