Mortgage Commission Report 12/6/06 Dateline: Wednesday, December 13, 2006 by UMLA Executive Director

UMLA Members & Friends,

The State of Utah Division of Real Estate Residential Mortgage Regulatory Commission (Mortgage Commission) met Wednesday, December 6, 2006.

The Division Reported the Following:

DIVISION DIRECTOR'S REPORT

· Fee Changes -

The Division has undertaken to review the fees paid by the various regulated industries and will seek legislative approval to adjust many of the fees paid to the Division. The changes, if approved, will take effect July, 1 2007.

The Division in evaluating the fee structure kept three ideals in mind. Those ideals were:

1. Equity between the industries (i.e. The fees paid by the industries for the same work should be the same.)
2. The fee paid should be commensurate to the work required (i.e. Licensing a new company requires more work than a renewal.)
3. Equity between resources used by the industry and the fees paid (i.e. if the appraisers in general require ¼ the Divisions resources, they should pay as a group approximately ¼ of the fees.)

Thus, the Division proposes the following changes to the fees paid by the mortgage industry:

Mortgage Licensing Fee = $100.00 down from $200.00
Renewal Fee = $30.00 down from $103.00
DBA Registration Fee = $200.00 up from $100.00
Education Recovery Fund Fee = $18.00 down from $36.00
License History Fee = $20.00 up from $10.00

· Record Keeping -

The Division Rules currently require the PLM to be responsible for making available files to Division investigators upon request. (R162-204-1.2) Individual loan officers are not required to keep a loan file. (R162-204-1, Utah Code 61-2c-302)

The Division discussed who should be responsible for making files available when a business closes. Logically the owner(s) of the mortgage company should be required to store and make available files for the statutory period, even if the business is closed. This may require legislation to give the Division authority over non-licensed business owners.

· PLM Incapacitation -

A mortgage company is required to have a PLM for its loan officers to conduct the business of residential mortgage lending. If a company does not have a PLM, loan officers should not originate loans for that company. The requirement is substantially similar to the Real Estate industry, in that, a realtor can not do business without a Principal Broker.

The Division discussed the hypothetical situation where a PLM dies or becomes otherwise, incapacitated. The discussion revolved around weather or not there should be a grace period between incapacitation and the replacement with another PLM.

Regardless of weather there is a period of time allowed, there should be, in every mortgage company's policies and procedures, a plan to account for the absence of a PLM. Obviously, if there is an ALM available, the transition would be seamless and immediate upon the filing of a change card.

· Applicants Under Investigation -

The Division needs additional authority to not take action on an application when an applicant is under investigation for conduct relating to another of the applicant's licenses with the Division. This doesn't happen very often, but the Division waits until the investigation is complete before taking action on the new license. Obviously, the investigation calls the applicants honesty and integrity into question, which is a requirement for licensure, but they also have a presumption of innocence until otherwise proven. Thus, the Division may require additional authority to continue its current practice.

· Letter to the Division from Chairman Pierre Alley -

Chairman Alley made some suggestions in a letter to the Division. First, is to require a copy of the originating loan officer's license in every file. The other, is to require of the borrower an affirmative declaration of their loan officer's identity. The idea behind these suggestions is to cut down on unlicensed origination &/or illegal third-party origination that skirts Utah's licensing laws.

If you know of unlicensed activity, please file a complaint with the Division. The form can be found at the following web address: http://www.realestate.utah.gov/complaint.html.

ENFORCEMENT REPORT

· October

35 Complaints
12 Not Opened
1 Opened
3 Closed

· November

20 Complaints
5 Not Opened
4 Opened
1 Closed

Total Cases Open under investigation by the Division is 115.

EDUCATION DIRECTOR'S REPORT

· 50% of those renewing their mortgage licenses in November renewed online. This is down from previous months. The Division encourages licensees to renew online.

John Norman
UMLA Executive Director
60 South 600 East, Suite 200
Salt Lake City, UT 84102
Phone: (801) 363-1353
Fax: (801) 363-1352
jnorman@umla.org
www.umla.org