From Loan Processor to Loan Officer

Over the years, Tom Wardrope, Vice President of Cherry Creek Mortgage Company, has mentored numerous loan processors in becoming highly successful, top producing loan officers earning six figure incomes. Tom has discovered several things about the loan processor/loan officer conversion.

First - most companies:

A. Don't encourage their loan processor to make the logical career enhancing advancement because they selfishly
    want to keep a really good processor processing. Good processors are hard to find.
B. Don't want to support the loan processor financially during the critical startup/relationship building phase of     becoming a loan officer.
C. Don't have the marketing tools to assist the new loan officer in gaining a presence among potential relationship     partners such as Realtors, builders, financial planners etc.
D. Don't have a fundamental, daily discipline plan the new loan officer can follow to guarantee success.

Second - most processors:

A. Are often frustrated by:
    1. Loan officers turning in incomplete loan applications that the processor then has to piece together.
    2. Loan officers not returning phone calls promptly which results in the processor having to continually apologize         to clients and answer loan officer questions.
    3. Loan officers avoiding solving a problem when it first arises, leaving the processor to take abuse and then                 ultimately having to solve the problem alone.
    4. A lack of appreciation and acknowledgment on the part of loan officers and management for how hard the loan         processor works.
    5. The loan officers making a lot more money than the processor.

B. Are extremely wary fearful of converting to being a loan officer because:
    1. They are security conscious and want a steady salary.
    2. They don't know if they can sell or not.
    3. They don't know whether they can be successful at cold calling on people, real estate offices, builders, etc. to         develop referral relationships.

Tom is the first to admit that not every loan processor has the potential to become a loan officer. He believes that to be a viable candidate for the next step the loan processor must meet the following criteria:
    1  They must be an overachiever.
    2. Have 1-2 years full charge loan processor experience (takes the file from application to closing).
    3. Have handled a substantial pipeline (20+ loans a month with a pipeline of 50+ loans)..
    4. Have a friendly, warm, caring personna.
    5. Be successful at building relationships and maintaining them.
    6. Have a burning desire to better themselves.
    7. Have absolutely no feeling of burnout.
    8. Have a supportive significant other so they have the freedom to work when they need to.
    9. Have a willingness to "pay the price" initially to get the business started by working weekends -whatever it         takes.
  10. Have ZERO trepidation or procrastination about going into the field to meet and establish relationships with as         many referral partners as humanly possible.

If you posses these characteristics you owe it to yourself to give serious consideration to entering Cherry Creek's:

Loan Processor Career Development Program

What the program consists of once you enter it by joining Cherry Creek as a full-time loan officer:

    1. Financial support for the first 6 months. We don't expect many loan processors to be willing or able to go on         commission from Day 1. Tom will work out a financial support plan to meet the individual need and comfort         level of each candidate.
    2. Technical competence:
        Each candidate will take our Loan Officer University final examination to see how advanced technically they         are. Anyone who needs help can study our training course.
    3. Marketing training:
        Each candidate will be given 1 to 1-1/2 weeks of marketing training on:
        A. How to approach a prospective referral partner with 100% guarantee of success.
        B. How to interview a prospective referral partner and have them engage immediately to do business with you.
        C. How to use all the Cherry Creek marketing tools, scripts and strategies that great loan officers build their             business with:
            1. The Home Loan Power lead generation tool.
            2. The Homeownership follow up program.
            3. The move up buyer tax analysis.
            4. The real estate performance tapes.
            5. The mortgage insight newsletter and much more.

    4. The exclusive Cherry Creek 4 Week Start Up Program that ensures that after 30 days you will have 20+ referral         partners you will be targeting.
    5. The exclusive Cherry Creek 15 Point Plan that makes sure you are performing daily the activities that are         critical to your success.
    6. The weekly meeting with your peers (new loan officers) and Tom to share successes, problems, and concerns.         This is when solutions are found to any difficulties you may be experiencing.

We believe strongly that relationship oriented loan processors can, with the right strategies, work ethic, marketing tools, and mentoring become exceptionally successful loan officers.

We encourage you to call Tom Wardrope at (925) 828-7057 to explore this unique opportunity ASAP.

You Can Do It Too!!

Here are two examples of great Cherry Creek loan officers who initially started in the mortgage business as loan processors.

Claudia Kim:
Claudia was Tom Wardrope's loan processor for 7 years prior to becoming a loan officer in 1986. When Claudia told Tom she wanted to become a loan officer, but wanted to transition into it, they decided that she could go out on weekends to meet realtors while continuing to process Tom's loans. As soon as she had enough relationships built, Claudia made the leap and has never looked back.
Claudia's daughter Karla (15) grew up playing with applicant's kids while Claudia took the parents loan application.
She has consistently been a top producer and in 2001 closed over $30 million in loans.

Eleanor Ng:
Eleanor applied for a loan processor position with Tom in 1996. He asked her if she had ever thought of becoming a loan officer. She said no, but Tom convinced her that she had the "stuff" to make the switch.
Eleanor started fast, had her second daughter Christine in 1997, and has achieved a high level of success. She was Cherry Creek's number 10 producer nationwide in 2001.