re: Banking

I went into small business lending simply because there was an opening there with nothing on the horizon in commercial lending. I did that for a couple years, then moved into a mortgage underwriting management role, mostly for the money. After a couple years there, a consulting company hired by the bank made a strong recruiting push for me to go to work for them - they were just beginning to build an automated lending decision engine and needed people with the all-around lending experience that I had. They doubled my salary, so I jumped. After doing project management stuff with them for a few years, I had enough experience and contacts in the industry to strike out on my own, so I've been doing lending consulting with various banks for the last few years. My current gig is working with a regional bank in the northeast that's saddled with a pretty big over-concentration in commercial real estate. I'm basically writing their responses to FDIC auditors who want certain loans placed in non-accrual status that the bank feels are still workable. My next one is with a bank in Utah that wants to set up an in-house scratch and dent team instead of selling them for $0.30 on the dollar. I do about 70% of my work from home, the rest is travel to client sites. It's good work, pays the bills and I feel pretty lucky, there are 10 jobs out there for every one I even consider.