The answer is yes and no.  Current Pennsylvania mortgage loan originators taking the required 20 hours of NMLS prelicense education will not have to do CE to renew this year.

However, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Banking, one individual from each licensed office of a mortgage broker, mortgage lender or mortgage loan correspondent that is not a mortgage originator, unless all of the nonclerical staff of a particular licensed office are licensed as mortgage originators, must complete 8 hours of continuing education. The CE must consist of 3 hours of federal law, 2 hours of ethics, 2 hours of nontraditional mortgage products and 1 hour of Pennsylvania mortgage laws.

ProSchools has two courses approved for CE.  We have a 1 Hour PA Mortgage Lending Compliance Laws CE and an 8 Hour PA SAFE Comprehensive CE course available. Both courses are offered online and are approved by the NMLS.  The SAFE Act requires a minimum of 8 hour CE per year and states can determine if they want to require more hours or require state-specific topics as part of the CE.

South Carolina loan originators will now have to complete 20 hours of prelicense education and pass the SAFE exam to be licensed. The exams will consist of a National component and a separate South Carolina component. The deadline for current and new licensees to meet the new SAFE requirements depends on when you were licensed. Read the rest of this entry »

If you are a mortgage loan originator, at some point you have probably questioned the reasoning behind passage of the SAFE Act. ProSchools estimates that several hundred-thousand mortgage brokers and loan originators could be impacted. In case you are still wondering about the “why”, here is a little background on the federal legislation, also known as the Secure and Fair Enforcement for Mortgage Licensing Act of 2008.

First of all, the SAFE Act mandates that states get on board and come up with a plan to meet federal requirements for licensing and registering loan originators.  What happens if they don’t?

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ProSchools is watching closely how the Nationwide Mortgage Licensing System (NMLS) will implement the education and testing requirements set forth in the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008, referred to as “SAFE Act.” We get calls daily from mortgage originators, wanting to know what is happening in their state and how the SAFE Act will impact their business.

What We Know: Meeting Exam Standards
The national exam is supposed to be available by July 30, 2009, as required by the SAFE Act.  To get this roll-out plan in motion, there are twelve states developing state-specific exam components to be ready for the July 30 date. Those twelve states are:

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