Credit Analyst Job Description: Duties, Skills, & Qualifications

Hiring a Credit Analyst: What to Expect

Credit analyst candidates come from bank training programs, from accounts receivable and collections roles inside companies, from public accounting, and from recent finance graduates. The bank-trained group can spread a statement and write a memo but may be slow on trade credit volume; the AR group knows the customers but may never have calculated a coverage ratio. Screen with a short case: give the candidate 2 years of a borrower’s or customer’s financials and ask for a recommendation and the 2 numbers that drove it. Ask about a credit they recommended that went bad, and what they would look at differently now.

Credit analyst postings often leave out the credit type. “Credit Analyst” with no mention of commercial lending, consumer lending, or B2B trade credit draws candidates from the wrong kind of credit work, and the interviews waste everyone’s time. State the credit type in the first line, the typical exposure size, the approval authority the analyst will hold, and the software in use.

A posting for this role should name the credit platform the analyst will use, such as nCino, Abrigo, or Moody’s CreditLens for bank lending, or a trade credit tool that pulls D&B, Experian, or Creditsafe scores into an automated workflow. It should also state whether the analyst holds approval authority and up to what amount. The platform handles most spreading and scoring, so the interview should test the judgment behind a recommendation.

On accounting and finance searches, 4 Corner Resources submits qualified candidates in an average of 4.5 days, clients interview an average of 1.46 candidates per hire, and we submit 1.82 candidates per hire.

Credit Analyst Core Responsibilities

• Spread and analyze borrower or customer financial statements, tax returns, and projections
• Review statements spread automatically by the credit platform, such as nCino or Abrigo, and correct misread line items before analysis
• Calculate and interpret the main ratios, including debt service coverage, debt to equity, liquidity, and working capital trends
• Pull and review credit bureau reports, D&B or Experian business reports, bank references, and trade references
• Evaluate collateral, guarantees, and covenants and assign a risk rating according to policy
• Write credit memos and present recommendations to the lender, credit manager, or credit committee
• Use AI drafting tools in the credit platform or Microsoft Copilot for first drafts of memo sections, and verify every figure against the spread and source documents
• Set and review customer credit limits and terms, and recommend holds or releases on orders over limit
• Review the results of automated credit scoring and approval rules, and document the reason for every override
• Monitor the existing portfolio for covenant compliance, deteriorating financials, and late payment patterns, using early warning alerts from the credit platform or a business credit monitoring service
• Complete annual reviews and renewals on existing credit relationships
• Maintain credit files and documentation in the loan origination or ERP system
• Work with loan officers, sales, and collections on structuring, terms, and problem accounts
• Track portfolio metrics such as days sales outstanding, past-due percentage, and loss experience

Required Skills and Qualifications

Hard skills

• Financial statement analysis, including cash flow and ratio analysis
• Experience spreading statements in a credit platform such as nCino, Abrigo, Moody’s CreditLens, or a comparable tool
• Knowledge of credit bureau and business credit reports (Experian, Equifax, TransUnion, D&B, Creditsafe)
• Advanced Excel for cash flow models, sensitivity analysis, and portfolio reporting
• Working knowledge of loan structures, collateral types, and lien perfection, or of trade credit terms and UCC filings for B2B roles
• Familiarity with credit policy, risk rating frameworks, and regulatory requirements such as fair lending rules and ECOA adverse action notices
• Working knowledge of CECL (ASC 326) and how risk ratings feed the allowance for credit losses
• Experience with trade credit automation tools, such as HighRadius or Creditsafe, that score applications and monitor customer risk
• Ability to write a clear, complete credit memo
• Experience with an ERP or loan origination system for credit holds, limits, and documentation

Soft skills

• Comfortable saying no to a lender or a sales rep and explaining why in writing
• Skeptical of a projection that assumes everything goes right
• Accurate with figures a credit committee will rely on
• Able to work through a backlog of renewals without cutting corners
• Professional on the phone with borrowers, customers, and their accountants

Education

• Bachelor’s degree in finance, accounting, economics, or business administration
• Associate degree plus credit or collections experience accepted for B2B trade credit roles at some companies

Certifications

• None required
• RMA Credit Risk Certification (CRC) is the main credential in commercial lending
• NACM designations (CBA, CBF, CCE) are valued in B2B trade credit

Preferred Qualifications

• Completion of a formal bank credit training program
• 2 or more years in commercial lending, commercial finance, or corporate credit
• Experience with SBA lending, equipment finance, or asset-based lending, depending on the employer
• Industry knowledge that matches the portfolio, such as construction, agriculture, healthcare, or distribution
• Experience presenting to a credit committee
• Collections or workout experience
• Experience monitoring AI or machine learning credit scoring models, including documentation for model risk management

How Much Does a Credit Analyst Make?