Safe Mortgage Education Part of General Mortgage Education Program
With the jobless rate at an all-time high many people who have recently lost their jobs have decided to go back to school to learn something new and sometimes that means helping people such as in the health care profession, mortgage education or computer technology, all of which are growing career opportunities once the proper schooling has been completed.
The safe mortgage education program – which is based on the Secure and Fair Enforcement Mortgage Licensing Act – a bill signed into law by former President Bush on July 30, 2008, which was a major component of the mortgage reform act. For both pre-licensing and continuing education, the S.A.F.E. Mortgage Licensing Act sets forth national minimums standards for training.
There is also the NMLS – National Mortgage Licensing System – which provides state-banking regulators a single database to track professionals with licenses to sell mortgages. NMLS is managed by the Conference of State Bank Supervisors and the American Association of a Residential Mortgage Regulators.
These regulations are for independent brokers or loan officers and not banks because banks feel they already face more regulations than the independent brokers and the NMLS agrees. Among some of the provisions included are: a 24 hour pre-registration education covering federal and state law ethics; those who have been working in the mortgage industry for at least 4 ½ years are exempt as long as they can pass the first test. Criminal background checks and fingerprints will be run to screen out people convicted of or pled no contest to misdemeanors or felonies relating to forgery, fraud, embezzlement, a financial transaction or securities transaction or any felony within the previous 10 years. There will be a one time $350 fee plus an annual renewal fee that is to be determined in each state. The National Mortgage Licensing System charges a fee of $30 and their annual fee is also $30; and the tests fee is $100.
The reason for the criminal background checks and credit checks for the loan officers is so that unscrupulous or predatory lenders do not ‘slip through the cracks’ and start making loans that people cannot afford which is what started the housing credit crisis in the first place.
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