Talk with mortgage bankers about their careers. Ask your business teacher and career counselor for help arranging interviews. Join business and finance clubs to familiarize yourself with business practices and economic concepts. Check out mortgage glossaries to learn industry lingo. The financial services company Discover offers a list of more than 100 home-financing terms at https://www.discover.com/home-loans/mortgage-glossary.

Mortgage bankers work for banks, credit unions, other depository institutions, and non-depository mortgage companies. These entities purchase and fund loans that are arranged by mortgage brokers or other mortgage bankers, or solicited by their own retail sales force. To do so, the Mortgage Bankers Association reports that they “use their own funds, funds they borrow, or funds they receive from secondary market investors. As part of the funding process, mortgage banks are responsible for loan underwriting and, correspondingly, have a significant financial stake in a loan’s performance.” Mortgage banks may also service the loans themselves (collecting and processing monthly payments and handling other customer-related issues), or sell the loans to other mortgage bankers or financial services corporations created by the U.S. Congress such as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Duties for mortgage bankers vary by the type of employer and the size of the mortgage banking department, but most mortgage bankers have the following responsibilities:

• analyze applicants’ financial status, credit score (via credit reports from Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion for individuals and other sources), financial statements (for businesses), and property evaluations to determine the feasibility of granting a loan
• meet with applicants to obtain information for loan applications and to answer questions about the loan process, types of loans (e.g., fixed-rate, adjustable-rate, jumbo, Home Affordable Refinance Program, Federal Housing Administration, etc.) that are available and their terms of service, and related topics
• submit applications to credit analysts for verification and recommendation
• meet with underwriters to address issues that arise during the mortgage application process (Underwriters verify and evaluate loan application, and provide final loan approval or refusal.)
• notify loan applicants that their loan requests have been approved or denied
• submit application materials for approved loans to the loan processor (who ensures that the documents are in good order and verifies documents such as the income credit appraisal and title insurance)
• provide guidance to customers—from mortgage application through loan close
• prospect for new clients via internal branch referrals and external sourcing (attending open houses, presenting at community real estate seminars, meeting with business owners, real estate developers, and mortgage brokers, etc.)
• prepare reports to send to customers whose loan repayment accounts are delinquent, negotiate payment arrangements with customers who have delinquent loans, and forward irreconcilable accounts for action by debt collectors
• act in accordance with regulatory and compliance requirements such as anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing reporting requirements