Nearly 9,000 people joined the ranks of loan originators during the latest quarter. One state was responsible for more than half of originator licenses revoked in the country.
Mortgage loan originators who were registered with the Nationwide Mortgage Licensing System numbered 525,207 as of the third quarter.
The count grew from the second quarter of this year, when NMLS reported that 516,707 originators were registered.
Loan officer count has grown even more compared to the third quarter of last year, when 505,460 LOs were NMLS-registered.
The latest total reflected 125,572 state-registered originators who carried 311,589 licenses and 404,385 originators in the federal registry who worked for financial institutions.
The total was reduced to reflect 4,750 originators who maintained both a state and federal registration.
During the latest three-month period, NMLS received nearly 30,000 applications for state registrations, off slightly from the previous quarter.
In North Dakota, registrations have climbed 105 percent over the past year — the biggest percentage gain of any state. South Dakota saw a 101 percent jump, while Iowa grew 85 percent, Alaska was up 74 percent and Delaware climbed 70 percent.
Georgia revoked more originator licenses than any other state:Â 17. Georgia accounted for well over half of the 29 revoked licenses across the country.
NMLS reported that 16,076 state-registered companies maintained 34,663 licenses. Those companies had 20,188 branches registered with 38,456 licenses.
More than 1,500 company applications for state registrations were received by the registry during the three months ended Sept. 30, about the same as in the prior quarter.
Financial institutions listed in the federal registry numbered 10,747, and 107 of those institutions also had state registrations.
Out of all originators employed by financial institutions, more than half — or 231,284 — worked for banks regulated by the Office the Comptroller of the Currency.
Another 77,542 worked for companies that are supervised by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.
The Federal Reserve Board oversaw banks with 43,585 originators, while the National Credit Union Administration supervised institutions with 50,336 registered originators.
Farm Credit Administration-regulated entities employed 1,638 registered originators.
