Leading Rookies by Loan Count — Illinois (2025)

Leading rookies in Illinois in 2025, ranked by loan count. Powered by ChatMMI — the only fully conversational AI experience for mortgage and real estate data.

As of July 13, 2026, the top 3 include Mercedes Gutierrez (Credit Union 1, NMLS #2706394), Carmen Katalinic (Old Second National Bank, NMLS #2715840), and Malani Smithenry (Compeer Financial, ACA, NMLS #2682074).

Updated · Recorded mortgage transactions typically appear in this dataset approximately 22 days after the recording date.

Leading Rookies by Loan Count — Illinois (2025) — top 50
Rank Loan officer LO NMLS Current Lender / Broker Lender NMLS Location 2025 Volume 2025 Loans Avg Loan
#1 Mercedes Gutierrez 2706394 Credit Union 1 384759 Lombard, IL $5.6M 80 $70K
#2 Carmen Katalinic 2715840 Old Second National Bank 406097 Chicago, IL $6.4M 41 $157K
#3 Malani Smithenry 2682074 Compeer Financial, ACA 619731 Bloomington, IL $4.6M 20 $230K
#4 Stephanie Ankrom 2729593 Scott Credit Union 415767 Collinsville, IL $2.6M 17 $151K
#4 Cassandra Solarte 2561072 EMERALD MORTGAGE CORP. 155736 Fox River Grove, IL $4.5M 17 $265K
#6 Emma Cady 2685301 Pulte Mortgage LLC 1791 Denver, CO $7.9M 16 $495K
#6 Claudia De La Sierra 2658854 Pulte Mortgage LLC 1791 Denver, CO $8.8M 16 $547K
#6 Spencer Patton 2584231 New American Funding, LLC 6606 Champaign, IL $2.6M 16 $161K
#9 William Faulkner 2703720 Barrett Financial Group, L.L.C. 181106 Chandler, AZ $6.0M 15 $398K
#10 Stephanie Viramontes 2526962 KeySmart Mortgage, Co. 1833870 Berwyn, IL $4.4M 14 $312K
#10 Marta Kryvko 2703327 Selfreliance Federal Credit Union 537122 Chicago, IL $4.1M 14 $292K
#10 Jaelin Brown 2720523 Fifth Third Bank, National Association 403245 $1.9M 14 $137K
#13 Daniel Smith 2711567 STREATOR ONIZED CREDIT UNION 421974 $1.2M 13 $93K
#13 Weston Parrish 2667221 PennyMac Loan Services, LLC 35953 Tampa, FL $2.1M 13 $163K
#13 Dominika Turski 2284928 COMPASS LENDING, INC. 2379519 Park Ridge, IL $4.5M 13 $345K
#13 Alan Johnson 2710593 PennyMac Loan Services, LLC 35953 Pasadena, CA $3.7M 13 $287K
#17 Giemona Ward 2686598 PennyMac Loan Services, LLC 35953 Roseville, CA $2.4M 12 $198K
#17 Benjamin Wild 273113 Guaranteed Rate, Inc. 2611 Rock Island, IL $2.3M 12 $188K
#17 Derek Rathbun 2677265 OPTIMUM FIRST INC. 240415 $5.2M 12 $432K
#17 Steven Macias-Luna 2662203 Fay Servicing, LLC 88244 $955K 12 $80K
#21 Madan Ramineni 2724790 The Hill Mortgage Company 2004973 Aurora, IL $3.9M 11 $351K
#21 GARY CECIL 2723441 Land of Lincoln Credit Union 412587 Decatur, IL $1.4M 11 $130K
#21 Lesli Carter 1836629 Pulte Mortgage LLC 1791 Denver, CO $3.3M 11 $300K
#24 Robert Watford 2691432 Navy Federal Credit Union 399807 Pensacola, FL $2.5M 9 $279K
#24 Thomas Cush 307651 NewRez LLC 3013 Fort Washington, PA $2.2M 9 $248K
#24 Kimberly Baggins 2718534 Navy Federal Credit Union 399807 Pensacola, FL $3.2M 9 $352K
#24 Jennifer Harder 2717331 Midland States Bank 411141 Bourbonnais, IL $1.1M 9 $118K
#28 Zachary Nixon 2674597 Mortgage Research Center, LLC 1907 Columbia, MO $1.7M 8 $213K
#28 Audra Collins 2740723 Dieterich Bank 408244 Effingham, IL $2.1M 8 $267K
#28 Camryn Soria 2682541 JPMorgan Chase Bank, National Association 399798 $2.8M 8 $347K
#31 Barry Roffman 26846 loanDepot.com, LLC 174457 Scottsdale, AZ $952K 7 $136K
#31 Jaylen Reed White 2412665 Rocket Mortgage, LLC 3030 Phoenix, AZ $1.7M 7 $248K
#31 Bonita Chatfield 2718535 Navy Federal Credit Union 399807 Winchester, VA $2.2M 7 $309K
#31 Ibraheem Samona 2690686 Rocket Mortgage, LLC 3030 Detroit, MI $2.0M 7 $292K
#31 Gregory Metcalf 997312 NATIONS LENDING CORPORATION 32416 Independence, OH $1.4M 7 $201K
#31 Sourov Datta 2296547 Rocket Mortgage, LLC 3030 Detroit, MI $1.4M 7 $204K
#31 Kevin Fannin 2688241 Royal United Mortgage LLC 13390 Indianapolis, IN $510K 7 $73K
#31 Jazzlyn Finch 2682515 JPMorgan Chase Bank, National Association 399798 Tempe, AZ $1.5M 7 $212K
#31 Hannah Kelley 2732189 Navy Federal Credit Union 399807 Pensacola, FL $1.9M 7 $266K
#31 issac khwaja 2685131 Guaranteed Rate, Inc. 2611 Chicago, IL $1.8M 7 $261K
#31 Matthew Santos 2699832 Rocket Mortgage, LLC 3030 Phoenix, AZ $1.9M 7 $266K
#31 Christianne Murrens 2458963 Mortgage Professional, Inc. 2458879 Libertyville, IL $2.1M 7 $296K
#43 Christopher Brown 308421 Consumer Real Estate Finance Co. 104621 Fort Lauderdale, FL $729K 6 $121K
#43 Mohamad Baidoun 2717524 Rocket Mortgage, LLC 3030 Detroit, MI $2.6M 6 $438K
#43 Ethan Hazlerig 2734673 JPMorgan Chase Bank, National Association 399798 Columbus, OH $976K 6 $163K
#43 Conner Denton 2682511 JPMorgan Chase Bank, National Association 399798 $564K 6 $94K
#43 Luis Rentas Arroyo 2674601 CrossCountry Mortgage, LLC 3029 Cleveland, OH $1.7M 6 $282K
#43 Monte White 2699836 Rocket Mortgage, LLC 3030 Phoenix, AZ $782K 6 $130K
#43 Justin Mercer 2662230 Rocket Mortgage, LLC 3030 Cleveland, OH $484K 6 $81K
#43 Cambria Schwartz 2662188 Rocket Mortgage, LLC 3030 Phoenix, AZ $1.2M 6 $195K

