Whew! Another bout with continuing education is over for another year. You see, every year mortgage brokers have to pass a continuing education class and an exam that satisfies state and national requirements to qualify to originate mortgage loans for the next 12 months. What do we study you ask?
The law mostly- Federal Law such as the ins and outs of the Truth in Lending Act, and the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act which require all lenders to make certain disclosures pertaining to fees available to loan applicants within a specific time frame after application. Once those fees have been disclosed in conjunction with a particular property and loan type they are written in cement for the most part. The point being that your fees will be the same at the beginning as they are at the end of your loan process and that available interest rates and options are disclosed.
The other biggie that emphasis was put on this year was diligence with regard to fraud-loan fraud and real estate fraud-I had not realized after everything that has happened in the past few years that there are still people out there scamming the public and attempting to scam lenders. A lot of people don't know what constitutes loan fraud. I don't want to write a "how to book" on the subject but here are a couple of instances that many consumers don't think about:
-Declaring on loan documents that you are going to live in a property that you are intending to rent out. There are different requirements for investment properties than primary properties so to say you are going to live in one that you have no intention of living in is a federal crime.
-Falsifying income or employment information in order to obtain a larger mortgage than a borrower can qualify for-while this one is hard to pull off anymore due to the stringent documentation and verification requirements on loans, people still try.
Next up before the end of the year is a criminal background check complete with fingerprints. If you have a felony on your record, federal law doesn't want you obtaining sensitive information from people such as social security numbers, bank account numbers, etc. Makes sense doesn't it?
We are also tracked along with our fellow originators who are employed by banks (though they do not have to go through the background checks) in a national mortgage originator registration system, the NMLS. We all have a number which you will see posted on loan documents. What this means is that when you call your neighborhood mortgage broker you will receive the services of an educated professional who you can trust to receive some of your most sensitive financial information. I wouldn't have it any other way.
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