CO Mortgage License

I hope each of you had a Happy and restful Thanksgiving holiday with your family. Now that we are back, let's take a look at the new licensing requirements for CO.

In June of this year, the legislature in CO passed a bill to begin to require licensing for Mortgage Brokers beginning in January of 2007. This is a brand new requirement, as mortgage brokers have been able to operate until this time in CO without a license. The complete requirements of this license, I'm sure, will continue to be modified over the next year, but we'll discuss what is currently needed.

Mortgage Brokers in CO will be required to register with the CO Division of Real Estate and must also file a background check form with the CO Bureau of Investigation. Early indications are that the background checks will be the items that will most likely make the licensing process lengthy (currently, there is a 12 week backlog). Applicants will be required to submit a completed fingerprint card in order to have the background check completed. It is recommended that you send in a completed card as soon as possible due to the backlog mentioned previously if you are looking to get licensed and do business in Colorado.

In addition, applicants must supply a $25,000 surety bond and file their application via an online service on CO's website.

It is our understanding that the introduction of this new Mortgage Broker license does not change the need to obtain a CO Supervised Lender license if you intend to work with 2nd mortgages. The Supervised Lender license has been around for some time and many of you may already have this license.

One last thing; there does appear to be an exemption to the Mortgage Broker license available if your company is HUD approved and pays its employees via W2 (which, as of August, 2006, this is required by HUD). The CO website offers you the opportunity to register and receive a letter confirming this exemption. But, other than that, beginning Jan 1, 2007, if you want to operate as a mortgage broker in the state of CO you must get registered and licensed.

If you'd like help in obtaining this license or just have further questions, please check us out at www.amlicensing.com or 866.588.6600.

Thanks,
Eric