I’m glad to see that some folks have been logging on and beginning to use this blog as a source for info. Today, we’ll be looking at licensing in the state of North Carolina.
North Carolina has 3 license options: Mortgage Broker, Mortgage Lender, or Hud Qualified Lender. There are some differences in the requirements for these licenses which we will cover below. It is our understanding that if you qualify as a lender or qualified lender, then you are permitted to broker, but if you qualify as a broker, you are not permitted to lend.
NC also requires that all loan officers who will work with NC borrowers must be licensed as a NC Loan Officer. Each l/o must take an approved NC education course and must pass the NC loan officer exam. We typically recommend to our customers that they fly to NC and take the course and exam in the same trip in either Charlotte or Raleigh. You must license at least 1 loan officer per office in order to apply for the company license.
Mortgage Broker
North Carolina requires that in order to be licensed as a mortgage broker, you must have a physical office located within the state. This means that if you aren’t currently located in NC, you will have to open an office there. This office must be staffed by an employee of your company who is a licensed loan officer and who has at least 3 years of experience. Also, you must have at least one licensed loan officer in your corporate office who also meets the 3 year experience requirement. These individuals will be designated as your Branch Managers.
Other requirements include a $ 50,000 surety bond, company financial statements, and completed fingerprint cards for all principals and loan officers of the company.
Mortgage Lender
The mortgage lender license for NC does not require that you maintain a physical office in the state, and therefore, offers a significant advantage if you can meet the financial requirements ($ 100,000 in company net worth and a $ 150,000 surety bond). As stated in the paragraphs above, if you can qualify as a lender, you can still broker loans, so many of our companies will do all they can to obtain the lender license so they don’t have to open an office in NC.
Under this license, your l/o’s still have to take the course and exam, and you still have to have a branch manager with 3 years of experience. But, the good news is that you only have to do this for 1 office (your corporate office) versus having to do it for 2 (your corporate office and your NC Branch) under the broker license.
Qualified Mortgage Lender
NC defines a “Qualified Lender” as a company who operates as a lender in NC and who is approved as either a supervised or non-supervised entity with the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and who also can show audited company financials in excess of $ 250,000. If you can meet these requirements, you are exempted from the $ 150,000 lender surety bond requirement, but otherwise all other requirements are the same as the Lender license.
From a distance, NC licensing can be rather intimidating as the application is lengthy and the requirements are rather strict. I hope this entry has been helpful and please let me know if you have any questions or comments. For more information, feel free to check out our company, American Mortgage Licensing at www.amlicensing.com
If you are looking to improve your financial situation and you own a home, you may want to refinance mortgage payments. This simply means that you apply for a new secured loan so that you can pay off a different loan. The advantage is that by choosing to take out loans for debt, you may obtain a lower interest rate.
The option to refinance mortgage payments usually is available when an individual already has a mortgage and he or she would like to pay it off via another one. The key to refinance mortgage payments, though, is to make sure that saving money is the case, for those who decide to go through with the process. Find out if the amount of interest saved on balances the normal fees associated with refinancing. Mortgage companies will provide a mortgage calculator to help figure out the math.
Once a person has decided to refinance mortgage payments, he or she may be in a position to have more cash while simultaneously lowering the amounts paid each month on the mortgage. Refinancing mortgage payments allows you to use some of the equity you have in your largest asset, your house.
When first buying the house, several factors influenced how high or how low monthly mortgage payments would be. An individual’s credit rating at the time has a great deal to do with it, as does the amount of down payment paid. The most influential factor was the interest rate at the time, though, but interest rates never stay the same. Due to this constant fluctuation, rates may be lower at certain points in time than when the house was first purchased.
If this is the case, refinance mortgage payments to take advantage of the lower interest rates. Depending on how low the Federal Reserve has allowed rates to go, homeowners may stand to decrease the amount paid out each month. Exchanging a high rate of interest for a lower one means saving money easily each month. A mortgage calculator will shed light on how much these loans for debt can help save you.
Homeowners looking to put some more money in their pockets and improve their financial situation should refinance their mortgage payments, particularly when interest rates are lower. They can shorten the length of their mortgage by keeping their monthly payments the same. This may sound too good to be true, but it isn’t. A shorter mortgage and the same monthly payment can happen with refinance mortgage payments.
If you want to increase the equity of your home and add some more money to your wallet, consider the option to refinance mortgage payments. Use a mortgage calculator available on the Internet and discover the many financial benefits of mortgage refinancing.
Learn more about debt consolidation free and credit card debt relief at http://answersaboutdebt.com/
Well, it has been a bit since I have posted any new information, so I figured we would hit one of the more popular states we do licensing for; Georgia.
The state of Georgia has a single application form (governed by the Georgia Department of Banking and Finance) that can be used to apply for either a brokers license, lenders license, or dual authority. The requirements are higher for lenders, so be sure to pay attention to that should you decide to apply.
One of the first things you will want to do if applying in GA will be to order blank fingerprint cards through the GA website. This is critical as you will want to get your completed fingerprints filed as quickly as possible because the timeframe for those to be investigated can be rather long.
To be licensed as a broker, you have to meet a number of requirements. First, you will have to prove at least 2 years of experience in the mortgage industry through either letters of reference or W2′s. You will also have to take a 4 hour GA course which is available at most online providers such as schoolofmortgagelending.com. GA also requires a $ 50,000 surety bond, but doesn’t necessarily have a net worth requirement. However, we have found that your best chance for a speedy approval is to show at least $ 20-$ 25k in company net worth.
To be licensed as a lender, the net worth and bond requirements go up substantially. You have the option of either providing audited company financials in the amount of $ 250,000 or providing a $ 150,000 surety bond. The experience requirement is still the same as the broker.
One unique requirement that Georgia has involves the need for a physical office. Essentially, GA says that if your home state requires a physical office for out-of-state brokers/lenders then you will have to maintain a physical office in the state of Georgia in order to do business there. Currently, GA recognizes Alabama, Idaho, Kentucky, Missouri, Nevada, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, & Texas as states that require physical offices in their states. If you are located in one of these states, then you will be required to open an office in GA in order to get licensed there.
As always, I hope you have found this information helpful and easy to read. If you have any questions, please post them in the comments section or give us a call at 866.588.6600. Feel free to check out our website at www.amlicensing.com.
Thanks, Eric
