This blog will discuss and cover starting a new career as a MLO or a mortgage loan officer. Have You Considered Of Starting a New Career as a MLO or a Mortgage Loan Officer? Have you ever thought about starting a new career as a mortgage loan officer? A career as a mortgage loan officer is unlike any other job due to the complexity of the job and the hundreds, if not thousands, of case scenarios a mortgage loan originator often faces. Keep on reading:
In this article about starting a new career as a mortgage loan officer, I will detail what it entails to get your federal and state NMLS licenses and how to get started in starting a new career as a mortgage loan officer.
Any loan officer can qualify a mortgage borrower who has 800 credit scores, 40% debt-to-income ratios, perfect credit payment history, no prior late payments, no prior bankruptcies or foreclosures, no gaps in employment, no outstanding collection accounts, no judgments, no tax liens, no charge offs, and ample reserves and assets. However, that is not how the real world works.
Understanding Case Scenarios of Borrowers With Unique Credit and Income Situations
Hard-working Americans run into extenuating circumstances such as job loss, business, divorce, and medical issues that affect their credit and financial status. Mortgage bankers are direct lenders who fund the mortgage loans they originate and may or may not service the mortgage loans they fund. Mortgage bankers need to be licensed.
One of the most rewarding aspects of working as a licensed mortgage loan originator is that no two borrowers are alike. The job entails always learning new guidelines in different mortgage loan programs.
Depending on which mortgage company loan officers work for, you must know the federal minimum mortgage lending guidelines and be familiar with your employer’s investor overlays. This article will discuss Starting new career as MLO at Gustan Cho Associates.
Investor Overlays Versus Agency Guidelines
Overlays, also called investor overlays, are mortgage lending guidelines on top of the federal minimum lending guidelines each mortgage lender can impose. For example, many mortgage lenders have overlays on credit scores.
FHA only requires a credit score 580 to qualify for a 3.5% down payment FHA home purchase loan. However, a particular mortgage lender can have investor overlays requiring credit scores of 640 FICO or higher to qualify for FHA loans.
This holds even though the minimum required is 580. HUD does not require paying off outstanding collection accounts to qualify for FHA loans.
How Every Lender May Have Different Requirements on Government and Conventional Loans
However, most banks and lenders require that unpaid outstanding collection accounts be paid in full before they will approve borrowers. Gustan Cho Associates and its licensed loan originators specialize in helping borrowers with previous credit issues and higher debt-to-income ratios.
We have no overlays and normally go off the federal minimum mortgage lending guidelines. Many of our borrowers could not qualify at other banks and lenders and come to us, where we get the loan closed and funded.
We pride ourselves in customer service. Most of our borrowers become our lifelong friends. We are a growing group of mortgage professionals looking for quality, hard-working people to train and become part of our growing family. The first several files will be worked together with a senior loan officer.
First Step In Starting A Career as a MLO, or Mortgage Loan Officer
To start a new career as MLO, you must first get your federal NMLS license. Candidates must first contact NMLS Resource Center and register and get an NMLS number. The NMLS number is the loan officer’s permanent license number.
Candidates will need it to sign up for the 20-hour pre-licensing course, which is mandatory for all new mortgage loan originators.
There are actual classrooms and online courses for the 20-hour mortgage loan originator pre-licensing course. Prices vary between $200 to $500 depending on the school, and so do schedules. Some schools offer a three-day course, schools offer weekends only, schools offer night courses, and the most popular courses are online webinars.
Taking The Federal NMLS Exam
Once candidates have completed the 20-hour NMLS pre-licensing course, their next step is to take your national NMLS examination, which is a three-hour exam and consists of 125 questions. Candidates need at least 80% on the national NMLS test to pass the exam. There are many prep courses and practice exams that you can purchase to help you pass the NMLS national exam.
Starting A Career As A Mortgage Loan Officer And Licensing Requirements
After passing the NMLS Federal examination, you are eligible to get licensed. Again, candidates must log in to the NMLS Resource Center and apply for their federal NMLS license. The licensing process requires a thorough federal criminal background investigation, including fingerprinting and credit checks.
