She was raised in a little wooden house with a thatched roof in the Dominican Republic, a nation she left behind 17 years ago to clean offices in Boston's skyscrapers and dorm rooms at Harvard University. But now Vinela Arias is preparing to return ... Loan officers at a bank or a credit union are employees working to sell and process mortgages and loans for customers or home buyers like you. Their loan types and mortgage products have several varieties but they all come from one specific originator, their employers.