Great Potential, But Doesn't Deliver
Pros
The people you work with on a daily basis are genuinely great people. There is usually flexibility in your daily schedule, I could come and go as I pleased during the day and no one cared. You get the freedom to captain your own ship, and I really did love that. If you're looking for a decent paying job while you transition to something else within a year or so, this is a great place to work.
Cons
Veterans United has created a high stress environment for those who work in production. They chronically over hire loan officers, making it tough to meet sales requirements, and they chronically under-hire support staff like Account Managers, Assistants, and Underwriters. In other words, getting business is difficult-- involving many nights and weekends away from your home life -- and the deals you do get are often sabotaged by the poor infrastructure of the company. There was a point where it was taking almost 7 days to have an "in-house" underwriter review a loan. That has gotten better, but could be much better. The pay structure is not great for loan officers. This is a high-pressure sales job and loan officers are expected to be licensed experts, knowledgeable of corporate and federal guidelines for multiple loan products, maintain elite level customer service scores, and maintain a high score on a range of internal metrics. Folks working in this job expect to be paid on a commission basis for their sales and VU has decided that it's more important for the owners to have private jets and homes on private islands than it is to properly take care of their talented work force. There is differential treatment of the loan officers regarding the pay scale. There are some loan officers at the company who are able to earn a high commission solely because they were hired before a certain date and in most cases those loan officers have a huge team that does 80% of their work for them. Meanwhile, other loan officers are paid hourly, must close 6 loans a month, and are required to PAY BACK THEIR OVERTIME. In other words, you're working for free if you work over 40 hours, and you almost always work over 40. Any bonus you earned would be confiscated to pay off your debt log. The debt log also included appraisals for deals that fell through, often times for reasons beyond your control. (Appraisals, on average, are between $500 and $750 each.) I would do the same amount of work and earn half the income as the guy next to me. It's not enough for them to just be a successful company, they now have to be #1 in the country in terms of volume. Of course, this is done on the backs of their employees and the company reaps the benefits. It is impossible to leave for vacation. Taking a day off is no big deal, but taking a week off sets you back so far that it makes you unable to even enjoy your vacation while you're away from work. Not to mention that even while you're gone you'll still be answering calls and emails from clients (and coworkers who are covering for you) -- constantly. The work space is unacceptable for adults working in this industry. Loan officers at Veterans United work shoulder to shoulder in cubicles, like minimum wage workers at a customer service call center. A loan officer at any other bank would have an office or a private work space to carry out their business while working with a borrower's personal and confidential information. A professional working in this industry would be turned off knowing they would have to work in that kind of environment. Simply unprofessional. Have an upset client? You'll be taking that call in front of about 15 other people unless you walk outside the building. But at the end of the day, VU is a loan mill that found a niche in the mortgage market that was immune to the market crash (VA loans), and they take advantage of our nation's finest to make a buck. They routinely give loans to folks fresh out of bankruptcy, short sales, etc. They just want to close the deal, and the VA loan makes it easy. The VU foundation is funded by donations directly from the salaries of employees (I myself donated), yet the company takes the credit for the work the foundation does. They get the credit and keep their money. It's a win/win for VU.
