Maryland Loan Officers – You Need Company Sponsorship

By now, most of you loan officers have the licensing requirements down pat – 20 hours of pre-licensing education, pass the state and national tests, do the criminal background check, get the credit check done – and you’re licensed. There’s always a stray requirement hanging out there that you forget about and Maryland’s newest requirement highlights that fact.

The SAFE Act requires that all loan officers work for only one mortgage company at a time. The company that you work for must “sponsor” you. That means that your employer must show on the NMLS that you work for them. Most states, when they transitioned onto the NMLS, required the company sponsorship as part of the initial licensing application. You couldn’t get your loan originator license until your company sponsored you.

Maryland was different. You transitioned your license onto the NMLS but your company sponsored you on the Department of Labor, Licensing, and Regulation website. Now, Maryland is requiring that all employers create a sponsorship relationship with each of their loan officers on the NMLS. This must be completed by May 15, 2011 or there will be a payment involved.

All Maryland loan officers must first give access to their employer to their MU4 record. This is done by the loan officer getting onto their MU4 record on the NMLS and creating an “active relationship” with their employer. Once that has been completed, your employer must create the sponsorship.

You must keep checking your NMLS record to ensure that your employer has completed his part of the sponsorship request. After May 15, 2011, any loan officer who has not had a sponsorship request submitted via the NMLS will be placed in an "approved-inactive" status. That means that you will not have the authority to originate loans.