Loan Specialist

Full Job Description

This Loan Specialist position serves as a Loan Production technical expert in the administration of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Home Loan Program.

The purpose of the position is to perform a wide variety of administrative and technical duties in support of Loan Production.

The incumbent is responsible for developmental and routine assignments in the administration of the VA Home Loan program.

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 03/04/2026.

Note: All applicants must meet both the Individual Occupational Requirement (IOR) and the Specialized Experience as defined below: Individual Occupational Requirement (IOR): Experience Experience that demonstrated competence in agricultural, commercial, realty, or other types of loans.

Experience may have been gained in such work as reviewing and passing upon applications for agricultural, commercial, bank or mortgage loans; servicing a loan portfolio of a bank or other loan association; performing financial analysis of commercial concerns for investment purposes; appraising real estate to determine property valuation; or similar work.

OR Education Undergraduate and Graduate Education: Major study -- finance, business administration, economics, accounting, insurance, engineering, mathematics, banking and credit, law, real estate operations, statistics, or other fields related to the position, such as agriculture, agricultural economics, farm, livestock or ranch management, or rural sociology.

In addition to the IOR, applicants must possess specialized experience or education as described below: Specialized Experience: To qualify at the GS-09 grade level: Applicants must have 1 year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade (GS-07).

Specialized experience is work experience that equipped the applicant with the knowledge, skills and abilities (KSAs) to successfully perform the duties of the position.

Specialized experience for this position is defined as: Experience underwriting loan applications and making eligibility determinations for mortgage loans.

OR Applicants may substitute education for experience to qualify at the GS-09 grade level: Applicants must have a master's or equivalent graduate degree or 2 full years (36 semester hours or 54 quarter hours) of progressively higher-level graduate education leading to such a degree or LL.B.

or J.D., if related. This graduate degree or education must demonstrate the KSAs to do the work of this position.

If you are claiming to qualify based on your education, your application must include an official or unofficial copy of graduate level transcripts that demonstrate this information.

OR Applicants may combine education and experience to qualify at the GS-09 grade level: Applicants may combine specialized experience and education beyond one full year of graduate level education.

If you have some, but not all, of the graduate education described above AND less than one full year of the specialized experience described above, you may qualify by combining the amount of creditable education and experience that you do have.

Only graduate education in excess of the amount required for the next lower grade level may be used to qualify applicants for positions at grade GS-09.

To calculate, first identify the education you have earned beyond your first year of study as a percentage of a total of two years of study.

Then identify the number of months of specialized experience you have as a percentage of 12 months. Add the two percentages. The total must equal at least 100 percent in order to be qualifying.

For example, an applicant who has 27 semester hours of graduate level education (i.e.

50% of graduate education required beyond the first 18 credit hours earned) and who has 6 months of creditable specialized experience (i.e., 50% of the one year of specialized experience required) would meet 100% and thus be qualified for the position.

If you are claiming to qualify based on your education, your application must include an official or unofficial copy of graduate level transcripts that demonstrate this information.

To qualify at the GS-11 grade level: Applicants must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade (GS-09).

Specialized experience is work experience that equipped the applicant with the KSAs to successfully perform the duties of the position.

Specialized experience for this position is defined as: Experience auditing and performing quality review of mortgage loans, analyzing data from various programs to underwrite a variety of mortgage loans, and making eligibility determinations on a variety of loan types or grants.

OR Applicants may substitute education for experience to qualify at the GS-11 grade level: Applicants must have a Ph.D.

or equivalent doctoral degree or three full years (54 semester hours or 81 quarter hours) of progressively higher level graduate education leading to such a degree or LL.M, if related.

This graduate degree or education must demonstrate the KSAs to do the work of this position.

If you are claiming to qualify based on your education, your application must include an official or unofficial copy of graduate level transcripts that demonstrate this information.

OR Applicants may combine education and experience to qualify at the GS-11 grade level: Applicants may combine specialized experience and education beyond two full years of graduate level education.

If you have some, but not all, of the graduate education described above AND less than one full year of the specialized experience described above, you may qualify by combining the amount of creditable education and experience that you do have.

Only graduate education in excess of the amount required for the next lower grade level may be used to qualify applicants for positions at grade GS-11.

To calculate, first identify the education you have earned beyond your first two years of study as a percentage of a total of three years of study.

Then identify the number of months of specialized experience you have as a percentage of 12 months. Add the two percentages. The total must equal at least 100 percent in order to be qualifying.

For example, an applicant who has 45 semester hours of graduate level education (i.e.

50% of graduate education required beyond the first two years) and who has 6 months of creditable specialized experience (i.e., 50% of the one year of specialized experience required) would meet 100% and thus be qualified for the position.

If you are claiming to qualify based on your education, your application must include an official or unofficial copy of graduate level transcripts that demonstrate this information.

Note: Experience refers to paid and unpaid experience, including volunteer work done through National Service programs (e.g., Peace Corps, AmeriCorps) and other organizations (e.g., professional; philanthropic; religions; spiritual; community; student; social).

Volunteer work helps build critical competencies, knowledge and skills, and can provide valuable training and experience that translates directly to paid employment.

You will receive credit for all qualifying experience you document, to include volunteer experience. Major Duties:

• Review submitted documentation including VA forms, resolving data discrepancies, to make eligibility determinations and issue Certificates of Eligibility (COE).
• Review the underwriting of loan applications submitted to VA for guaranty in order to ensure lender compliance with VA underwriting guidelines and regulations such as fees and charges.
• Answer incoming calls and personally handle inquiries, through personal or written contacts, to guide, counsel, and instruct program participants on aspects of the VA Home Loan program, while ensuring prompt and courteous service.
• Recommend approval or disapproval of restoration of entitlement, release of liability, and substitution of entitlement applications; and audit releases processed and approved by lenders, requesting additional documentation as necessary.
• Maintain records and controls in compliance with established procedures; prepare reports and quality control reviews; and perform all functions relative to the maintenance of lender files to include lender monitoring and underwriter approvals.
• Underwrite complex loan applications by analyzing the financial capacity of joint mortgagors, marginal loan applicants, Veterans who receive pensions, income based on operations of business firms, multi-family housing rentals, or unstable incomes.
• Collect, research, analyze, interpret, retrieve, and input data for/from a variety of computer systems including Microsoft Word, Excel, SharePoint, and Salesforce applications.
• Conduct training and outreach with individual lenders throughout assigned areas to survey operations; and meet with underwriters, processors, loan originators, and loan closers/shippers to ensure compliance with all VA Home Loan program directives.
• Complete post guaranty loan reviews and based on findings from the review, notify mortgage lenders of technical errors, any actions necessary for correction, and make recommendations of specific training needs.
• Provide preliminary recommendation for Funding Fee refunds by researching computer systems and the Funding Fee Payment System (FFPS).
• Maintain section registers, logs, feeder information, and other systems of records needed for quality control and reports. Establish and maintain a diary system to ensure all required actions are completed in a timely manner.
• Resolve problems, which occur with coding of loans into Loan Production computer systems while protecting data from unauthorized release, loss, alteration, or deletion.