Will New National Testing

Clean up the Lending Industry?

“Must be Pre-Approved with such and such Lender… “

Anybody going through the frustrations of attempting to purchase a Bank Owned Home in Las Vegas certainly knows all about this requirement.  A recent call from a prospective buyer frustrated with trying to buy a home in Las Vegas had three pre-approvals from different lenders… an obvious sign to me that they had unsuccessfully been chasing bank owned homes.

While the process of getting pre-approved with the REO Agents desired lender is certainly a nuance to me since I have my favorite long time loan officer who works for a local mortgage company and does what they say they are going to do, I certainly can understand the requirement since I’ve run into my share of less than knowledgable loan officers that will say anything just to lock up a potential loan.

So, this article from the New York Times highlighting the failure rates of the new federally mandated licensing exams certainly was no surprise to me:

31% of loan officers failing basic fundamentals test

Prospective licensees in 11 states began taking the exams on July 30, followed in late October by those in six more states and Washington. On Dec. 10, New York and New Jersey started offering the tests, which feature roughly 100 questions in the national version and about 50 for the state version.

The exam administered by the Conference of State Banking Supervisors varies from state to state and covers basic principles of the lending process including federal laws, general mortgage knowledge, the loan-origination process and ethics. Loan officers working for conventional banks do not need to take the test.

Licensing Requirements for Nevada

Read More at my Las Vegas Real Estate Website…

Paul Francis, CRS
Prudential Americana Group – Realtors®
Las Vegas Real Estate
702.592.3058