As we’ve discussed before, Washington mortgage loan originators licensed prior to July 30, 2009 must complete 8 hours of approved continuing education by December 31, 2009. If someone can show they have completed a minimum of 20 hours of approved education in the past, those hours will be “certified” and he/she won’t have to take the 20 hours of NMLS prelicense education.
In past years DFI approved courses (not hours) and licensees took courses to meet renewal requirements. One question ProSchools has been asked lately is how someone can get credit for hours for those courses. Here is the response I got from someone at the state:
“…starting in late 2008, DFI began approving courses with hour amounts. If someone took courses prior to them being approved with hour amounts, then each course will be counted as 3 hours per course. If the course was taken after DFI began approving courses with hour amounts, then each course will be counted for the hours which it was approved for.”
Here’s an example: if an individual took 2 courses in the past which weren’t approved with hour amounts, then the individual has accumulated 6 hours. If that same person renews at the end of this year, he/she will need 8 hours of education, including 2 hours of Ethics. That person will then have 14 hours accumulated which means he/she would have to complete an additional 6 hours before 5/31/2010 in order to be certified by Washington.
One more thing, Washington can only certify courses that they’ve approved so the individual would have to continue to take all hours in Washington approved courses, not NMLS approved courses. ProSchools has 10 Washington approved courses to choose from, including ethics. If you want to get hours certified, I suggest you do it now. DFI is no longer approving or renewing courses, so once our courses expire (all providers are in this boat ), we will have to stop offering them.
If you are starting out as a new loan originator in Washington, you need NMLS courses. ProSchools has the NMLS approved 20 Hour WA SAFE Comprehensive course, which includes exam prep for passing the NMLS exam.