Carol Schretter

What made you decide to be a BankSouth Loan Officer?

I took the long way around on my journey to becoming a loan originator. After high school, I escaped Southfield, Michigan, to join the USMC and traveled the south and the Orient as a signal intelligence officer using morse code, teletype, and direction-finding equipment. My gigs after my enlistment included several different stops and starts until I worked as an onsite realtor for a local builder for about seven years. After that stint, I knew what I didn’t want to do. I thought about women in the workplace that I admired. Loan officers were on the top of my list. I knew a lot about the industry already and it was a natural progression. I have been originating loans for almost 30 years.

What is/was your biggest success professionally? Why was it a big success?

Back in the middle to late 1990s, my processor and I closed 30 loans in one month. It happened in December. December is the most challenging month to close a purchase because a lot of the people that help with the components are taking time off: appraisers, insurance agents, staff, real estate attorneys and their staff, home inspectors, underwriters. That was a time when two people could actually close that many transactions. And I shared my processor with another loan officer! Afterward, we said: never again!

Why are you different than others in your profession?

I very much care about my borrowers and I work to get them any rate or down payment assistance that I can. I follow up after closing as well.

What do you enjoy doing on weekends?

I enjoy meeting my friends for tennis and catching up with them about their lives and families and pets!

Who is someone you admire and why?

I admire Theresa Staley and Jill Elmgren at BankSouth. Theresa always has the answers and if she doesn’t, she finds out the answer. She is always pleasant and doesn’t make me feel inadequate even when I ask really boneheaded questions. Jill, the ops manager in Savannah, is always calm and reliable. She is knowledgeable and a strategic thinker. I think she is one of the best humans that I have had the pleasure of working beside.

Do you have any skills or talents that most people don't know about?

A lot of my friends are aware that a hobby of mine was participating in beach volleyball at a fairly high level. My husband and I met through the sport and we competed together before we dated. We competed in small tournaments around the southeast that included purses for the finalists. We would have played even without the financial payoffs. I played a lot of sports, but doubles volleyball is the most fun and intense sport I ever played.