Is there really much of a professional difference between loan officers who work for a bank versus a nonbank? I'm not picking sides, but recent comments to this column suggest that nonbank LOs feel they are better equipped to serve the consumer – and not necessarily because they have passed the state test. (Bank LOs are immune from state testing.) Some nonbank LOs are warning their bank brethren that the bank mothership is soaking up their earnings – money that might normally go to an LO. Meanwhile, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is contemplating revisiting the LO compensation issue. All this leads me to believe that in time LOs working for a bank will be required to pass state testing. I'm just saying…
ByPaul Muolo
APR 2, 2012