Oklahoma Joins the Nationwide Mortgage Licensing System

Today is the day that Oklahoma joins the Nationwide Mortgage Licensing System (NMLS). The Oklahoma Department of Consumer Credit will no longer accept paper applications for a mortgage broker license. They must apply through the NMLS. Current licensees must create a company record on the NMLS (called an MU1) by December 1, 2009. If your company already has a record on the NMLS because of licensing in another state, you simply add Oklahoma as an additional jurisdiction to your MU1. There will be a late filing penalty of $100 if your company transitions between December 1, 2009 and December 31, 2009. After December 31, 2009, your license expires and you will not be able to renew it. You will need to submit a new application. If your company has branch offices, each branch must create a record on the NMLS by completing an MU3 form. The person in charge of each office is called the Qualifying Individual on the MU1. The fee for transitioning your broker license is $350, including the NMLS fee. New licenses cost $1,100.

All existing Oklahoma mortgage loan originators as of July 30, 2009 must transition their licenses prior to December 31, 2009 by completing an MU4. All current loan originators will need to take 20 hours of pre-licensing education, pass an exam, submit a surety bond, submit fingerprints for a criminal background check, and pass a financial background check, including a review of your credit report by December 31, 2009. New applicants for a loan originator license must complete the requirements by December 31, 2010. The license costs $210, which includes the NMLS processing fee, if you transition your loan originator license by December 1, 2009. If you do not make the deadline, there is an additional fee of $100. After December 31, 2009, you need to submit a new application. These fees do not include the cost of fingerprinting and credit report fees. You pay the fee through the NMLS and the fee is nonrefundable.

All of the additional requirements with which loan originators need to comply (pre-licensing education, exam, etc.) are not fully available on the NMLS yet so you will need to keep checking back with the NMLS in order to find out whether each requirement has been added to the NMLS. As updated information about the exam and the pre-licensing courses become available, I will post more information on this blog.

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