Texas Loan Originator Education FAQ

Federal and state law (SAFE Act) requires state-licensed mortgage loan originators (MLOs) to complete PE. The minimum requirement is 20 hours of NMLS approved education which includes the following:

• Three (3) hours of Federal law and regulations;
• Three (3) hours of ethics that shall include instruction on fraud, consumer protection, and fair lending issues;
• Two (2) hours related to lending standards for the nontraditional mortgage product market; and
• Twelve (12) hours of undefined instruction on mortgage origination

Please Note: Many state agencies also have state-specific PE requirements. See the State-Specific Education Requirements for details.

The 20 hours of PE (as well as any state-specific PE) is required to be completed prior to license application.

MLOs need to complete federal and state education requirements within 120 days of their Temporary Authority start date.

Example: I want to apply in Texas. I am currently licensed in Ohio. Can I obtain a Temporary Authority to work in Texas?
Yes. However, you will need to meet with 3 hours TX-SL Law state education requirements within 120 days of the Temporary Authority state date AND your 20 hour Comprehensive course must be completed within three (3) years of new or subsequent license application.

See the State-Specific Education Requirements for the Education and Temporary Authority policy for details.

An individual who completed 20 hours of PE pursuant to 12 U.S.C. 5104(c) must retake 20 hours of PE in order to be eligible for state mortgage loan originator licensure if he or she:

1. fails to acquire a valid state license or federal registration as a mortgage loan originator within three years from the date of federal compliance with 12 U.S.C. 5104(c); or
2. fails to acquire a valid state license or federal registration as a mortgage loan originator within three years from the last date of licensure or registration as a mortgage loan originator.

See the PE Expiration Policy.

Several states have already or are in the process of enacting the PE Expiration policy.

Check on an agency's status in the State-Specific Education Requirements.

You must score a 70% or higher to pass PE courses.

If you do not pass the end-of-course exam, you have 48 hours to re-take the exam. If you do not pass the classroom exam after two additional re-take exams, you will need to pay the fee listed on the wavier and take the entire class again.

Yes. However, a Champions Counselor can also provide a calculator for you to use during class.

Upon completing the required PE courses, you have three (3) years to take the licensing exam. After three (3) years, you would be required to retake the PE courses.

No, the SAFE MLO Test needs only to be passed once. Passing the SAFE MLO Test meets the state-specific test requirements for state agencies.

The SAFE MLO Test is 190 minutes.

By law, all candidates seeking state-licensure, or currently holding a state license, are required to pass the SAFE MLO Test with a score not less than 75%.

The pre-test (un-scored) questions appearing on the test do not affect the candidate's score or the pass/fail result. These pre-test questions are being pilot tested for future use. Once these pre-test questions are adequately tested, these questions will be considered for use as scored test questions on future NMLS tests. The pre-test questions appear on the test in random order. The candidate will not know which questions are pre-test and which questions are scored.

The test will be scored electronically. In most cases, once a candidate has finished taking the test, the candidate's score and test result (pass/fail designation) will appear on the screen.

• Before departing the test center, a printed score report will be presented to the candidate by the test center administrator.
• Approximately 72 hours after the test is completed, NMLS will post the official score and results to the Testing Information section under the Composite View of the NMLS record.

The Texas Department of Savings and Mortgage Lending (TX-SML) Fee Schedule is updated at the beginning of the fiscal year. For the most accurate schedule, please visit the TX-SML website:

• TX-SML Fee Schedule
• TX-SML Mortgage Loan Originator License New Application Checklist

The Prometric exam fee is $110.00

Federal and State law requires MLOs to complete a minimum of eight (8) hours of annual CE which must include the following:

• Three (3) hours of Federal law and regulations;
• Two (2) hours of ethics that shall include instruction on fraud, consumer protection, and fair lending issues;
• Two (2) hours of training related to lending standards for the nontraditional mortgage product market; and
• One (1) hour of undefined instruction on mortgage origination.

Please Note: Many state agencies also have state-specific CE requirements. See the State-Specific Education Requirements for details.

SMART Deadlines are set each year to help ensure MLOs complete their CE in time for courses to be reported into NMLS and to allow time for submitting the renewal application.