Frequently asked

Who is the top rookie mortgage loan officer in Illinois in 2025?
Mercedes Gutierrez (Credit Union 1, NMLS #2706394) ranks #1 in Illinois in 2025 with 80 closed loans based on MMI's public-record mortgage dataset.
Who are the top mortgage loan officers in Illinois in 2025?
1. Mercedes Gutierrez (Credit Union 1); 2. Carmen Katalinic (Old Second National Bank); 3. Malani Smithenry (Compeer Financial, ACA). The full ranking continues on this page, sourced from MMI's public-record mortgage dataset.

About this data

These rankings are powered by MMI's nationwide residential mortgage public record dataset. MMI collects mortgage transaction data from recording jurisdictions across the United States, with an average data latency of approximately 22 days from the recording date.

Transactions are matched to NMLS identifiers for loan officers, lenders, and brokers where applicable. MMI then deduplicates, normalizes, and validates this data to create an authoritative mortgage production dataset that powers MMI's analytics, recruiting, marketing, and intelligence products.

Rankings reflect recorded mortgage transactions available to MMI at the time of the last data refresh. Recent activity may continue to update as additional transactions are recorded and processed.

Read the full methodology

Cite this page

TopMortgageOriginators.com. Leading Rookies by Loan Count — Illinois (2025). Powered by MMI public record mortgage production data, accessed July 13, 2026. https://topmortgageoriginators.com/lo-leaderboard/illinois/top-rookie-by-units/2025

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