Credit Analyst Career Assessment
Deciding whether a loan is a good risk
Welcome
Credit analysts study whether a person, a farm, or a business can pay back a loan. They dig into the financial records and write a recommendation for the people who decide.
North Dakota has a lot of banks, credit unions, and farm lenders. You will explore whether this work fits you.
This takes about 15 minutes.
What is a Credit Analyst?
Credit means borrowing money now and paying it back later. A credit analyst reads a borrower's financial records, checks their history of paying bills, figures out how risky the loan is, and writes it up. The loan officer or a loan committee makes the final call. Most credit analysts work for banks, credit unions, or farm credit lenders.
The Reality: Two things to know up front. First, this is not usually a first job. Most postings want a bachelor's degree in finance, accounting, business, or agribusiness. People often start as a bank teller, loan assistant, or credit clerk and move up. Second, working at an FDIC-insured bank has a real legal rule about criminal records. Section 19 of the Federal Deposit Insurance Act bars a person convicted of a crime involving dishonesty, breach of trust, or money laundering from working at an insured bank without written FDIC consent. There is a real path through it, and it is explained in the certification section.
Your Responsibilities:
- Read financial statements and tax returns
- Pull and read credit reports and payment history
- Calculate ratios that show whether a borrower can repay
- Compare the borrower to others in the same industry
- Write a clear, honest credit report with a recommendation
- Check that the loan follows bank policy and banking law
- Watch existing loans for early signs of trouble
- Answer questions from loan officers and the loan committee
You tell the truth about risk so the bank and the borrower both stay safe.
A Day in the Life
8:00 AM — Pick up a new file: a farm wants to buy more land.
8:30 AM — Read three years of tax returns and the farm's balance sheet.
10:00 AM — Run the cash flow numbers. The first year is tight.
11:00 AM — Call the loan officer with a question about the equipment values.
12:00 PM — Lunch.
12:45 PM — Write the credit report. Say clearly what the risks are.
2:30 PM — Review a watch-list loan that has missed a payment.
4:30 PM — Prepare your files for tomorrow's loan committee meeting.
Reading, math, and writing. Quiet, careful desk work with real consequences.
Training in North Dakota
Most credit analyst jobs want a bachelor's degree. You can start below it and climb. Finance, accounting, business, economics, and agribusiness degrees all lead here. In North Dakota, understanding farms and ranches is a real advantage, because so much lending is agricultural. Many banks will train you on their own credit system once you are inside.
Training Pathways:
- Start inside a bank (now): Teller, loan assistant, loan processor, or credit clerk. These jobs often need only a high school diploma or a two-year degree, and they teach you how lending actually works while you take classes.
- Two-year degree (2 years): An accounting, business, or finance associate degree. Good on its own for support roles, and it transfers into a bachelor's degree later.
- Bachelor's degree (4 years): Finance, accounting, business, economics, or agribusiness. This is what most credit analyst postings ask for and what opens the door to senior roles.
Where to Train in North Dakota:
- Bismarck State College (Bismarck) — Financial Technologies, AAS, 2 years, on campus or online. BSC names banker and financial planner among the jobs it prepares you for, and credits transfer into the BSC Finance BAS — bismarckstate.edu
- Bismarck State College (Bismarck) — Bachelor of Applied Science in Finance, 4 years, online or on campus, with stackable certificates in Accounting and Data Analytics — bismarckstate.edu
- University of North Dakota (Grand Forks) — Bachelor of Business Administration in Finance, 120 credits, on campus or online — und.edu
- North Dakota State University (Fargo) — Accounting major, on campus, College of Business — ndsu.edu
- Minot State University (Minot) — Accounting, BS, 120 credits, on campus; and Accounting, AAS, 60 credits, as a two-year start — minotstateu.edu
- Lake Region State College (Devils Lake) — Business Administration, AA, 63 credits, plus a 15-credit Accounting Certificate — lrsc.edu
- North Dakota State College of Science (Wahpeton and Fargo) — Business Management, AAS (Administration and Finance), 61 credits — catalog.ndscs.edu
Before You Start: High school diploma or GED. You need to be comfortable with percentages, ratios, and spreadsheets, and you need to write plainly. Banks will check your background, and many also check your credit history, because you will be trusted with other people's money.
Tip: Start with financial aid, scholarships, and any help an employer offers — that is where the money starts. After that, ask a career counselor or Job Service North Dakota whether WIOA or other programs can help with what is left over, like training, tools, work boots, or exam fees. What can be paid for depends on the program and on your own situation, so ask before you sign up rather than after. Registered apprenticeships let you earn a paycheck while you learn — see jobsnd.com/job-seeker/apprenticeships for ND programs.
Certification & Licensing
No license is required — but banks have a legal rule about criminal records that you need to understand. There is no state license for credit analysts. The gate is Section 19 of the Federal Deposit Insurance Act, which applies to anyone working at an FDIC-insured bank.
