The Conference of State Bank Supervisors has released the first annual report of the Nationwide Mortgage Licensing System to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and Congress to provide information on the System’s performance in its first year of operation.
A copy of the 18-page report may be found bl clicking here.
Selected NMLS statistical highlights from the NMLS Annual Report include:
• Seven states participated in NMLS at launch and 19 states were participating by year-end.
• 14 states processed 30,897 license renewals through NMLS in November and December.
• 756,578 transaction requests by licensees to the 19 participating states were processed by NMLS.
• Over $24 million in state license fees were collected and disbursed by NMLS.
• 147,758 inquiries from users were answered by the NMLS call center.
• Over 700,000 visits were made to the NMLS Resources Web site.
• Over 30 live user-training sessions, instructing over 1,300 professionals, were conducted in 2008.
According to the report, state implementation of the SAFE Act, [Title V of the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008] which requires states to pass legislation to meet the minimum requirements established by the Act by July 31, 2009, has proceeded expeditiously.
To date, 32 states have passed legislation to bring them into compliance with the SAFE Act, and an additional 15 states have introduced legislation to become SAFE Act-compliant.
CSBS President and CEO Neil Milner called the SAFE Act “monumental in its foresight and the positive impact it will have upon supervision of the residential mortgage market.”
CSBS and NMLS have spearheaded a nationwide effort to achieve uniform implementation of the SAFE Act within a one-year time period.
“Thanks to unprecedented coordination among CSBS, AARMR, the National Conference of State Legislatures and the National Conference of Insurance Legislators, the states have risen to the challenge and have unified under a Model State Law (MSL) of implementing language and procedures,” Milner said.
The model law has been reviewed by the Department of Housing and Urban Development, which issued a statement that “State legislation that follows the provisions of the model legislation, whether by statute or regulation, will be determined to have met the applicable minimum requirements of the SAFE Act.”
Additionally, federal regulators have begun to build upon NMLS, as the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) illustrated by requiring Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae to obtain unique identifiers for mortgage loan originators, loan origination companies, field appraisers and supervisory appraisers for loan applications taken after Jan. 1, 2010.
For more information, visit www.stateregulatoryregistry.org.