Example: Texas – the SMART Deadline is December 31st. However, MLOs with Texas-SML are prohibited from applying to renew their license if they have not completed CE. Since it may take as long as seven (7) days for a course provider to report a course completion into NMLS, MLOs are strongly encouraged not to wait until the last minute to try to complete CE or they may be prevented from submitting for renewal on time.

Example: Texas – failure to complete by the December 31st deadline, the Late CE must be taken during between January 1st through February 28th. The last date for CSRE Classroom/Live classes is December 22nd.

Example: Texas – Lapsing of Pre-Licensing Education. PE requirement must be completed within 3 years of new or subsequent license application.

The CE requirement is set based on license approval date and is required to be completed prior to submitting for license renewal.

See the State-Specific Education Requirements for additional details and deadlines.

Yes. NMLS will validate the MLO is compliant with BOTH Federal and State annual CE requirements as a condition for applying for renewal.

No, the SAFE Act specifically prohibits the taking of the same course in successive years.

See the SAFE Act's Successive Year Rule.

The system will automatically place a license item on each MLO license if the MLO is not yet CE compliant for the license on or around July 15 of that year.

• The license setting will be cleared by the system once the MLO has become compliant for CE (both federal and any state requirement).

NMLS sends monthly CE notifications as reminder that CE needs to be completed. Note: the notice has nothing to do with any previous year’s CE requirements and your current license(s) is/are not impacted.

The course completion record shows “pending” for the current year because on January 1 the system set a CE requirement for the new calendar year.

• For example, just as you may have completed CE in 2020 to renew a license for 2021, you will be required to complete CE in 2021 to renew the license for 2022.

CE is required in the same year as licensure unless Federal PE was also completed that year.

See State-Specific Education Requirements for the Uniform CE policy.

Yes. If an MLO is already licensed with Federal PE compliance in a previous year and completes state-specific PE for another license, the MLO is still required to complete CE for that agency for the current year.

• Example: An MLO is licensed in OR in 2016; in 2021, they complete 4 hours of WA state-specific PE and are granted a WA license on 6/12/21. The MLO is still required to complete CE in 2021 (including the 1hour of WA CE state-specific) as condition for renewal in both OR and WA.

If an MLO is licensed between November 1 and December 31 of any year, they will not be required to complete CE for that year. On Jan 1, YYYY, NMLS will automatically set the CE requirement for the next year. However, if the license status date is entered with a date prior to November 1 during the renewal period, the MLO will be required to complete CE for that year.

NMLS is not currently tracking CE compliance for MU2 individuals. However, requirements for MU2 individuals are listed on the charts and the requirements are being manually reviewed by relevant state agencies. Look up an agency in the State-Specific Education Requirements.

If you have been unlicensed in a state for three or more years, you may need to retake the 20hrs of PE. See the State-Specific Education charts for details. Check your state specific hours that need to be retaken.

• Example: In Texas, you would be required to retake the full 23hrs of PE and State specific courses.

If you became federally compliant for PE between 2009 - 2017 and were licensed between 2009 - 2018, you are required to complete CE in 2019. If you became compliant for PE in 2019 and were approved for an initial license in 2019 you are NOT required to complete CE in 2019.

The Texas Department of Savings and Mortgage Lending Renewal Fees for Fiscal Year 2020 (September 1, 2019 – August 31, 2020):

• Renewing Mortgage Loan Originator License - $60
• Reinstating Mortgage Loan Originator License - $90 (Applicable if individual license or registration renewal is filed after 12/31 but prior to 3/1)
• NMLS annual processing fees- Company $100, Branch $20, Individual - $30

Late CE is required during the annual reinstatement period.

Yes. Course providers will report state-specific Late CE just like they do other courses and the system will automatically apply the Late CE to the appropriate year. In the event of an exception, the reported Late CE will be processed and manually applied to the correct year.

If you were required to take continuing education (CE) and failed to do so, you must complete a Late CE course in order to satisfy the requirement for licensure. If you are returning to the industry, the application process for a new license requires you to satisfy any CE deficiency for the last year in which you were licensed.

Example: In Texas, because you failed to complete CE by the renewal deadline and by the reinstatement period, you must complete the Late CE course.

