Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation Proposes Amendments to the Illinois Residential Mortgage License Act

NMLS

On April 1, the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation proposed amendments to the Illinois Residential Mortgage License Act of 1987. The proposed amendments would implement uniform state test standards for mortgage loan originators (MLO) and their employees. Implementing the uniform state test standards would bring the Illinois licensing regime closer to uniformity with the majority of other states who already have adopted the same or similar standards. The amendments provide that MLOs must pass a written test developed by the Nationwide Mortgage Licensing System and Registry prior to issuance of their state license. Previously, Illinois required employees to take a separate state test. Under the proposed amendments, pre-licensing and continuing education requirements for MLOs would be expanded to include new Illinois state law courses. Some industry groups are recommending that such courses be designed to overlap with existing federal continuing education requirements under the SAFE Act. The comment period will remain open through May 16, 2016.