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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE |
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State
Rep. Peter J. Daley |
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Daley announces extension of mortgage originators testing
HARRISBURG, Nov. 10 – House Commerce Committee Chairman Peter J. Daley, D-Washington/Fayette, today announced that the Pennsylvania Department of Banking has extended the deadline for mortgage originators to pass the Pennsylvania and national components of the mortgage originators test.
The deadline has been extended until April 30, 2010.
"It is imperative that the testing deadline was extended. With the recent federal extension of $8,000 home buyers tax credit, it would have been a difficult time for mortgage originators to be pulled out of the field to finish their testing requirements," Daley said. "Now, they won’t be juggling trying to do their job and pass their license test."
The Pennsylvania Department of Banking had previously established Dec. 31, 2009, as the date by which all mortgage originators would have to complete both the 20 hours of pre-licensing education, now required by the federal SAFE Act and the Mortgage Licensing Act and also to have successfully passed the pre-licensing tests required by those laws.
Daley said, "The purpose of the new testing requirement is to ensure an enhanced level of professionalism in the industry. The tests have been designed to establish that licensees have acquired appropriate levels of knowledge and competence in their field."
Although the deadline to pass the test has been extended until April 30, 2010, the deadline to complete the 20 hours of pre-licensing education is still Dec. 31, 2009.
The completion of the pre-licensing education requirement by the end of 2009 would allow the applicant sufficient time to take one or both of the testing components, if needed, more than once.
Individuals are allowed four opportunities to take each of the pre-licensing test components (the initial test and three additional opportunities provided at 30-day intervals). If a mortgage originator does not pass any of the test components after all four opportunities, the Mortgage Licensing Act and the federal SAFE Act require that the individual must wait for 6 months to take the test components again. In this instance, the mortgage originator’s license will be suspended by the department until such time as the mortgage originator passes both of the test components.
The Pennsylvania Department of Banking will use the time period of May through July 2010 to ensure that all Pennsylvania mortgage originators are in compliance with the pre-licensing education and testing requirements of the federal SAFE Act by the July 30, 2010 deadline set by that law.
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Daley encourages mortgage originators to make the education and testing requirements of Pennsylvania and federal law a top priority.
Because these tests can be expected to be rigorous, it is recommended that licensees, at minimum, read the federal and state laws that govern these topics -- the relevant Pennsylvania laws may be found on the department’s Web site at www.banking.state.pa.us and the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency’s Web site at www.phfa.org. It is also recommended that all or most of the 20 hours of required pre-licensing education be completed before the tests are taken.
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