11th Annual Mortgage Industry Seminar
The Texas Department of Savings and Mortgage Lending will hold its 11th Annual Mortgage Industry Seminar on November 6th, 2023. The Mortgage Industry Seminar is held in conjunction with the TMBA Education Symposium. Both events will be held at the Westin Dallas Southlake Hotel.
Registration for the Mortgage Industry Seminar is through the Department’s website. The Mortgage Industry Seminar is from 1:30 pm to 3:30 pm CST. There is no charge to attend the Mortgage Industry Seminar portion of the Symposium. The link also provides the agenda and address for the Seminar.
LICENSING:
NEW – Fee Structure
At its August 2023 meeting, the Finance Commission of Texas approved the Department’s fiscal year 2024 budget. The budget includes licensing fee increases for Residential Mortgage Loan Companies and Residential Mortgage Loan Originators (RMLOs) effective November 1, 2023. The new fee structure for Residential Mortgage Loan Originators is:
- New application fee – from $70 to $100 (plus a $20 recovery fee)
- Renewal fee – from $50 to $70
Beyond these fees for individuals, some of the entity fees were also increased, and can be found on the Department’s website.
Even with the increased fees, the licensing/registration fees remain among the lowest in the United States.
Renewals
Annual Renewal season began November 1, 2023. All licensees and registrants must renew by December 31, 2023. Please see the NMLS’ Annual Renewal Information page for further information.
Common Reasons for Delay
Some of the most common reasons for a delay in the processing of an RMLO application are shown below:
- ACH payment. (10 calendar day hold on the receipt of the funds.)
- Current employer information does not match the Registered Location information.
- Mailing address does not match residential address.
- Not providing documents for Disclosure Questions that were answered “Yes”.
If applicable, these issues should be cleared before applying for an RMLO license.
Licensing Comparisons Year to Year
- Comparison of the total number of “Approved” Licenses/Registrants (entity and mortgage loan originator licenses) in all approved statuses as of September 30th, 2023:
- 2022: 60,055
- 2023: 49,373
- Comparison of the number of license requests received from January 1st to September 30th:
- 2022: 14,722
- 2023: 8,160
- Comparison of the total number of license requests received in the month of September (September 1st to September 30th):
- 2022: 1,049
- 2023: 670
EXAMINATIONS:
UPDATE: State Examination System (SES)
The SES is a secure online platform for performing multi-state, coordinated, and single state examinations. SES was developed by the Conference of State Bank Supervisors. In fiscal year 2023 (9/1/2022 – 8/31/2023), the Department prioritized the adoption and implementation of SES for examinations of mortgage entities. To date, the Department has participated in one multi-state SES examination and has conducted and issued one single-state SES examination.
For fiscal year 2024, the Department is fully adopting the use of SES for both multi-state and single-state examinations. The Department will update its Mortgage Compliance Guide as well as other online exam resources. Watch for further information via email and in the monthly Emerging Issues calls.
Common Mortgage Exam Violations
The Department maintains a list of Common Mortgage Exam Violations. The top violations for 2023 relate to unlicensed loan processors and loan originator assistants.
If you have any questions about this memo, licensing, examination, or regulatory questions, please reach out to caroline.jones@mortgagelaw.com. Please note that our firm is available for all services and issues relating to residential mortgage lending. Our team can be accessed through www.mortgagelaw.com/people.