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Candidates will have a separate criminal background check for every state they apply for by the state’s law enforcement agency. Once candidates get clearance on criminal and financial background checks, their mortgage NMLS license will be approved. The next step will be to get hired by a mortgage company.
Career as a Mortgage Loan Officer: Banks Versus Mortgage Brokers Versus Mortgage Bankers
Once candidates get their NMLS mortgage license, their next step is to get a mortgage lender to sponsor and hire them. Those seeking employment with an FDIC bank or federally chartered credit union are not licensed and are exempt from licensing requirements. Some mortgage loan originators choose to work for a mortgage broker.
The Role of a Mortgage Broker
Mortgage brokers are third-party mortgage consultants who represent actual wholesale mortgage lenders and get paid a commission by the wholesale mortgage lender. Mortgage brokers do not fund loans and just broker mortgage loans.
The commission they receive is called a yield spread premium. Loan officers working for mortgage brokers need to be licensed. There will be dozens of different case scenarios.
No two mortgage applications will be identical, and you will never be alone on any mortgage file. Gustan Cho Associates, headquartered in Oakbrook Terrace, Illinois, is a national mortgage banking firm licensed in multiple states with a five-star national reputation.
Career as a Mortgage Loan Officer: Employment Opportunity at Gustan Cho Associates
If you are interested in a career as a loan officer with Gustan Cho Associates, please get in touch with us at Gustan Cho Associates at 800-900-8569 or text us for a faster response. Or email us at gcho@gustancho.com.
We aggressively hire experienced mortgage loan originators and select mortgage loan officer recruits. Neither party, whether the licensee of the GCA website or the administrator, can change usernames or passwords without notifying the other party.
We are looking for quality and not the number of loan officers. Candidates with at least one year of full-time loan origination experience and are a self-starter have come to the right place. We have remote loan officer positions available nationwide for those with at least one year of experience in full-time loan origination.
Career as a Mortgage Loan Officer: Applying For States After Passing The National NMLS Exam
Once the Federal NMLS exam is passed, candidates apply for their license with the states they want to get licensed. As mentioned earlier, the licensing process takes two weeks and covers federal criminal background checks, fingerprinting, credit checks, etc.
Once you get the licenses, we will send an employment package and application. Once it’s completed, we will send you an employment letter. We will then send you your credentials, including your Corporate email address, Encompass software, Credit Plus software,
Fannie Mae and FREDDIE Mac Automated Underwriting System software and all other programs needed to conduct business. Our IT department will guide all candidates and help set up everything. As new mortgage loan officers, candidates will be assigned to several senior mortgage loan officers for training.
Career As A Mortgage Loan Officer? How Do I Get Clients?
The products we deal with are in demand. Gustan Cho Associates is a full service mortgage banking company with a reputation for getting loans closed and getting home loans closed on time. We are licensed to originate and fund FHA, VA, USDA, Conventional, Jumbo, Reverse Mortgages, FHA 203k, Non-Warrantable Condominium, and Non-Conforming loans.
In the event of an exit, the exiting party will receive all accounts payable dated on and before the exit date. A separate agreement can be made after both parties and the exiting parties exit. However, this agreement will come to an end.
A new loan officer does not need to cold call. We will provide borrowers to every new loan officer recruit. With every new borrower, the new loan officer recruit gets, the loan officer will contact the home buyer’s realtor, home seller’s realtor, home buyer’s attorney, home seller’s attorney, and other professionals.
BUSINESS AGREEMENT EFFECTIVE XX, January, 202X: ALL PREVIOUS AGREEMENTS ARE NULL AND VOID. GOING FORWARD, ONLY WRITTEN BUSINESS AGREEMENTS ARE VALID AND EFFECTIVE
This agreement is between Gustan Cho and a New Member of Gustan Cho Associates, renewable year to year (every 12 months). A new agreement does not need to be written every year but needs to be signed and dated by both parties.
If no changes have been made, both parties can sign and date this agreement. If any modifications are made, they can be added to this original business agreement, and both parties need to initial the altered or new sections of the agreement.
