Loan Officer Career Assessment

2What is a Loan Officer?

A loan officer meets a borrower, collects their paperwork, and checks the numbers: income, debts, credit history, and what the borrower is buying. Then they either approve it, send it to a committee, or say no. Different loan officers handle different things. Consumer loan officers do car and personal loans. Commercial and agricultural loan officers do business and farm loans, which matters a lot in North Dakota. Mortgage loan officers do home loans, and that one is the only kind with its own license.

The Reality: Three honest warnings. First, mortgage loan officers must be licensed, and the license rules ban anyone ever convicted of a felony involving fraud, dishonesty, breach of trust, or money laundering, and anyone with any felony in the past seven years. Second, banks also run a check under a federal rule called Section 19, which controls who may work at an insured bank. That rule changed in 2022 and is now much narrower, and there is a way to apply for consent. Both rules and the paths back are spelled out below. Third, much of this job is sales. Commercial and mortgage loan officers are expected to bring in business, and some of the pay is commission or bonus.

Your Responsibilities:

• Meet borrowers and explain loan options
• Collect pay stubs, tax returns, and financial records
• Check credit reports and debt-to-income numbers
• Value what the loan is secured by, like a house or equipment
• Recommend approving, changing, or denying a loan
• Present larger loans to a loan committee
• Explain a denial clearly and kindly
• Bring in new borrowers and keep old ones

You decide who gets the money to build something.

3A Day in the Life

8:00 AM — Review three applications that came in overnight.

8:45 AM — Pull credit reports and compare income to monthly debts.

9:30 AM — Meet a young couple about their first home loan.

11:00 AM — Call a farmer about an operating loan for spring planting.

12:00 PM — Lunch with a local builder who sends you referrals.

1:30 PM — Prepare a commercial file for the loan committee on Thursday.

3:00 PM — Tell an applicant no, and explain exactly what would change the answer.

4:30 PM — Follow up on documents missing from four files.

Half numbers, half people. Deadlines are constant because borrowers have closing dates.

4Training in North Dakota

Most loan officer jobs want a bachelor's degree, but many people start as a teller or loan clerk. There are really two doors. One is a four-year business or finance degree straight into a lending training program. The other is starting inside a bank in a smaller job and being promoted. Both are common in North Dakota, especially in smaller towns.

Training Pathways:

• Start inside a bank (1 to 3 years): Take a teller, loan clerk, or loan processor job. Learn the paperwork, prove you are accurate, and move up to loan officer. Many North Dakota community banks promote this way and will help pay for classes.
• Two-year degree, then a bank job (2 years): A business or financial technologies associate degree plus an entry bank job. Later stack the credits into a bachelor's degree while you work.
• Bachelor's degree in finance or banking (4 years): The straightest path to commercial and agricultural lending, which pay the most. Look for programs with credit analysis and bank management courses.

Where to Train in North Dakota:

• University of North Dakota (Grand Forks) — Banking and Financial Economics, BBA, 120 credits, on campus or online. UND names loan officer and credit analyst among the jobs this degree prepares you for — und.edu
• North Dakota State University (Fargo) — Finance, BS, 120 credits, with an optional Commercial Banking Track covering Advanced Bank Management, credit analysis, real estate lending, and risk management. Students declare the track with the Office of Registration and Records — catalog.ndsu.edu
• Minot State University (Minot) — Finance, BS, 120 credits, on campus. Minot State lists loan officer first among the careers this degree prepares you for — minotstateu.edu
• Bismarck State College (Bismarck) — Financial Technologies, AAS, online or on campus, which BSC says prepares students for banking roles, with stackable certificates and a path into BSC's Bachelor of Applied Science in Finance — catalog.bismarckstate.edu
• Dickinson State University (Dickinson) — School of Business and Entrepreneurship, which says students may take traditional in-person classes, live-at-a-distance DSUlive courses, any program major entirely online, or courses at its Williston satellite campus — dickinsonstate.edu

Before You Start: High school diploma or GED. You need to be comfortable with regular math and percentages, careful with paperwork, and good at explaining bad news. Expect a criminal background check and a credit check. If you want to do home loans, expect fingerprinting too.

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.

5Certification & Licensing

Only mortgage loan officers need a license. The rest do not. If you do car loans, personal loans, business loans, or farm loans, there is no license to get. If you do home loans, you need a mortgage loan originator license, and North Dakota issues it through the NMLS system.

Licensing and Background Rules:

