Rain City Guide

Earlier this month I shared an interview with Jillayne Schlicke.  Part One addressed LO’s getting ready for 2009.  The second half of my interview touches on The S.A.F.E. ACT which is a part of HR 3221.  The Secure and Fair Enforcement for Mortgage Licensing Act of 2008 is a part of the massive HR 3221.  If you are planning on [...]

I’ve always thought so and you may say I’m biased since I work for a company that is regulated by Washington State Department of Financial Institutions.  At the very least, home owners who have been wronged by a loan originator under DFI’s watch can rest assured that the company has much higher odds of having [...]

Is Governor Gregoire just a little too late in regards to Countrywide’s lending tactics? Aren’t we merely days away from the Bank of America takeover?
As I drove back to the office today after teaching yet another short sale class, I heard the news on KIRO 710 AM that Governor Gregoire is seeking to pull Countrywide’s lending [...]

As of November 14th we had roughly 15,000 loan originators who had received an interim license during the year 2007. These licenses expire on Dec 31, 2007 and license renewal is conditioned upon them passing their competency exam and completing two continuing education courses, one of which must be an ethics course. At the [...]

The Washington State Department of Financial Institutions (DFI) has charged Linden Home Loans, “Home of the 1% Mortgage,” with bait and switch advertising.  The DFI investigation discovered that Linden promised consumers residential mortgage loans at “1% interest, with no points and no fees,” yet no one ever received those loan terms in 2006. DFI is [...]

An article in yesterday’s Seattle PI provided an update on our state’s Loan Originator Licensing.    It fails to mention that only Loan Originators who work as for Mortgage Brokers are required to meet the state’s guidelines.   If a Loan Originator works for a bank-mortgage company or credit union, they do not have to take the [...]

 
Since I’ve covered Loan Originator licensing before on Rain City Guide, I thought I should provide this update.   Apparently DFI is loosening up on their previous decision to not allow LOs to take loan applications if they did not submit the required information prior to the original January 31, 2006 deadline.  
So if a Loan Originator did not [...]

This New Year brought significant changes to the mortgage industry. Loan Originators who provide residential loans in Washington State are now required to be licensed. This legislature applies primarily to Mortgage Brokers and not LOs who are employed by banks or credit unions. As I am employed by a Mortgage Broker (technically, we [...]