Suppose additional associates or third-party vendors are part of this business agreement. In that case, the new member’s role, the scope of work, name, signature, and effective date of the agreement needs to be written in this agreement and initialed and signed by all active and new members of the agreement.
Partner’s Loan Origination Compensation As Independent Licensed Loan Officer
Both members agree you need to lead by example. Any personal loan origination as licensed loan officers will be paid ONLY as a GCA-provided comp plan, currently set at 75 basis points. It is up to the members to set up a separate agreement of getting either a personal assistant or mutually shared assistants such as LOAs and Mortgage Processors.
The equity position will reflect the profit and loss position starting at the executed date of the contract. Gustan Cho Associates and the assignee and licensee can mutually agree to a separate compensation agreement depending on their circumstances. For example, one member wants to take one year off due to traveling the world.
Both members can mutually agree the non-working member will take a profit cut to replace the duties of the member’s scope of work, like hiring a third-party vendor to perform the equity holder’s duties. No self-generated comp plan is currently set at 125 basis points due to not being fair to the partnership profit and loss.
Starting New Mortgage Career With Gustan Cho Associates
These new contacts can be future referral partners for the new loan officer. The borrower who closes their loan with the new loan officer will also give friends and relatives as referrals. Loan origination is voluntary and not the scope of work of this business agreement. However, if it affects the duties of the partners, each needs to reduce origination activities and concentrate on their scope of work under this business agreement.
As time passes and the new loan officer does more and more closings, the loan officer’s name will get branded, and the loan officer will develop a reputation. Our offices will help every loan officer recruit with marketing and business development.
You do not have to worry about starting and making money with our team. We are aggressively recruiting hard-working folks looking to start new careers as mortgage loan officers nationwide. Please get in touch with us at Gustan Cho Associates at 800-900-8569 or text us for a faster response. Or email us at gcho@gustancho.com.
whats acceptable credit issues and whats not. its really annoying its such a grey area. i have an offer contingent on credit check. and the lady helping me fill out the paper work. is not helpful at all. i need to know if i shouldn’t get my hopes up!!!
You need a minimum credit score of 580 FICO to qualify for a 3.5% down payment FHA home purchase loan. You can have outstanding collection accounts. Medical collections and charge offs do not count in the calculations of debt to income ratios. Non medical collection accounts with aggregate unpaid balances of over $2,000, 5% of the outstanding unpaid balance will be used as a monthly debt payment in the calculations of the borrower’s debt to income ratios even though the borrower does not have to make that monthly debt payment. If the outstanding unpaid collection balance is too high, you can enter into a written payment agreement and whatever the agree monthly payment agreement is, that figure will be used as the monthly debt payment in the debt to income ratio calculations. Hope this help. Call me or email me if you have any further questions.
Gustan Cho
Directors Financial Group
https://www.gustancho.com
262-716-8151
So if I’m a brand new MLO, recently licensed, I can start with this company no problem?
Lol. Like your style. Maybe. Need to talk to you first and interview you. If you and I are a good fit, then we can proceed the hiring process with our company.
I know this post is kind of old, hoping that it is still actively looked at. I will be retiring from the military and looking to make a career change. What would you recommend to make myself more marketable. Right now I am working towards my degree in business management thinking of switching to accounting or finance. After researching becoming a MLO I think it would be a great fit for me.
You can start now before you finishing your degree. Get your NMLS 20 course and take the NMLS exam and get licensed.
Greetings! I am looking into changing careers. I am seriously thinking about studying and getting my license to become a MLO. I have a Bachelor’s in Business Administration and a Master’s in Organizational Leadership (both obtained online). I am and have been working in government for the past 12 years. I am a bit of an introvert but am very driven, disciplined, and a fast learner. I would like to work from home after obtaining my license. Especially with COVID and having a baby. Do you think this is possible to become a MLO in GA working remotely being a novice?
It is possible to work as a remote loan officer. However, if you have no experience, I strongly recommend that you start with a local brick and mortar mortgage broker. After about a year or two, you can work remotely at any company. I highly recommend David Reinholtz at http://www.loanofficerschool.com. They have the best 20 hour NMLS online course and practice study materials for you to pass your exam the first time around. The very best to you and your new career.
