I always get a little chuckle when I see "Senior Loan Officer" listed as someone's title. What exactly does that mean anyway? Are they eligible for Social Security payments? AARP benefits? Or are they looking to do business with those who are?
I remember not too long ago, a new Loan Officer joined the firm I was working with. She had a lot of experience in real estate, but had never worked in lending before. Over her first month or so, she came to me quite often with questions about how to do this or that, and I always tried to help; I couldn't help but notice, however, that she seemed to be asking the same sorts of questions over and over again, and some of them were quite elementary. Then one evening while helping her with a pricing issue, I noticed her business card on her desk and had to bite my tongue to keep from laughing out loud. Her title was listed as "Senior Loan Officer"!
My guess is that at some point in the past, titles actually had some meaning. You probably needed to have a certain level of experience and expertise to put something like "Senior" anything on your card. Today, it seems like you can put just about anything you want on your card. I've seen so many different titles, I can't keep track of them all. Mortgage Originator, Mortgage Planner, Mortgage Expert, Debt Specialist, Debt Manager, Equity Manager, Debt Reducer, Debt Consolidation Specialist, Mortgage Reducer, Mortgage Acceleration Specialist, Cash Flow Consultant...I could go on. In fact, take all of those titles and add the word "Senior" and you've got a whole new category!
The truth of the matter is that today, you really can't tell anything about someone based upon the title listed on their business card. I don't think you can infer a lot by the designations you see either, as most of us don't know what any of them mean. Ultimately, they're just a little ego blast for the card issuer, trumpeting their often overblown title, and telling you nothing about whether or not they're someone worthy of your trust - which is all you really need to know.
As for my card, it simply lists the name of my company, our address and phone numbers, and my name - no title! On the back, I've added a paragraph that describes how I work By Referral Only, and offers an 800# to call to learn a little more about me. Give it a listen, at 800-323-8625, extension 1. I think you'll find that it reveals a lot more about me than any title or designation ever could!
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