Texas Amends Regulations for Mortgage Licensee Requirements

The Texas Finance Commission, on behalf of the Department of Savings and Mortgage Lending, recently adopted amendments to regulations relating to mortgage bankers and residential mortgage loan originators (MLOs), mortgage loan companies, and mortgage loan servicers.

With respect to mortgage bankers and MLOs, the amendments made changes to: (1) certain disclosure and advertising requirements, such as expanding the scope to cover disclosures on social media websites; (2) duties and responsibilities imposed on mortgage bankers and MLOs; (3) books and recordkeeping requirements; and (4) certain definitional terms, including new definitions for the following phrases:

  • "Takes a residential loan application" and "offers or negotiates the terms of a residential mortgage loan" to assist with making a determination when an individual is acting as an MLO;
  • "Application" to define when an individual has received information constituting a residential mortgage loan application; and
  • "Offers or negotiates the terms of a residential mortgage loan" to clarify when an individual is acting as an MLO.

With respect to mortgage loan companies, the amendments made similar changes to certain disclosure requirements, such as extending the requirement to cover social media websites. The regulations were also revised to include additional language for what constitutes improper dealing by a mortgage company or its sponsored MLO, among other revisions.

These amendments relating to mortgage bankers, MLOs, and mortgage loan companies became effective on January 3, 2021.

With respect to mortgage loan servicers, the amendments were made mainly to modernize and update the rules, including adding and replacing existing language to improve clarity and readability, to remove unnecessary provisions, and to update terminology.

These amendments relating to mortgage loan servicers became effective on January 7, 2021.

The adopted regulations are available here. For background, the proposed regulations prior to adoption are available here (relating to mortgage bankers, MLOs, and mortgage loan companies) and here (relating to mortgage loan servicers).

Florida Amends Regulations for Mortgage Licensee Application Procedures

The Florida Department of Financial Services recently adopted amendments to its regulations regarding the application procedures for mortgage lenders, mortgage brokers, mortgage loan originators (MLOs), and the mortgage lender and mortgage broker branch office licenses.

The changes provide an additional 45 days for submission of additional application information and provide for the disposition of incomplete applications. Specifically, revisions were made to the following rules:

  • 69V-40.0312: Application Procedure for Loan Originator License
  • 69V-40.0321: Application Procedure for a Mortgage Broker License
  • 69V-40.036: Application Procedure for a Mortgage Broker Branch Office License
  • 69V-40.0611: Application Procedure for a Mortgage Lender License
  • 69V-40.066: Application Procedure for a Mortgage Lender Branch Office License

The amendments will become effective on January 18, 2021. The amended regulations are available here.

NMLS License Reinstatement Period Begins

The NMLS annual renewal period ended on December 31, 2020, and the NMLS license reinstatement period is now underway. It will end on February 28, 2021. Companies and individuals who did not renew their licenses within the renewal period may be able to have their licenses reinstated during the reinstatement period.

To determine whether a license type is eligible for reinstatement and for state-specific information about reinstatement, the NMLS Annual Renewal webpage is here.

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