What You Need to Know:
- No license required — your degree and your experience are the qualification
- Section 19 of the FDI Act — a person convicted of a criminal offense involving dishonesty, breach of trust, or money laundering, or who entered a pretrial diversion for one, may not work at an FDIC-insured bank without written FDIC consent. The FDIC lists theft, embezzlement, forgery, and tax evasion as examples (fdic.gov)
- The Fair Hiring in Banking Act changed a lot of this in your favor. Under that law, offenses are excluded from Section 19 entirely if: the offense happened seven or more years ago; or five or more years have passed since you were released from incarceration; or you were 21 or younger and more than 30 months have passed since sentencing (fdic.gov)
- Also excluded: convictions that a court has ordered expunged, sealed, or dismissed; certain designated lesser offenses such as fake identification use, shoplifting, trespass, fare evasion, and driving with an expired license, once at least a year has passed; and offenses involving simple possession of a controlled substance (fdic.gov)
- De minimis offenses get automatic FDIC consent with no application at all. The FDIC brochure lists examples such as a small-dollar theft where the total value was $1,000 or less, and bad-check convictions totaling $1,000 or less that were not against a bank (fdic.gov)
- If your offense is still covered, there is an application. A bank can sponsor you for a specific job, or you can file an individual waiver on your own behalf. You submit court documents and evidence of rehabilitation to your regional FDIC office. The FDIC brochure says it processes sponsorships in about 30 days and individual waivers in about 45 days once the file is complete (fdic.gov)
- Some serious federal offenses remain barred for at least 10 years, and are not covered by the exclusions above (fdic.gov)
- Credit history — many banks check yours. A rough patch is usually not an automatic no. Be ready to explain it honestly
The Exams: There is no required exam. Banks and industry groups offer voluntary credit training courses, and many banks put new analysts through their own internal program.
Cost: No license fee. Your degree is the main cost. If you need a Section 19 application, there is no fee to apply to the FDIC, but gathering court records takes time.
Keeping It Current: Nothing to renew, since there is no license. Banks require yearly compliance and privacy training for all staff.
Salary & Job Outlook
North Dakota Credit Analyst Pay (May 2025):
- Starting out (bottom 10–25%): $24.96–$28.58/hour ($51,920–$59,450/year)
- Middle (median — half earn more, half earn less): $35.96/hour ($74,810/year)
- Experienced (top 25–10%): $45.45–$59.36/hour ($94,530–$123,460/year)
What that means: The middle North Dakota credit analyst earns about $35.96 an hour, or about $74,810 a year. The bottom tenth, near $24.96, is where a new analyst typically starts. The gap between the middle and the top is wide because senior commercial and agricultural lenders earn much more than entry analysts. North Dakota sits below the national middle of about $40.15 an hour. Some bank jobs add a yearly bonus tied to how the bank did, so total pay can swing.
Jobs in North Dakota: About 400 people do this work in ND today. By 2034, that should be about 400 (flat — no growth). Expect about 20 job openings every year in ND from growth and people retiring or changing jobs. Across the U.S., the change is about 4% decline.
Outlook: Fair, and better than the national picture. North Dakota shows about 400 credit analysts, flat employment through 2034, and about 20 openings a year, while the nation is projected to decline about 4%. Openings here come mostly from people retiring or moving into loan officer roles. The state's farm lending and community banks are what keep this job steadier here than elsewhere.
Who Hires in ND: Community banks, large regional banks, credit unions, Farm Credit Services and other agricultural lenders, the Bank of North Dakota, equipment and implement dealers that finance sales, and insurance companies.
Work Setting: A bank or credit union office. Regular weekday hours, mostly. Some analysts visit farms and businesses with the loan officer.
Physical Demands: Low. Desk and computer work. Occasional travel to a borrower's site, which may mean walking a farmyard or a shop floor.
Sources: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, North Dakota, May 2025 (SOC 13-2041); North Dakota and U.S. long-term employment projections 2024–2034, via O*NET OnLine. Numbers are rounded.
Where This Leads
Path 1: Teller or Loan Assistant — A common way in with less schooling.
Path 2: Credit Analyst — Analyze loans and write recommendations.
Path 3: Senior Credit Analyst — Handle the largest and most complex loans.
Path 4: Loan Officer — Work directly with borrowers and make the loans.
Path 5: Agricultural Lender — Specialize in farm and ranch lending, big in ND.
Path 6: Credit Manager or Chief Credit Officer — Set the bank's lending rules.
The Real Talk
What's Great:
- Banks in nearly every ND town
- Strong farm lending market here
- Regular weekday hours
- Clear path into loan officer work
- Good pay without a graduate degree
- You learn how businesses really work
What's Hard:
- Usually needs a bachelor's degree
- Background and credit checks are standard
- You say no to people who need money
- Deadlines tied to loan committee dates
- Sitting at a screen all day
- Being wrong costs the bank real money
Be Honest: Are you comfortable telling someone their loan is too risky? Will you pass a bank background check, or do you have a record you need to check against the Section 19 rules first? Can you plan for a bachelor's degree?