Jim tapped his mug of coffee, half-empty and already growing cold, as he stared at the glowing dashboard on his computer screen. It was 8:30 am, and his morning routine as Chief Loan Officer at the community bank was in full swing.
The display showed a color-coded pipeline of loans: red for trouble, green for on-track, and yellow for loans that might tip either way. Today, his eyes lingered on the yellow loans that, if pushed through, could help close a strong quarter for the bank. How did I ever manage before, when the team was sending me their reports manually? he thought to himself.
“Okay,” he muttered, making note of three key deals that could make a difference by the quarter’s end, which was only two weeks away.
His assistant interrupted with a soft knock. “Jim, Marcie’s here. She wanted to go over that multi-family construction loan structure you flagged yesterday.”
Jim smiled. Marcie, one of the young loan officers who had joined the team a few months back, had a bright future ahead of her. Her passion for the work was evident—but like all newcomers, she still had a few rough edges to smooth out.
“Thanks. Send her in.”
Marcie entered with a stack of papers in hand, her expression somewhere between eager and concerned.
“Morning, Jim. I know you said we need to revisit the structure on this loan, but I’m still trying to figure out what needs to change,” she said, her brow furrowed.
Jim pulled up the details on his screen and motioned for her to sit. “This is a multi-family construction loan,” he began, “and our bank has specific guidelines. We want to keep the loan-to-value ratio conservative, around 65–70%. Right now, your proposal is at 80%, which is a bit too aggressive for our appetite.”
Marcie scribbled notes while Jim continued, explaining how the bank generally prefers to see additional collateral or a higher equity contribution from the borrower when it comes to construction deals.
“Also,” he added, “make sure to factor in the pre-leasing requirements. If they can show pre-lease commitments for 40% of the units, that’s going to reduce our risk and make the deal more palatable.”
Marcie nodded. “Got it. I’ll rework the numbers and bring it back to you.”
Jim appreciated her enthusiasm. “You’re on the right track. Just remember, the goal is to structure the loan in a way that works for both the borrower and the bank. We need to help our customer succeed while also protecting ourselves. By the way, I see you haven’t received the construction contract and statement of values yet. Underwriting won’t even open the file without it.”
“I’m all over it. Thanks,” Marcie acknowledged as she departed.
“Fire drill averted!” Jim said to no one in particular, knowing how many urgent, last-minute calls to customers used to happen before he could see the loan package in real time.
As Marcie left, Jim’s phone buzzed. It was Tom, another loan officer who was working on a deal that had been giving him trouble. Jim had reviewed it last night on his tablet while watching a football game and already knew how the conversation was about to unfold.
“Hey Tom,” Jim started, “I was looking over the loan you submitted—looks like a strong applicant, but the deal itself is risky as is. I think the best path forward is to turn this into an SBA 504 loan.”
Tom sighed on the other end of the line. “Yeah, I was afraid you might say that. You think it’ll still get approved that way?”
Jim leaned back in his chair, considering the deal’s nuances. “With the SBA guarantee on a portion of the loan, we reduce our exposure significantly. Plus, the terms will be more favorable for the borrower, which should make it easier for them to proceed. I’d bet on it getting through committee as a 504—but as it stands, I don’t see it happening otherwise.”
Tom thanked him, and Jim could sense his gratitude for not finding out in 10 days when he was sitting with the loan committee. Now he had a chance to prep his customer and get a jump on the SBA documents.
An hour later, Jim had to duck out for a dentist’s appointment. He couldn’t ignore the discomfort in his jaw. It had been a week and wasn’t resolving itself.
His phone rang again while he was pulling into the medical building parking lot. It was Aubrey, the bank president.
“Hi Aubrey, what’s up?” Jim greeted his boss.
“Hi, Jim. Thought I’d call and pass on some info I picked up at dinner last night. I was with John and Megan Austin at the banquet,” Aubrey said. “John was concerned his loan request was taking longer than he hoped. He’s not upset, but didn’t seem to know where things stood. I assured him we were moving quickly for him but didn’t have the specifics.”
Jim smiled to himself. He used to cringe when these calls came through. This conversation used to be followed by several urgent calls to the loan officer to get back to him with the answer so he could respond to Audrey. And with 75 deals in the pipeline at any given moment, he couldn’t stay on top of each one. That flurry of activity had been greatly reduced since they’d converted their platform.
“Give me a second and I’ll see what’s up,” Jim said. He turned off the ignition and thumbed through the platform’s app on his cell phone. In a moment, he returned to the call. “Looks like Beverly sent Austin’s CFO a request for their interim financials and an updated projection, since they want to buy an additional piece of equipment,” Jim reported. “That request was sent four days ago, and we haven’t heard back yet. I’ll have Beverly give him a ring. Would you like me to call Austin too?”
“Sure, that would be helpful. Thanks.”
Jim sensed an opportunity. “Hey Aubrey, how about I get you signed on to our new loan origination platform? That would give you access to our pipeline.” he offered with a knowing smile in his voice.
“And miss the chance to hear your voice?” Aubrey joked. “Let me think about it. Thanks.”
Once Jim got back to the office, he moved on to the next task: preparing for the senior loan committee meeting. This was one of the highlights of his week—a chance to sit with six other bank executives and review the loans that had progressed to the final approval stage. It was so convenient to have all of the loan packages available to him online too.
The meeting room was warm with natural light, and by the top of the hour, the seven members of the senior loan committee were seated, laptops open and agenda packets on the screens in front of them. How things had changed! Jim thought. There used to be so much paper piled up that it was difficult to find a place to set his coffee. Now, it was all on the platform.
As the meeting began, Jim walked them through the first few deals. These were a breeze—solid loans that required little discussion. But, as always, they soon encountered a few that sparked debate.
“Loan three,” one of the executives said. “I’m not comfortable with the borrower’s cash flow projections.”
Jim nodded, having anticipated the pushback. “I agree that the projections seem optimistic, but if you look at their historical financials, they’ve consistently outperformed their forecast. We’ve also asked for personal guarantees, which adds an extra layer of security.”
A question like that used to derail a conversation and send a loan back to the loan officer for clarification, delaying the process an additional week. But after an hour of discussion and some adjustments to terms, the committee had approved five of the seven loans on the agenda, with just two being sent back for further review.
As the meeting wrapped up, Jim felt a little rush of optimism. The quarter may just turn out to be okay—but the day was far from over.
When he made it back to his desk, Jim opened one last loan package, this time from Mary. She was one of his loan officers working remotely. Jim had always admired Mary’s thoroughness—but remote work sometimes made communication more challenging, especially when it came to fine-tuning loan structures. He’d have to review the package closely.
It was a simple request for a small business loan—a local café looking to expand into catering. The business had strong financials, but Jim could already see a few gaps in the documentation.
He fired off a message to Mary with a few questions and suggestions before finalizing his review. It was late, but the platform would notify Mary that she had a message so she could get back to him.
By this time, it was late afternoon, and Jim could feel the weight of the day catching up with him. But even as he glanced at the clock, knowing that he still had plenty of work left to do, Jim felt a sense of satisfaction. It had been a very productive day—one that couldn’t have happened 10 years ago. Now, with the benefit of the bank’s new intuitive loan origination platform, he was so much more efficient, and it seemed as though the work was so much easier. Just another day… but a good day to be a Chief Loan Officer.
