Meet Dave, an Elevations Mortgage Loan Officer

From refinancing to buying, the Mortgage Team at Elevations Credit Union is ready to assist you with your home financing journey. Mortgage Loan Officer Dave Armstrong uses his 27 years of experience in the financial industry to help Elevations members discover the best residential home loan product to match their needs and lifestyle. Dave has been part of the Fort Collins Harmony Branch for five and a half years. 

Dave was the classic Western Nebraska farm kid. He was born and raised on acreage near Big Springs, where he embraced rural life firsthand until his parents lost the property in the 1980s due to financial hardships accompanied by a few hailstorms. 

“I always thought I was going to be the kid that would stay on the farm after college. When I went to college, I had some ag business interest,” he explains. “When I left college, I thought, gosh, I’ll try ag business first. After all, that was closest to my roots. I did that. I worked on a production hog farm for nine months in northeast Colorado and tilled wheat fields in the evenings.”  

During this work experience, Dave discovered he didn’t love the ag business life but was intrigued with the business aspects. That’s when he looked for guidance from his brother, who happened to work in the mortgage world and encouraged him to interview.  

Dave took the advice and never looked back.  

Career shift: From farming to finance 

As a Loan Officer at Elevations, Dave is one of the first people members talk to when it comes to purchasing a home or refinancing their current property. He takes his role helping members make financial decisions seriously, as most will spend a hefty chunk of their income, often at least 30% on this expense. 

He explains that members can best prepare for working with a Loan Officer by having three key pieces of information ready for the first meeting: your credit score, your gross annual income and your ideal monthly payment. Once this information is in hand, Dave can start crunching numbers and prequalify the member for the loan that best meets their income level and property dreams. 

Dave jokes that he’s also a financial counselor of sorts, helping members get to where they need to be. “There are times when it might take two years to get past credit issues or grow savings so the member can write a contract,” he says. “If you don’t have somebody that cares enough about your financial future to get you there, then you’re kind of flailing in the wind.” 

He once helped two Elevations members who felt trapped in their current home and were experiencing credit woes. They dreamed of upgrading from a small manufactured home on leased land but weren’t sure how to make it happen. With Dave, the member and her husband worked on understanding their credit report, improving their credit scores and getting prequalified for a mortgage. Once their credit was back on track, they got the loan, moved into a brand new house and, soon after, expanded their family via adoption. 

After sharing that story, Dave says one of the most important parts of his job is talking and listening to people. “I mean, life happens to everybody. Understanding that and helping people grow financially is awesome.” 

Home lending is personally rewarding 

About six or seven years ago, Dave was asked to emcee an event for Neighbor to Neighbor, a local housing nonprofit. As the sitting chair of the board of directors, he drafted a speech about why he volunteers with a nonprofit focused on getting people from homelessness to homeownership. 

“I had to really think about that as I composed my speech. It struck me, after I’d been in the business for 16 or 17 years, that part of my passion for this business is making sure that families don’t go through what my family went through when I was a junior and senior in high school — losing our home. Coming to that realization was kind of a shock to me,” he reflected. 

Dave says that since preparing and delivering that presentation, his career has become even more rewarding. He also feels Elevations is a good match for him personally because the organization shares the same spirit of uplifting people and being part of the community. 

“It’s hard to match up a business entity with a core value that you have personally, and they do that very well,” Dave said from his home office, with two sleeping dogs by his side. 

Prior to joining the team at Elevations Credit Union, Dave accrued experience at World Savings, Countrywide, Wells Fargo and U.S. Bank. Over the years he has worked as a loan officer, licensed appraiser and in management.  

An outdoor adventure-seeking family 

When he’s not guiding future and current homeowners, Dave volunteers with the local Rotary Club, watches shows about the outdoors and travels with his family. Along with his wife and son, the trio tackles everything from snowy slopes around Colorado to sandy beaches in the Caribbean. Soon, they hope to be spectators at a few local ski competitions watching their son, Brock (who started skiing 11 years ago at age 4), shred the slopes with his Breckenridge freeride ski team. 

Dave studied at the University of Wyoming in Laramie, where he focused on business and education. 

Dave Armstrong (NMLS# 409932) is happy to meet with members virtually or in-person at our Fort Collins branches. You can reach him by email at dave.armstrong@elevationscu.com or by phone at (970) 388-3903 with your questions about homebuying or refinancing.