Abby Polin

Vice President of Mortgage Lending
Draper and Kramer Mortgage Corp.

One of Abby Polin’s many strengths is her ability to connect with people. “I have always considered meeting people to be one of my favorite hobbies,” said Polin, Vice President of Residential Lending at Draper and Kramer Mortgage Corp. Her passion for engaging with others and helping them succeed has been a driving force throughout her 33-year career in mortgage lending.

Polin got her start in the mortgage industry in 1984 as a summer intern for a brokerage firm before her senior year at the School of Management at Boston University. Since then, she has acquired a wealth of industry experience. Her accomplishments include helping grow a three-person Chicago mortgage company to 2,600 employees nationally and serving in a vice president role at several other Chicago area lenders.

Now at Draper and Kramer Mortgage Corp., Polin works with the group of mortgage professionals she has spent most of her career with, including some for 30 years. “No matter how long any of us leave the group, we all end up back together again,” she said. “We support and push each other to higher levels, trust each other and have fun together.”

Polin serves a diverse range of clients, such as high-net-worth individuals, first-time buyers, property investors, and divorced and divorcing borrowers — many of whom are repeat clients. “My clients like that I listen, am patient and think creatively how to structure loans outside of the usual paradigm and still get them the best rates,” she said. “They love the team of professionals I work with who hold their hands throughout the process and simplify things for them, and their greatest recognition is referring me to their family and friends.”

Outside of the mortgage world, Polin enjoys volunteering and spending time with her children. She is on the Women’s Board at the Jewish United Fund of Metropolitan Chicago and is a former board member of Solomon Schechter Day School. Together with her children, she has volunteered in a refugee village in Nicaragua and helped with flood relief efforts in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. “I love instilling my passion of helping others to my children and being involved in charitable and volunteer work with them,” she said.