Before you select a loan officer, take some time to find out who he or she is. You will be entrusting a large amount of money into your loan officer’s hands. A good loan officer can help you avoid extra hassles and hidden fees.

Loan Officer Responsibilities
The loan officer is the liaison between you as the borrower and the lending institution. Other names for this position are lending officer and loan counselor. He or she can work at a credit union, bank or other financial institution. He or she is responsible for identifying your financial stability, fitting you with a loan that meets your needs, assisting in filling out applications and paperwork, answering questions and negotiating the terms and agreements. He or she is also responsible for increasing the number of loans through the financial institution.

What to Look For
Surprisingly, a loan counselor in most cases is only required to have a high school education. Tellers and customer service representatives usually move into lending officer positions. Even though they are not required to have a lot of education, many are required to be licensed and maintain that license through continuing education courses.

Knowing this, you want to find a lending officer who knows all the options and can identify those that will be best for your financial situation. Find one who specializes in the type of loan you are looking to get. Ask him or her specific questions about the terms, closing cost amounts, whether you can receive a good faith estimate and if there are penalties for paying off your debt early. Make sure he or she is someone who will be able to help you through the whole process.

Ask how he or she gets paid. Most lending officers are paid commission, some are paid salary and others receive both. Your lending officer may have ulterior reasons for wanting you to sign up for a particular option, which may not be in your best interest.

As you might imagine in making such a large financial decision, finding an ethical loan officer is essential. Although your loan counselor shouldn’t be your sole advisor for your financial decisions, you need to be able to trust that he or she will help you determine what is best for you. In addition to this, he or she will have access to your financial and personal information and identification numbers. On top of everything else, you want someone who aims to assist you in being financially successful, not someone who would pressure or deceive you.

How to Select the Best One
Don’t be afraid to ask questions. Ask what types of loans the financial institution offers, what types he or she works with most, how long he or she has been in this position and whether you can get a good faith estimate. If you are looking to get a mortgage, request copies of some recent HUD-1 forms to see the itemized closing costs.

Request for the loan counselor and financial institution to give you names of people they’ve worked with as referrals. Contact those referrals and ask them about their overall experience. Loan terms will vary from person to person depending on their credit score and financial stability, but you can still gauge whether you’ve found a good place to borrow from or not.

Another great resource is your family and friends. Find out who they’ve gotten loans from and what their experiences have been. Once again, your point of interest should be on the quality of the institutions and employees instead of the terms since those will vary with each applicant.