Mortgage Loan Originator Licensing Education Requirement

When the SAFE Act was passed by the US Congress in 2008, it mandated that all States require that Mortgage Loan Originators meet certain minimum requirements to obtain and maintain a Mortgage Loan Originator License. Once of those requirements was Education. The SAFE Act mandated 20 hours of Pre-License Education in order to obtain an LO license and 8 hours of Continuing Education each year in order to maintain and renew an LO License. Over the next couple years, each state passed legislation to meet this federal education mandate and regulators worked with the Nationwide Mortgage Licensing System (NMLS) to implement this requirement.State-Specific Mortgage License Education
When the states passed legislation to meet this federal SAFE Act Education requirement, many of them decided to also require additional education above and beyond the minimum federal requirement of 20 hours of Pre-License Education and 8 hours of annual Continuing Education. Many states require anywhere from 1 to 15 hours of state-specific Pre-License Education and 1 to 3 hours of annual Continuing Education. And as more states have adopted the Uniform State Test (UST) in lieu of a state-specific NMLS Test, many of those same states have decided to recently add additional state-specific education requirements.Mortgage License Education Types
When the NMLS started working with the states to implement the LO License education requirements, they came up with 3 ways to meet the mortgage loan originator education requirement. Live, Webinar, and Online Instructor-Led. These three options were developed in order meet certain NMLS requirements that the mortgage education course be timed and that there be interaction between the instructor and the mortgage loan originator. The Live and Webinar versions clearly meet this requirement, but for the Online Instructor-Led Course to meet that requirement, but still give the LO the ability to work at their own pace, the NMLS along with the states created a requirement for the online mortgage education course to include questions and answers between the instructor and the Mortgage Loan Originator. The live course is generally only offered to large groups such as large companies that have many LOs that need mortgage licensing continuing education at the same time. Most mortgage education companies offer the Webinar option, but then the LO has to sit through the entire education course all at one time. So most Mortgage Loan Originators prefer the Online Instructor-Led Education Course. You can do it at your own pace and have much more flexibility.

Homeownership Improves Terms On Non-Home Loan Types

Whether you want to apply for a car loan, student loan, home loan, home equity loan, business loan, or any other kind of loan, being a homeowner will guarantee you better terms on your loan.
Homeownership has many consequences that affect variables that are considered by the lender when analyzing a loan request. These will affect not only approval of your loan but also loan terms like the interest rates, loan length, monthly payments, fees and charges. Knowing these facts we’ll let you be in a better position when it comes to negotiating with lenders.”Home Loan” Loan Types These loan types include home mortgage loans and home equity loans and lines of credit. The first ones are loans that use a real estate property (house or apartment) as collateral for the loan. These loans usually carry low interest rates, long repayment programs of up to 30 years, higher loan amounts (enough to purchase the property) and also lower monthly payments.Home equity loans and lines of credit on the other hand, use the equity left on the home in order to guarantee the loan. Equity is the difference between the home value and the outstanding debt guaranteed by the property. These loans also carry low interest rates only slightly higher than regular home loans and long repayment programs of up to 15 years. The loan amount is generally determined by the available equity and the credit worthiness of the applicant. Other than that, these loans have similar advantageous terms to the loan conditions of mortgage loans. Non “Home Loan” Loan Types These loan types are all the other loans that are not guaranteed by a real estate property. The category includes car loans, student loans, unsecured loans of all kinds, and many other financial products both unsecured and secured with other assets. It may sound strange that a loan that is not specifically guaranteed by an asset would benefit from the existence of that asset, but truth is that assets represent a guarantee for the lender regardless of their use.Thus, homeowners can also get lower monthly payments, longer repayment programs, lower interest rates, higher loan amounts and many other benefits like lower fees and costs on insurance for these loan types as well as with real estate secured loans. Moreover, the costs of these loans for homeowners are significantly reduced to the point of matching the loan terms of secured loans even if they are unsecured loans.As you can see, being a homeowner has benefits even if you are not applying for a secured loan that will make use of a real estate asset as collateral.
And that’s why more and more homeowners are turning to unsecured loans: they get all the finance they need at very reasonable rates without risking repossession on their properties.

