Improving loan officer productivity

RMA Journal, The,  June, 2002  by Terry W. Anderson,  J. Kempton Shields, II,  Kathryn E. Tusler

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29. Develop a legalistic mind and put your faith in documents. We pay lawyers good money. What more could you ask for?

30. Keep your costs well in mind. Remember that checking and verifying with other banks, trade suppliers, credit agencies, and public authorities is expensive. Little savings do add up.

31. Go with the winners. Zero in on growth, especially in sales. The more the borrower sells, the more he'll need to borrow. That's how you build dollar outstandings and interest income. Senior management will note that.

32. Don't worry about taxes. You can always loan extra money.

33. Determine that one repayment source and commit yourself. If it doesn't work out when the time comes to collect, you can think up a good alternative. And if you can't, that's why we hire collection lawyers.

34. Don't tie your borrower up too tightly. He needs freedom to move his assets in and out of his business in the normal changing course of operations. If the situation gets sticky later, you can get control of assets then.

35. Have confidence in yourself. The bank's loan policies, rules, and procedures are only guidelines. They can't always apply to a specific problem. After all, the keys to success are imagination and innovation.

Originally published in the September 1990 issue of The Journal of Commercial Bank Lending, published by Robert Morris Associates. Anderson now a vice president with AVI Systems, Kansas City, Missouri (in 1990, Norwest Bank North Dakota); Shields is now SVP at Sun Trust Bank, Richamond, Virginia (in 1990, Sovran Bank, N.A., Richmond, Virginia); Tusler is now product marketing manager at Automated Financial Systems, Exton, Pennsylvania (in 1990, director of RMA national's Credit Division).

COPYRIGHT 2002 The Risk Management Association
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