• No license needed for consumer, commercial, or agricultural lending. Your employer trains you
• Mortgage loan originator license — the North Dakota Department of Financial Institutions licenses mortgage loan originators. It charges $25 to apply and $50 to renew each year, plus NMLS processing, criminal background check, and credit report fees, which you pay. Renewal runs November 1 to December 31 (nd.gov/dfi)
• SAFE Act education — 20 hours of NMLS-approved pre-licensure education, including 3 hours of federal law and regulations, 3 hours of ethics covering fraud, consumer protection, and fair lending, and 2 hours of nontraditional mortgage lending (nationwidelicensingsystem.org)
• SAFE Act test — you must score 75% or better on the national test, which covers ethics, federal and state law, fraud, consumer protection, nontraditional mortgages, and fair lending (nationwidelicensingsystem.org)
• SAFE Act background rules — you give fingerprints for an FBI criminal history check and authorize a credit report. You cannot be licensed if you have ever had a felony involving fraud, dishonesty, breach of trust, or money laundering, or if you have had any felony in the past seven years (nationwidelicensingsystem.org)
• SAFE Act continuing education — 8 hours every year, made up the same way: 3 hours federal law, 3 hours ethics, 2 hours nontraditional mortgage lending (nationwidelicensingsystem.org)
• Section 19 (working at an insured bank) — federal law says a person convicted of a criminal offense involving dishonesty, breach of trust, or money laundering, or who entered a pretrial diversion for such an offense, may not work at an FDIC-insured bank without the FDIC's consent (fdic.gov)
• What the Fair Hiring in Banking Act changed in 2022 — Congress narrowed Section 19 a lot. It now excludes offenses from 7 or more years ago; offenses where 5 or more years have passed since release from incarceration; offenses committed at age 21 or younger where 30 or more months have passed since sentencing; records that were expunged, sealed, or dismissed; and designated lesser offenses such as using a fake ID, shoplifting, trespass, fare evasion, and license or tag violations once a year has passed. Certain misdemeanor dishonesty offenses from more than a year ago and drug possession offenses are also excluded (fdic.gov)
• The path back under Section 19 — if your offense is not excluded, consent can still be granted. Some minor offenses now get automatic FDIC consent with no application at all. Otherwise an application goes to the FDIC, and the FDIC has said people denied before may reapply under the new, more permissive standards. Ask the bank's human resources office to walk you through it rather than assuming the answer is no (fdic.gov)

The Exams: Only the mortgage side has an exam: the national SAFE mortgage loan originator test, passing score 75%. There is no exam for other kinds of lending.

Cost: North Dakota charges $25 to apply for a mortgage loan originator license and $50 to renew. NMLS processing, fingerprinting, and credit report fees are separate and are paid by the applicant. Pre-licensure courses are sold by approved providers.

Keeping It Current: Mortgage loan originator licenses renew every year between November 1 and December 31, and you must finish 8 hours of continuing education to renew. Other lending jobs have nothing to renew.

6Salary & Job Outlook

North Dakota Loan Officer Pay (May 2025):

• Starting out (bottom 10–25%): $27.89–$30.44/hour ($58,010–$63,320/year)
• Middle (median — half earn more, half earn less): $40.70/hour ($84,650/year)
• Experienced (top 25–10%): $49.30–$70.50/hour ($102,540–$146,640/year)

What that means: North Dakota pays loan officers well above the national middle: about $40.70 an hour here against about $36.87 nationally. That is real, and it comes from agricultural and commercial lending in a farm and energy state. Two cautions. Mortgage loan officer pay is often heavily commission-based, so it rises and falls with how many people are buying houses and what interest rates are doing. And the top of this table, near $70.50 an hour, is mostly senior commercial and ag lenders with years of relationships behind them, not new hires. Ask any employer how much of the offer is salary and how much is commission or bonus.

Jobs in North Dakota: About 1,380 people do this work in ND today. By 2034, that should be about 1,430 (about 4% growth). Expect about 100 job openings every year in ND from growth and people retiring or changing jobs. Across the U.S., the change is about 2% growth — slower than average.

Outlook: Solid. About 100 openings a year in North Dakota, the most of any career in this group. Growth is slow because software now handles simple loans, but retirements keep openings coming, especially at community banks in smaller towns.

Who Hires in ND: Community banks, large regional banks, credit unions, Farm Credit lenders, mortgage companies, car dealerships, and the Bank of North Dakota.

Work Setting: A bank office, with meetings at the branch and visits to farms, businesses, and building sites. Some mortgage work can be done remotely.

Physical Demands: Low. Sitting, computer work, and driving to see borrowers and property.

Sources: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, North Dakota, May 2025 (SOC 13-2072); North Dakota and U.S. long-term employment projections 2024–2034, via O*NET OnLine. Numbers are rounded.

7Where This Leads

Path 1: Teller or Loan Clerk — A very common way in with no degree.

Path 2: Loan Processor — Prepare files for the loan officer.

Path 3: Consumer Loan Officer — Car and personal loans. Usually the first officer job.

Path 4: Mortgage Loan Originator — Home loans. Requires the license.

Path 5: Commercial or Ag Lender — Business and farm loans. The highest pay.

Path 6: Branch Manager or Chief Lending Officer — Run the lending side of a bank.

8The Real Talk

What's Great:

• The most openings in this group
• ND pays above the national middle
• You can start as a teller
• You help families buy homes
• Jobs in small towns, not just cities
• Ag lending is a real ND specialty

What's Hard:

• Much of the job is sales
• Commission pay on the mortgage side
• Background and credit checks
• Telling people no
• Mortgage work swings with interest rates
• Deadlines you cannot move

Be Honest: Can you tell someone no and still treat them well? Are you comfortable bringing in business, not just processing it? Will your own credit and background hold up to a bank's check?

9Part 1: What Attracts You?

10Part 2: Are You Ready?

11Part 3: Your Next Move

Your Loan Officer Assessment Results