Non-QM Underwriter

Founded in 2000, Plaza Home Mortgage, Inc. is a privately owned, full-service national lender offering Wholesale, Correspondent, Renovation, and Reverse residential mortgages. Headquartered in San Diego, California, Plaza employs a network of sales associates to serve clients nationwide and is dedicated to building quality, long-term relationships with its mortgage broker and correspondent clients.

About the role

The Non-QM Underwriter is responsible for evaluating and decisioning mortgage applications that fall outside traditional agency guidelines, with a focus on DSCR, Bank Statement, Asset Depletion, and self-employed borrower programs. This role requires advanced analysis of borrower capacity, collateral, and creditworthiness through review of supporting documentation such as credit reports, income and asset verification, bank statements, tax returns, appraisals, and fraud prevention tools. The Non-QM Underwriter applies sound credit judgment while ensuring compliance with company policies, investor requirements, and regulatory standards. This position plays a critical role in balancing risk management with service excellence for both internal and external partners.

Responsibilities

• Ability to manually underwrite complex transactions to ensure the loan meets established underwriting guidelines.
• Compute income and debt ratio calculations following program guidelines and ability to repay requirements.
• Underwrite loan files in accordance with investor and company Non-QM guidelines, focusing on DSCR, Bank Statement, Asset Depletion, and other alternative documentation loan programs.
• Maintain current knowledge of Non-QM investor guidelines, overlays, and program updates.
• Perform mortgage credit analysis with or without the assistance of an automated underwriting system and ensure lending decisions follow company guidelines and policies.
• Perform detailed analysis and review of appraisal for one-to-four family residential properties to determine acceptability of security for loan programs offered by Plaza.
• Review loan documents for accuracy and consistency and address discrepancies as necessary.
• Issue loan decisions to business partners in a clear and concise manner.
• Document decisions via loan origination platform and complete all final loan decision forms as required.
• Identify red flags, layered risk, or potential fraud indicators in loan documentation.
• Provide exceptional customer service to both internal and external customers, including answering loan-specific questions on non-agency programs and reviewing program requirements within established SLAs.
• Maintain production goals & standards in accordance with established SLAs and production metrics.
• Other duties as assigned.

Requirements

• Recent manual underwriting experience in the mortgage industry.
• Proficient with self-employed income calculations and guidelines.
• Non-agency underwriting experience preferred.
• Strong attention to detail.
• Excellent problem-solving skills.
• Strong interpersonal and communication skills.
• Ability to work in a fast-paced environment.
• High School Diploma or GED equivalent.
• Minimum 4 years residential underwriting experience.
• Minimum 2 years Non-QM specific underwriting experience.

Work Environment

This is a remote, full-time, non-exempt position.

Pay

Estimated rate of pay: $43.27 - $55.29 per hour. Final offers are based on various factors, including skill set, experience, location, qualifications, and other job-related reasons.

Benefits

• Medical, dental, and vision insurance.
• Paid time off and holidays.
• 401(k) retirement plan.
• Life and pet insurance.
• Accident, Hospital, and Critical Illness insurance.
• Flexible spending accounts.
• Discounted services.