What do I need for a West Virginia mortgage loan originator license?

Step 1. Check whether you need the license. Unless an exemption applies, an individual must get a license, and keep it annually, before engaging in the business of a mortgage loan originator for any dwelling in West Virginia. An individual who offers or negotiates terms of a residential mortgage loan with or for an immediate family member is exempt, among others. A licensed attorney who negotiates a client's residential mortgage loan as an ancillary matter is exempt too, unless a lender, broker or other originator pays the attorney.

Step 2. Pick a course that the Nationwide Mortgage Licensing System and Registry, called the registry on this page, or the Division approves. The statute has them review and approve prelicensing courses, and that review includes the course provider. Education the registry or the Division approved for any state counts as credit toward the federal law, ethics and nontraditional mortgage hours. That credit rule names only those three topics, not the four hours on West Virginia mortgage and consumer laws.

Step 3. Take at least twenty-four hours. The statute lets prelicensing education be offered in a classroom, online, or by any other means the registry approves.

Step 4. Pass a qualified written test. The registry develops it, and a test provider the registry approves gives it. An individual may retake a test three consecutive times, each retake at least thirty days after the preceding test. After failing three consecutive tests, the individual waits at least six months before taking it again.