Every loan officer must pass the national component of the NMLS exam if they want to originate mortgages. They must also pass at least one state component (or more than one, if they are licensed in more than one state). Yet, not every loan officer is passing the required exams. At least 25% of loan officers are not passing the national exam on their first try. Are you one of the 25%?
If you are, or if you haven’t taken the test yet, here is a piece of advice. Study for the exam. Don’t just wing it. The feedback that I am getting from my clients is that some of the questions on the exam are about information that you may rarely use as you originate loans. Ideally, the pre-licensing education that you took covered everything that you will be tested on. The reality is that the instructors who are teaching the pre-licensing education may be good or they may be bad and you may be not be taught everything that you need to know. Or you may be taking online education and just breezing through it to get the required hours in. You may think that you already know all of this because you’ve been doing it for 3 or 5 years. Or you are using the certification process to avoid taking the pre-licensing education.
Most of the material tested should be information that you do know off the top of your head and you should get really close to the passing grade without doing much homework. But, if you get too many of those random obscure questions wrong, you will fail the test.
Many employers are taking a hard line about getting your licensing requirements completed. After all, what good are you to them if you cannot originate loans? What good are you to your family if you cannot earn your livelihood? Take the licensing requirements seriously. Do the work that will get you past the hurdle of passing the state and national exams. Study the information that you didn’t know before. Review any books or notes that you took during your pre-licensing education. If you didn’t take pre-licensing education, find a cram course that is specifically geared towards passing these exams. Your job may depend on it.
Contact Robin Gronsky at Rgronsky@Gronskylaw.com if you want to explore expanding into new states or need help with your licensing applications (company or loan originator). I’ll keep what you tell me confidential but I cannot give you any specific legal advice until you become a client of the firm. This is done by written agreement only.
Showing posts with label pre-licensing tests. Show all posts
Showing posts with label pre-licensing tests. Show all posts
Monday, July 26, 2010
Friday, December 11, 2009
A Little Advice About the Pre-Licensing Exams
The SAFE Act, as implemented by each state, requires that all loan originators pass an exam with a 75% passing rate before they can get approved for a loan originator license by each state in which they originate or broker loans. The SAFE test consists of two components – a national test and a state test. Loan originators wishing to get licensed in more than one state must take the state component in each state in which they will be submitting a license application, but must pass the national component only once. The testing requirement must be satisfied by new applicants before they can be approved for a license. If you are currently licensed in a state that is transitioning to the NMLS (nationwide mortgage licensing system), then you transition your license first and the state has set a deadline by which you must pass the two test components.
For those loan originators with testing deadlines, it is important to schedule your test during a slow time at work and not wait until just before the licensing deadline. My clients have found their own state component to be fairly easy to pass but many fail on the first try in states in which they don’t do many loans. I would suggest that for those states, take the required 20 hours of pre-licensing education and then immediately after, take the exam while the material is still fresh in your mind. If you fail the test, you must wait 30 days until you can re-take the exam.
If December is a slow time of the year for you (not so many people are looking for houses during the Christmas season), take your pre-licensing education now and schedule the test for before the New Year starts. Good luck!
Please feel free to forward this blog post to your colleagues, listserv members or favorite bloggers. Or if you would like to run it (in whole or in part) in any publication or quote from it, simply include my name and URL: http://www.mortgagelicensesolutions.com. No prior permission needed. To inquire about joining my list to receive my blog posts or my availability to speak to your group or write an article for your publication, please email me at Robin@Mortgagelicensesolutions.com. Thank you!
For those loan originators with testing deadlines, it is important to schedule your test during a slow time at work and not wait until just before the licensing deadline. My clients have found their own state component to be fairly easy to pass but many fail on the first try in states in which they don’t do many loans. I would suggest that for those states, take the required 20 hours of pre-licensing education and then immediately after, take the exam while the material is still fresh in your mind. If you fail the test, you must wait 30 days until you can re-take the exam.
If December is a slow time of the year for you (not so many people are looking for houses during the Christmas season), take your pre-licensing education now and schedule the test for before the New Year starts. Good luck!
Please feel free to forward this blog post to your colleagues, listserv members or favorite bloggers. Or if you would like to run it (in whole or in part) in any publication or quote from it, simply include my name and URL: http://www.mortgagelicensesolutions.com. No prior permission needed. To inquire about joining my list to receive my blog posts or my availability to speak to your group or write an article for your publication, please email me at Robin@Mortgagelicensesolutions.com. Thank you!
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Changed Pennsylvania Deadlines
Pennsylvania has extended the deadline by which loan originators need to pass the national and state components of the pre-licensing mortgage examination through April 30, 2010. The deadline had previously been December 31, 2009.
Loan originators have 4 opportunities to pass each part of the test components (national and state). If you fail either of the tests , you must wait 30 days to re-take the exam. If you fail 4 times at both tests, you must wait 6 months to take the tests again. And Pennsylvania will suspend your license until you do pass both of the tests.
The deadline for taking the 20 hours of pre-licensing education has not changed and is still December 31, 2009.
Please feel free to forward this blog post to your colleagues, listserv members or favorite bloggers. Or if you would like to run it (in whole or in part) in any publication or quote from it, simply include my name and URL: http://www.mortgagelicensesolutions.com. No prior permission needed. To inquire about joining my list to receive my blog posts or my availability to speak to your group or write an article for your publication, please email me at Robin@Mortgagelicensesolutions.com. Thank you!
Loan originators have 4 opportunities to pass each part of the test components (national and state). If you fail either of the tests , you must wait 30 days to re-take the exam. If you fail 4 times at both tests, you must wait 6 months to take the tests again. And Pennsylvania will suspend your license until you do pass both of the tests.
The deadline for taking the 20 hours of pre-licensing education has not changed and is still December 31, 2009.
Please feel free to forward this blog post to your colleagues, listserv members or favorite bloggers. Or if you would like to run it (in whole or in part) in any publication or quote from it, simply include my name and URL: http://www.mortgagelicensesolutions.com. No prior permission needed. To inquire about joining my list to receive my blog posts or my availability to speak to your group or write an article for your publication, please email me at Robin@Mortgagelicensesolutions.com. Thank you!
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