PERSON OF THE WEEK: Licensing is a particularly essential side of mortgage compliance, but it’s typically taken as a right. Many of the entities concerned within the mortgage course of – from the origination aspect together with brokers, LOs, correspondents, mortgage processors, retail lenders, wholesale lenders, warehouse lenders, underwriters and mortgage success, to the servicing aspect of the enterprise, grasp servicers, major servicers, sub-servicers, particular servicers and debt collectors, and so on. – require licensing providers.
What’s extra, licensing is a particularly complicated class inside mortgage compliance, because it includes a patchwork quilt of federal and state rules. To study extra, MortgageOrb just lately interviewed Karen Kulwin, licensing and compliance counsel, Wipro Ltd., dad or mum firm of Wipro Opus Risk Solutions.
Q: Are you able to please begin by usually explaining how licensing applies to the mortgage trade?
Kulwin: Within the mortgage trade, licensing buildings usually cowl origination and servicing. Origination licensing generally entails lender/brokers with a smattering of different license varieties, akin to shopper credit score license, residential mortgage originator license. Servicing consists of these similar licenses but additionally by servicer and debt assortment licenses, and exempt registration.
There are licensed actions which might be complimentary to shopper lending and servicing, akin to first- and third-party debt collections and mortgage and non-mortgage mortgage modifications.
Nevertheless, extra licensing could be required to supply these providers extra broadly. For instance, monetary establishments that provide different lending merchandise ought to perceive that extra licensing is probably going required for personal pupil mortgage lending and servicing, non-private pupil mortgage servicing, lead era, non-mortgage shopper mortgage/lending origination and servicing and deposit merchandise. Monetary establishments that want state licenses have to determine whether or not it’s more economical to acquire the licensing or outsource to a licensed third get together.
Q: What are some finest practices or classes discovered relating to licensing lender might use in different traces of enterprise?
Kulwin: It’s actually a matter of issue-spotting for shopper lending, and as in most issues we study by analogy. After an organization has gone by the train of acquiring licenses that help particular actions provided by the corporate, they need to have a look at all actions – present or potential – for license implications. Any actions associated to customers have to be reviewed for licensing necessities, this consists of consumer-facing actions and actions that contain shopper data. It’s an intensive and exhaustive train.
The Nationwide Multistate Licensing System (NMLS) is a good supply for out there or required mortgage-related licensing, nevertheless it’s solely a good useful resource for different kinds of state licenses. My advice for lenders (and servicers) that wish to interact in getting licensed: Be ready to do quite a lot of analysis and evaluation, and don’t cease on the apparent.
Q: What are a number of the key inquiries to ask an outsource companion to find out if they’ve the right licensing?
Kulwin: First, the monetary establishment or consumer must be conscious that there are licensable actions and have a common understanding of these actions. Additionally, it isn’t a matter of if the consumer wants a license – the difficulty is that if the seller/third-party wants the license to carry out the actions. Not all corporations have the identical licenses or are in a position to present providers offshore. Acquiring work shouldn’t be a race to the underside. Work could be outsourced however the accountability for (what) stays with the monetary establishment.
Firms seeking to outsource work ought to ask potential companions if they’ve recognized mandatory licensing necessities. Some potential inquiries to ask embrace the next:
- Had been attorneys concerned within the evaluation and willpower?
- How often are the licensing necessities reviewed?
- What does the corporate do to remain up-to-date on new rules and licensing necessities?
- What’s the most-recent change to licensing of their space, and what are they anticipating within the close to future?
- Why can this firm carry out work in states or nations that different corporations say are “off limits”?
Q: How does a licensed entity assist improve execution ranges for non-QM and QM lenders?
Kulwin: It’s usually identified that failures to originate a mortgage in accordance with regulatory, lender and insurer tips may have hostile penalties, together with buybacks, indemnifications, and rendering a mortgage non-saleable.
Licensing holds the entity to a better commonplace resulting from regulatory oversight, which incorporates periodic requests for data and examinations. Along with that, corporations which have state-level mortgage licenses are managed by certified people who’ve a state-level mortgage mortgage originator license. These people take the NMLS SAFE 20 coaching, the state-specific coaching, and should move all exams to get their licenses; in addition they have to take annual persevering with training to keep up their licenses. The coaching and experience of the licensed people ensures an understanding of the rules, together with complying with underwriting tips, performing pre-closing due diligence, and credit score opinions.
Q: What tendencies do you see round licensing that lenders ought to pay attention to now?
Kulwin: We’re seeing extra exercise with the regulators returning to pre-COVID ranges. We may additionally see elevated exercise by the regulators as they work to get well their examination schedules post-COVID. Lenders, as a part of the data supplied to their regulators, embrace the listing of distributors, contracts, and different data associated to the providers the seller(s) present. The knowledge additionally consists of the lender’s due diligence on the seller and monitoring its work carried out and compliance with rules.
Q: What sort of motion are we seeing by states that factors to there will probably be extra necessities associated to licensing?
Kulwin: We’re seeing a reversal of the deregulation that eased compliance burdens in 2017 and 2018. Additionally, state regulators are rising their scrutiny of the buyer finance sector; regulation by states is on the rise. For instance, we count on a revival within the makes an attempt so as to add pupil mortgage servicing license rules. We’re additionally beginning to see extra licensing necessities from regulatory businesses such because the California Shopper Monetary Safety Regulation and the Debt Assortment Licensing Act. States, like California, are a bellwether for laws in different states.
Q: How did you find yourself turning into a licensing professional?
Kulwin: I’ve all the time been one thing of a technical thinker: I query how issues work, and I like fixing puzzles and figuring out issues different folks might not wish to know. I additionally take pleasure in offering assist and steerage. As a compliance legal professional, I get to learn rules, mine for necessities, resolve doable inconsistencies or contradictions, study what the corporate does and decide regulatory implications. I assist the corporate develop a construction that retains it secure. It’s the perfect job.
