So, here’s the deal. Depending on your state’s time line, if you want to keep your job as a loan originator (which is a very broad category of mortgage professionals under the S.A.F.E. Act) you will need to meet new education requirements. You must have accumulated 20 hours of pre-license education (by January 2011 in Washington – similar time line in many other states) and it must include at least 8 hours on the following topics:
- 3 hours of federal law and regulations
- 3 hours of ethics (which must cover fraud, consumer protection, and fair lending)
- 2 hours of training related to lending standards for the nontraditional mortgage product marketplace
The remaining 12 hours can be electives.
Courses will be approved by a contractor selected by the National Mortgage Licensing System (NMLS) which looks to be the test developer Pearson Vue (looks like these guys will write the exam and approve/manage the courses). FINRA, the same folks who manage the securities licensing, will be responsible for test administration and the NMLS administrative work. I know Washington just sent notice to it’s educational providers that they need to comply with the course content of SAFE in their courses. So, this ball is rolling and this thing is going to pick up momentum quickly. I know lots of people in the mortgage business try to “look the other way” on these kind of regulations, but this isn’t one you want to do anything but comply, comply, comply. No mortgage license and you are out of business!
We’ll keep you posted as this unfolds…