NMLS is programmed with Federal PE and CE requirements as required by the SAFE Act. State-specific PE and CE requirements are set by each state agency through a license setting interface based on requirements set forth in state statute or regulation.

• Every agency can set their own state-specific requirements for each of their license types.
• NMLS performs compliance checks at the time of application for PE, and sets the CE requirement when the license is approved.

State agencies can modify their state-specific education requirements at any time with advance notice. The advance notice is required to ensure industry is aware of the new requirement and so course providers can modify courses.

If there is a change to PE requirements any applicant will be required to meet the new requirements on or after the effective date of the new requirement.

Example: If an agency changes their PE requirement from 2 hours to 4 hours of state-specific education effective July 1, any application filed and in a pending status as of June 30th, will remain compliant for having met the 2 hour requirement. Any application submitted on or after July 1 will not be accepted if the individual has not completed the 4 hours of state-specific education.

If a state agency changes its CE requirements at any time during the calendar year, all MLO’s licensed with that agency will be required to meet the new hour requirement even if they were already CE compliant.

Example: If an agency had a requirement for 8 hours of CE on 1/1/2017, and then the agency changes their requirement to include 1 hour of state-specific CE effective July 1, 2021, any MLO that was already CE compliant as of 6/30/2021 will now have to complete the 1 hour of state-specific education.

No. Registered RMLO's working for a Federally regulated depository institutions are not required to take SAFE educational courses.

If you are a MLO (MU4) or an individual reported on the MU2 (owner, executive officer, branch manager, or qualifying individual) then visit the Criminal Background Check page for information and resources on how to submit a CBC in NMLS.

All loan originators and relevant MU2 individuals must submit fingerprints directly to NMLS using the NMLS authorized fingerprint vendor. The NMLS FBI/Federal Criminal Background Check is separate from any state criminal background check requirement.

For MLOs (MU4) The submission of prints to NMLS is for SAFE Act compliance of a national Criminal Background Check.

To determine the specific positions and licenses that are permitted and required to authorize a Criminal Background Check through NMLS, access the “MU2 NMLS CBC Requirements Chart” available on the NMLS Resource Center.

The NMLS Criminal Background Check (CBC) program approved by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) includes that fingerprints used for CBC purposes not be older than three years from the date the individual was fingerprinted.

No. Criminal Background Check results are viewable to state regulators and depositories employing federally registered MLOs only. If you wish to obtain your own criminal background check, you may do so by visiting the FBI website.

Failing to grant access to all relevant agencies before your criminal background check results are returned requires you to authorize and pay for a new criminal background check.

Every state-licensed mortgage loan originator is required to complete the credit report authorization process through NMLS, even if credit information was previously received by their state regulator. Control Persons (MU2) for state-licensed companies may be required to complete a credit report through NMLS to satisfy state specific requirements. Federally registered MLOs are not required to authorize a credit report.

Only state regulators have access to review credit information, including credit scores, on licensees. Every jurisdiction maintains its own standards for licensure.

The SAFE Act requires that mortgage loan originator applicants have, “demonstrated financial responsibility, character, and general fitness such as to command the confidence of the community and to warrant a determination that applicants will operate honestly, fairly, and effectively.”

Each state regulator will independently review the credit information of MLOs licensed in their jurisdiction. There is no automated standard or minimum score that will be enforced inside NMLS. The SAFE Act leaves it to the discretion of each state regulator to develop their own processes and standards for reviewing credit information and determining the financial responsibility of their licensees.

The credit report obtained through NMLS is a Single Bureau TransUnion Credit Report with a Vantage Score.

When the credit report is obtained, it will be done through a “soft pull” process which has no effect on the applicant’s credit score.

The same credit report can be used to satisfy the credit report requirement for both existing licenses and any additional licenses (through transition request or new application) for up to 30 days.

Any address outside of the United States including the Virgin Island and Puerto Rico are considered foreign addresses by TransUnion. An individual with a foreign address will see a system default address in place of the current residential address during the IDV process.

State regulators are not permitted to provide a copy of a credit report to individuals directly. You can obtain a copy of your credit report at annualcreditreport.com.