That is the question I posed to one of the Senior Examiner’s for the Iowa Division of Banking (IDB) recently. Iowa Senate File 355 for mortgage loan originators says as of July 31st new loan originators are to take an NMLS approved 20 Hour IA SAFE Comprehensive course. However, the NMLS is not expected to have any courses approved until mid-August.
One option being purposed is all IDB courses continue to be approved until the end of the year. This would allow for a transition period where loan originators could take either the NMLS-approved course or the state-approved course.
The other option is to allow loan originators to take the state-approved course, but only until the NMLS approved 20 Hour IA SAFE Comprehensive course is available. Either option has to be approved and put in the Iowa Rules so it is a waiting game.
The good news is we were assured that anyone taking a state-approved loan originator training course, such as ProSchools’ currently approved Iowa course, will have their 20 hours certified by the state. ProSchools submitted the 20 Hour IA SAFE Comprehensive course to the NMLS on July 16th so we expect an approval back by mid-August.