Gustan,
I absolutely appreciate your article and responses to queries. Like finding a needle in a haystack about what to actually do after you pass you exam and have no mortgage experience. I am in Las Vegas, any recommendations for picking and best way to contact a brick and mortar location? I am also a Realtor and my broker is fine with me doing both jobs, however Im assuming that would be another hurdle/concern for many employers. I do already have numerous potential clients.
Thank you in advance for any incite.
Give my friend John Grimaldi a call on his cell at 973-618-9833. John runs a branch in Nevada and is well connected in Las Vegas as well the whole state. He will talk to you and may give you an opportunity.
Hi I’ve been a cosmetologist for over 25 years and I’m looking for a career change. I’m very interested in getting my MLO and since I’ll be new at this I realize that I cannot work remotely as of yet. I’m located on the Va/NC border do you have any offices here? I’m very motivated and ready to begin a new journey.
Tracy, you can train and start working remotely if you have a company to train you. If you are a go-getter and willing to learn and give it 110%, I will hire you and take you on our team. You first need to get your NMLS license. I highly recommend you contact David Reinholtz. Visit his website http://www.loanofficerschool.com and call the toll free number. Tell him Gustan Cho of Gustan Cho Associates and Capital Lending Network, Inc. referred you. He will give you a discount. David has the best online training and best practice exams for you to pass your NMLS exam on the first try. Once you have passed your 125 question federal NMLS exam, apply for your NC and Virginia state NMLS license. Once you get approved for your state licenses, contact me and lets get you onboarded and get you trained and started. Our North Carolina and Virginia company NMLS licenses are pending so it may be perfect timing for both of us. Post any other questions you have on this comment section and I will answer all of them for you. The best of luck to you and your endevours. W
Gustan,
Thanks for taking the time to provide us with this write up. I recently just passed the NMLS MLO exam here in Ventura County California. I am looking for a way to get my foot in the door in this field. Wondering if you might have any leads about work opportunities here? I am from this area and recently just moved back after being based out east working as crew member on superyachts for a few years, so I am coming from an unrelated field.
The best way to learn this business is to work for a local brick and mortar mortgage broker where you can go in to the office everyday. Or a national lender with a structured training program. Let me know if you cannot find one. I will help you. Starting out as a remote loan officer without any experience is extremely difficult with us because we do not have someone to train newer loan officers at this time.
Greetings,
My name is Ruben and I am a full-time agent in the Long Beach area for Southern California. I am currently taking the 20-hour SAFE course to obtain my MLO.
I don’t want to spend too much time within the actual loan process but I’d like to be legally compensated for the value that I add. Am I able to hang my loan license with your office and receive compensation for the loans that I bring in? I plan on staying with the same RE broker so no changes on that end.
https://gustancho.com/can-realtors-be-loan-officers
Ruben,
As long as you are Licensed, we can compensate you. You can refer your buyers and other borrowers and we can assign a Licensed mortgage loan officer to handle all of your leads exclusively. You and the loan officer will split the commission.
Thank you for the quick response.
I’m currently researching different mortgage companies to work with. What is the split rate between licensed agents and the MLO? So far the most attractive split I have been offered is 1% but I have had some bad experiences with that company. What are some of the things that set your company apart from other lenders? It’s ost important for me to make sure my clients get the best service, rates, and lowest fees.
Sincerely,
All self generated comp for LOs are 125 basis points. Corporate provided leads are 75 basis points. Therefore, you would bet 50 basis points and the loan officer that does all the work would make 75 basis points. Our rates are super competitive and we are 100% transparent. Loan officers can be on a higher comp plan but then your rates will not be competitive. Loan officers can be on a much higher comp plan but then they are pricing themselves out of the market. We are licensed in multiple states and our goal is to get licensed in most of the 50 states. Feel free to try other companies out so you get a feel on how they operate. If you are a real go getter, you will always have an open door with us.
Gustan Cho NMLS 873293
National Managing Director
Gustan Cho Associates | Loan Cabin Inc.
