According to DFI, a majority of Loan Originators have not renewed their license…it’s quite possible that your Loan Originator (aka Loan Officer, Mortgage Consultant, Mortgage Planner…we go by many titles) may not be licensed to complete a loan application if they did not renew their license prior to December 31, 2007.
DFI reports that only “42 percent of previously licensed loan originators have fully renewed and been approved to do business in Washington State”.
6 out of 10 Washington State Loan Originators have either:
- opted to work for a mortgage bank or consumer loan company.
- decided to no longer work in the mortgage industry originating loans.
- are illegally taking loan applications.
If your working with a Loan Originator, I strongly encourage you to ask them if they are licensed and when their license needs to be renewed. When interim licenses were first issued, they expired on December 31, 2007. Loan originators in our state were required to complete two DFI approved clock hour courses, undergo background checks and pass a competency exam. After this was complete, they had one more step to do before the end of 2007…renew!
Can Loan Originators be this complacent (is this the type of professional you want caring for your mortgage?) or has our industry reduced by 60%? Only time will tell.
Only 42%? That’s too low a number, right now I’m thinking that one of the reasons for the fiscal crisis is that because people are in a frenzy to buy properties some people actually thought it would be great to take advantage of it… 🙁 What do you think?