Today I took my second National Mortgage Licensing Exam, this one for my Oregon license continuation.  The first National exam was in conjunction with my Washington State license.  The SAFE (Secure and Fair Enforcement for Mortgage Lcensing) act now requires all states to license mortgage loan originators.   I believe in this process and embrace the national system as it starts to level the playing field.  First it forces consistency in all states for the qualifications that originators must have.  Second, it forces loan originators working for banks to be tested and licensed in a similar manner.

Loan originators working for Banks have not been licensed by states in the past because banks are federally regulated.  With the advent of the national license system, the bank originators will, for the first time, be required to meet the same requirements as independent mortgage brokers such as myself.

I have long held that those dealing with the largest investments most individuals make in their lives should be licensed.  I have also believed that it is ridiculous to have each state license mortgage originators when most of the laws that apply to our business are federal.  Perhaps someday we will achieve having a single national license but at this stage of our licensing evolution we have separate state licenses (Washington and Oregon in my case) that are granted after testing separately in each state even though most of the exams are based on federal law.