Corporate NMLS 165732
Direct (800) 900-8569
Cell (262) 716-8151 Text For Faster Response
Website https://www.gustancho.com
Corporate Offices 1910 S. Highland Avenue, Suite 300 | Lombard, Illinois 60148
Equal Housing Lender
I recently passed the national SAFE test. I’m confused on the next step. You say to get your license – but every state I’ve seen requires you to have a “sponsoring entity” in other words a company to hire you. Buuuuuut mortgage companies are saying get the license first. It seems like a catch-22. How can I get a license without getting hired first??
You need to get licensed first before you can apply to mortgage companies. There are certain states that do require sponsorship like California and Georgia. Other states you can get licensed without sponsorship like Illinois.
I am a 15 year vet of the luxury vehicle business and used to the hustle. Looking for a career change, I am very interested in becoming an LO and started looking into getting licensed to show initiative to potential employers ahead of time. I am in Colorado, but from what I see, it looks like sponsorship is required for the MLO exam to get my license. Can you please confirm and advise what might be the best route for me?
You can need to get your 20 hour NMLS CE courses done and pass your 125 question federal NMLS exam and get your license. I recommend you contact David Reinholtz at http://www.loanofficerschool.com. David will guide you to the right way in getting licensed.
I have passed my NMLS exam and I am completing my MU4. What are the things that they look at when they are going over your credit report? Do I need a specific score or something? That’s what’s holding me back from submitting my application.
What state are you applying to? Depends on the state. California and Illinois are very lenient on collections and charged-off accounts. Georgia and Texas are very strict.
Hi Gustan,
I am currently in the real estate business and recently just started studying for my MLO Exam. I am currently in the Philadelphia and I have been looking at job postings online and they all require at least 2 years of experience to be a MLO. How do you get your foot in the door if it’s hard to find companies that will hire or train you? And how do you find companies? Do you have any offices or recommendations in the Philadelphia area?
Hi,
I’m currently a MLO licensed in CA and have joined a mortgage broker. I am considering to switch a company. Does your company cover in CA?
We are licensed in California. Please reach out to us at gcho@gustancho.com.
Great article, may I post it to some LO groups I’m in? There are a lot of folks new to the industry that this will help.
I’m brand new, licensed and coming from a marketing and consulting background. I’m a go getter and motivated to get business. I was sad to see you’re not in MC, I like your approach!
We applied in North Carolina. Our North Carolina license in now pending.
In NC. Fumble fingers on tiny keyboard.
Hi Gustan Cho,
I am a realtor and I would like to also get MLO license. I reside in California Bay Area. So once I get license, is there a way I can get the job without experience? I am also Notary Loan signing agent and I am very familiar with all the loan documents and a little bit about the FHA, VA, and Conventional. Do you hire new MLO? Thank you.
We only hire brand new MLO without experience only if they complete a post MLO training course. I can refer you to http://www.loanofficerschool.com. Contact them and ask for Dave Valdez.
Hello,
I currently work in the healthcare field. I am looking to change careers. I have been wanting to get out of healthcare for a few years now. I am not happy working in healthcare and it shows. My friend is an MLO and really enjoys it. He said his bank is hiring and I could get a job. I am just struggling to make the decision. It’s a big one. What steps should I take or things to research before making this choice. Not sure how long the job will be available .
Talk to as many loan officers as you can.
Are you in Florida or Colorado?
Also, should an MLO set themselves up with an LLC?
I passed my MLO exam in November 2021. I am also a licensed realtor in the state of Georgia. I have a bachelors degree in business management and worked as a finance manager for a large automotive corporation. They downsized during Covid and my job was eliminated. I’m excited to start my new chapter as an MLO, but everything I look at says experience required. I’m in Georgia and need a I need a sponsor, any suggestions on what I can do to get a sponsor?
Please reach out to us at gcho@gustancho.com.
Hey Gustan,
I am currently working at a Credit Union in Kansas City as a new MLO or Jr. MLO. Not required to be licensed to work here but I plan to get my license in the near future. In your opinion where/what would be the best training material to acquire?
Contact David Reinholtz at Loan Officer School at http://www.loanofficerschool.com and tell him Gustan Cho referred you and he will get you a discount. Once you pass the test contact me and I will go over career opportunities with you with our organization.