Mortgage Education Series: SAFE Laws and Mortgages

When you’re looking to buy a home using a mortgage loan, or refinance your currently existing home, then you’ll need to work with a Loan Officer through the process. It’s their job to find out what loan you qualify for, what product best suits your situation, and to get you through the closing process.

But not all Loan Officers are created equal.

The governing body of all mortgage banks is the CFPB or Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.  During the recession a handful of new laws to govern and change the way banks handled mortgages were created. One of those was the creation of the SAFE Act, which ensures that most people in the mortgage industry, have to take 20 hours of education and a federal exam which has a pass rate lower than the Federal BAR exam. However, not all Mortgage Loan Originators are required to take this test. If you decided to source your new mortgage through a bank or credit union, chances are likely the person in charge of your mortgage isn’t state licensed as required by the SAFE Act. This is because loan originators in depository institutions like banks, and credit unions, are not subjected to some of these licensing and education requirements.

This makes a big difference as far as Mortgage Loan Originators are concerned. Who would you rather trust your home too, someone who is knowledgeable enough to be licensed by each state they do business in or someone who isn’t?

So how do you know if your Loan Officer is properly state licensed? The easiest way is to talk to a Mortgage Lender. Royal United Mortgage LLC happens to be one of these. The sole business of Royal United Mortgage is making mortgage loans. We do not deal with autos, credit cards, or personal loans. Because of this, all of our Loan Originators are state licensed. There’s another benefit to working with Royal United Mortgage, our Originators are called Advisors here. They believe in focusing on both short, and long-term goals, in order to meet the needs of the client. We also have access to all Federal Loan programs on the market.

Working with an Advisor is a different process than working with any other lender. First, you will work with the same advisor through the entire process. You will not be tossed around to others, and you’ll always have a point of contact. Secondly, our Advisors aren’t interested in locking you into a program that doesn’t suit your needs. As such, all of the options they put together (after a brief conversation about your goals) will be tailor-made to your specific goals.