Tag Archives: SAFE Act

The U.S. House of Representatives unanimously passed the SAFE Transitional Licensing Act by voice vote. The bill could alter the way that mortgage loan officers at a federally-insured institution move to nonbank lenders.

Embrace Home Loans, a direct lender for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, has met the licensing requirements of the Secure and Fair Enforcement for Mortgage Licensing (SAFE) Act. The company said it has been preparing for the SAFE Act for more than a year and consequently has invested thousands of man-hours and millions of dollars in resources to ensure all of its loan officers are ready to meet the requirements of the SAFE Act for originating loans in multiple states.

The Mortgage Bankers Association and six other industry groups sent a letter to Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke Monday, voicing their concern that the Fed, which has jurisdiction over the Truth in Lending Act (TILA), and HUD, which oversees the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA), will create regulatory rules that overlap. The Dodd-Frank Act created the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which will be overseen by yet another agency, the Treasury, and will have regulatory authority over consumer disclosures.

The Pennsylvania Department of Banking has launched an initiative to identify unlicensed mortgage activity in the state. The effort is being led by the department's Bureau of Compliance, Investigation, and Licensing and will target all mortgage licensees. The bureau says the investigation is expected to continue into 2011. The initiative is part of the department's implementation and enforcement of the federal SAFE Act.

Mortgage originators can now authorize a credit report to be processed through the Nationwide Mortgage Licensing System and Registry (NMLS). Beginning November 1, all licensed residential mortgage loan originators participating in NMLS were required to complete the credit authorization process regardless of any prior state requirements. Providing credit history processing through NMLS fulfills one of the mandates of the Secure and Fair Enforcement for Mortgage Licensing Act (SAFE Act).

The Secure and Fair Enforcement for Mortgage Licensing Act (SAFE Act) stipulates that residential loan officers at banks, credit unions, and other federally regulated financial institutions must register their names and fingerprints with a national database. Financial institutions must establish procedures for compliance by October 1, 2010, but the deadline by which employees must be registered is unknown, ""because the necessary modifications to the registry have not been completed,"" according to federal officials.

Residential mortgage loan officers at banks, credit unions, and other federally regulated financial institutions are now required to register their names and fingerprints with a national database. Federal banking regulators approved new rules Wednesday that say all mortgage originators who are employees of both state and federally regulated lenders must meet the requirements of the Secure and Fair Enforcement for Mortgage Licensing Act (S.A.F.E. Act) by the middle of next year.