I have had clients tell me that licensing a mortgage company nationwide was one of the most challenging projects that they have ever taken on. So why is it so challenging, and what can you do to make the process easier?
What does a Mortgage Licensing Company do to make this process easier?
To explain what a mortgage licensing company does, I need to first explain what is involved in getting a mortgage license. Almost every state has the following requirements: Filing for certificate of authority as a foreign entity, registered agent, surety bond, fingerprints, education, experience, and exams, detailed ownership and officer information, financials, and a final application.
Time
The following items take a lot of time to complete and fill out correctly if you have never done it before. Filing a certificate of authority is different in each state and required prior to obtaining a license. Each filing requires a number of additional items such as a certificate of good standing and/or certified articles of incorporation as well as information on the registered agent. By using a mortgage licensing company, they usually include this process in the service that they offer. Completing the license applicaton also requires a number of different documents to attach and can be very time consuming to research and fill out accurately. Most states do not make the process simple and definitely do not explain what is needed in a step by step manner that would be simple to fill out.
Knowledge
The following items can take detailed understanding and intimate knowledge of each states requirements. The surety bond requirement can be difficult and often the largest barrier to obtaining licenses nationwide. Since each state requires a surety bond, once about 5 to 10 states are reached, a mortgage company will find it difficult to obtain the necessary bonding in order to go into additional states. If there is any financial or criminal background on the owners or officers of the company, you will need to delicately provide this information to the states and make sure to provide them the answers that they need to be able to determine if their regulations prohibit that type of background. It must be handled very carefully.
In whole, the process can be done on your own or with the assistance of professionals. If planning on a mortgage licensing project in to 1 or 50 states, make sure to consider the cost, not just the immediate monetary cost, but also the cost of the time involved to maneuver all of the different state requirements quickly and efficiently.
