Ft. Wayne title insurance company owner Joseph Garretson seemed the epitome of success: $700,000 home, Cadillac Escalade, and country club membership. Garretson, however, didn’t pay off his customer’s original loans when he refinanced their mortgages. Instead, he pocketed $3.4 million in loan proceeds. Eventually, the scheme unraveled. In June, he was sentenced to 11 years in prison for his crimes.

In response to mortgage fraud and crimes like Garretson’s, Congress passed the Secure and Fair Enforcement Mortgage Licensing Act of 2008 (SAFE Act) to establish a nation-wide mortgage licensing system and registry for the residential mortgage industry. The SAFE Act requires all 50 states to set minimum standards for mortgage loan originators and licensure. These new standards require mortgage loan originators to submit to an FBI background check, receive 20 hours of education, take an examination, and obtain a unique identifier for a national database of mortgage loan originators. All states were required to pass legislation and rules to comply with the SAFE Act by July 31, 2010; however, a few states have requested extensions through the first quarter of 2011 to complete the rule-making process. HUD issued proposed rules in 2009, but final rules have not been issued as this article goes to publication.

Compliance with state SAFE acts will be easy for a state to monitor because closing agents – title companies, attorneys, etc. – must submit the mortgage loan originator’s unique identifier for each transaction. Violating the SAFE Act can result in a felony conviction.

The following are frequently asked questions about who is impacted by the SAFE Act. However, this is a dynamic environment and keeping up to date as new regulations are released by HUD and the states will be critical to ensuring SAFE Act compliance.

Question 1: 
Who is required to obtain a mortgage loan originator license?

Answer: Anyone who is in the business of mortgage loan origination, defined as: “an individual who for compensation or gain . . . engages in taking a mortgage application or offering or negotiating terms of a mortgage transaction.”