In this article we are going to talk about how to get your company's loan officers (LO's) licensed in multiple states under the new NMLS rules. Believe it or not there are some good strategies you can put in place that will make it easier to have licensed LO's in multiple states. These specific strategies will be discussed in this Knowledge Article.

First rule: Don't try to cheat the system. There are companies out there that have a plan to get one or two persons licensed in multiple states and have those persons be the "licensed agent" on every loan application. In the long run, this will not work, the state regulator will figure out what you are doing and you will be either fined or forced to refund all lender fees on these loans, or both!

Second rule: Be careful about hiring loan officers with criminal backgrounds involving theft, fraud or any monetary crimes. These LOs will not be approved for licensing. So do a good screening on all your new and current loan officers to make sure they are clean, no monetary crimes or fraud crimes. Find a good background check company and screen all of your current LOs if you have not already done so.

Third rule: Have your loan officers complete the federal SAFE act education (twenty hours) and take the federal SAFE act test. Do not let your loan officers take any of the state SAFE act tests until the federal one has been passed. If you have LOs that fail the SAFE act test four times, terminate them from employment becase these employees will have to wait another six months before they can take the test for the fifth time.

Fourth rule: Hire and keep on loan officers who have shown that they can pass the state tests. If you have agents with a few state licenses, keep these ones happy, give them a raise or a higher commission split as your competitors will want to steal these licensed agents from you rather than spend the time and money to get new agents licensed in multiple states.

Fifth rule: Put out some ads in the paper, offer incentives to new LOs who have three or more loan officer licenses already approved. Do not hire "green" inexperienced agents right now. You need agents with licenses in multiple states so that you can handle all the leads your company has been getting in the past.

KJ Block provides Knowledge Articles on modern strategic methods to better run mortgage related businesses.

KJ Block can be reached by email at Info@MortgageRoadRules.com