The Pros and Cons of Private Student Loans

College students are often cautioned to avoid private loans unless absolutely necessary, urged instead to take advantage of all other financial aid options first.The advice is sound. Generally speaking, private student loans, which are offered by banks, credit unions, and other private lenders, don’t offer the same level of borrower protections and benefits that government college loans do.As a student, you should seek out grants and scholarships first — money for college that you won’t have to repay — before taking on college loan debt. Then, if you’re still going to need college loans, you should, in general, make sure you’ve maximized all your available government loans before you consider taking out a private student loan.Interest Rates & Repayment OptionsFederal education loans have fixed interest rates and more flexible repayment terms than private loans. The Department of Education offers income-based repayment options that keep your monthly payments at a figure you can afford, repayment extensions to give you more time to repay, and loan deferments and forbearances that can temporarily postpone your college loan payments if you’re facing financial hardship.If you go to work in the public sector, you may also be eligible for the discharge of some or all of your government loan debts.With private student loans, on the other hand, your interest rate is almost always variable, and private lenders aren’t required to provide the kind of repayment flexibility that comes standard on federal college loans.The current foreclosure crisis that began mushrooming, in part, because of adjustable-rate mortgages should be enough to make anyone leery of adjustable-rate loans on anything.But it’s worth keeping in mind that when interest rates are low, as they are now, adjustable-rate private student loans can have a lower interest rate than their fixed-rate federal counterparts.If you have excellent credit, or if you have a parent or co-signer with excellent credit, you may qualify for the lowest-rate private college loans, which currently carry interest rates that are as much as 3-percent to 6-percent lower than the rates on federal student and parent loans.Interest rates are destined to rise as the economy continues to recover from the recession, so private loan rates won’t always be this low, but if you or your parents are in a position to pay that private student loan off relatively quickly, you may be able to save money over a government-issued college loan.
 
Covering Your College CostsSo why take out a private student loan at all?Private student loans are meant to “fill the gap” in college funding that may be left after you reach your federal student borrowing limits. In many cases, families find that scholarships and federal financial aid simply aren’t enough to cover the rising cost of college.Without private student loans, you may not be able to pay for college or continue your studies.Statistically, college graduates have a better chance of being gainfully employed than non-graduates do, and college graduates, on average, earn more money in their jobs than workers who don’t have a college degree. For you as a college student, better job and salary prospects may make the burden of a reasonable amount of private student loans easier to bear.Working With Private Student Loan LendersCollege loan companies aren’t deaf to the economic realities that college graduates are facing. Recently, some of the largest private student loan lenders have instituted new guidelines for the repayment and forgiveness of college loan debt.Wells Fargo and Sallie Mae, for example, both announced this year that they would begin discharging private student loans upon the death of the borrower. Beforehand, that debt was being left to the co-signer to repay.And as the recession and large swaths of unemployment among recent college graduates has led to higher rates of delinquency and default on college loans, some private lenders have shown a slight uptick in their willingness to work out modified repayment plans with troubled borrowers who are unable to repay their private student loans.Being a Smart Student BorrowerFor students who must turn to private education loans, it pays to shop around. Interest rates are always important, but they aren’t the only factor worth considering. Repayment policies, payment deferral options, default and late-payments penalties, interest-rate caps, and other terms may give some private student loan programs a clear advantage over others.Always be mindful of the total amount of your debt from all sources, school loans and otherwise, and aim to limit your reliance on college loans, both federal and private.The Department of Education’s National Student Loan Data System can help you track all your federal loan debt. Additionally, if you’re carrying debt from multiple federal college loans, the Education Department’s student loan debt consolidation program can help simplify the repayment process and may lower your monthly loan payments.As you begin to repay your school loans, make it a priority to pay off the higher-interest loans first.By taking advantage of college scholarships, using all your federal financial aid options, and minimizing the amount of debt you take on to pay for school, you can benefit from the careful and limited borrowing of private student loans to help pay for your college education.