Colorado is now requiring Mortgage Companies to be licensed by the state. On May 26, 2010, the Governor of Colorado, Bill Ritter, Jr., signed a bill (H.B. 10-1141) that (i) creates the Board of Mortgage Loan Originators, a new state mortgage regulatory division, and (ii) establishes registration deadlines for mortgage loan originators and mortgage companies by way of the the Nationwide Mortgage Licensing System (NMLS). Mortgage companies, as well as individual mortgage loan originators, must be licensed via NMLS by January 1, 2011.
The law establishes a new licensing category of "mortgage company," defined as entities that take residential mortgage loan applications or offer or negotiate the terms of a residential mortgage loan. The new law exempts from mortgage company licensing requirements banks, savings associations, subsidiaries owned and controlled by a bank or savings association, employees of bank or savings association or its subsidiaries, credit unions, and employees of credit unions. Mortgage companies will be overseen by the newly-created Board of Mortgage Loan Originators, which will, among other things, have the authority to impose fines and deny license applications or renewals. For a copy of the bill, please see http://www.leg.state.co.us/CLICS/CLICS2010A/csl.nsf/fsbillcont3/91997519A6EFDCBB872576A80054E840?Open&file=1141_enr.pdf
