From the end of 2013 through the end of 2014, the number of state-licensed loan originators rose, while bank registrations declined. California saw dozens of firms lose their licenses.
As of the
fourth quarter, there were 524,734 mortgage loan originators who were registered on the Nationwide Mortgage Licensing System.
NMLS registrations
grew from the third quarter, when the total was 516,679. However, because registrations don’t expire until the following year regardless of when surrendered, the number moves higher each quarter through the final quarter of each year.
A more telling comparison is year-over-year movement, and the number of NMLS registrations has retreated from a year earlier, when there were 529,127 people registered.
The statistics were
reported by the Conference of State Bank Supervisors.
Included in the latest total were 131,725 state-licensed originators, more than 127,745 three months earlier and also up from 130,260 in the fourth-quarter 2013.
In New Mexico, the number of state-licensed originators grew 22 percent from a year prior — more than any other state.
Registrations were up 21 percent in Montana, more than 20 percent in Mississippi, nearly 20 percent in Vermont and 19 percent in Nevada.
The biggest loss was experienced
in Texas, where the state’s Office of Consumer Credit Commissioner saw registrations decline 35 percent from the fourth-quarter 2013. However, a 16 percent gain was recorded for Texas Department of Savings and Mortgage Lending licenses during the same period.
Also taking a dive were licenses issued by the Utah Department of Financial
Institutions, which fell 26 percent over the last year. However, the Utah Department of Real Estate made a 4 percent gain.
California’s Bureau of Real Estate terminated 14 licenses, while the state’s Department of Business Oversight terminated another seven licenses.
Seven licenses were terminated in Illinois, and another seven were revoked.
New Jersey terminated 13 licenses and revoked one, while Delaware terminated eight licenses and New York terminated seven.
Also figured into total NMLS loan officer registrations were 398,716 federally registered
originators employed by financial institutions. Bank originators grew from 393,981 in the third quarter.
But the number of active originators employed by financial institutions retreated from the final quarter of 2013, when there were 404,423.
From the fourth-quarter 2013 to the fourth-quarter of 2014, federal registrations in Arkansas increased by 25 percent — more than in any other state. A distant second was Oklahoma, where federal registrations grew 10 percent.
With a 19 percent year-over-year decline, Nevada saw the biggest drop among bank originators. Also experiencing double-digit declines were Vermont, at 15 percent, and Delaware, at 10 percent.
The report indicated that 232,410 federally registered originators worked for banks supervised by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency as of the fourth-quarter 2014. Another 91,498 were employed by banks regulated by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., and 53,770 originated for banks regulated by the Federal Reserve.
Credit unions employed 55,711 loan originators, while another 1,836 worked at firms supervised by the
Farm Credit Administration.
The fourth-quarter 2014 total loan originator registrations was reduced by 5,707 to reflect originators who had both state licenses and federal registrations.
There were 26,486 entities registered on NMLS as of the most-recent period. The total, which was reduced by 102 to account for firms with both state and federal registrations, reflected 16,022 state-licensed entities and 10,566 financial institutions.
In California, 41 company licenses were revoked by the Department of Business Oversight during the latest three-month period, and 50 were terminated by the Bureau of Real Estate.
There were 38 company licenses terminated in New York.
State-licensed branches numberd 20,464 as of the final quarter of last year,
growing from 19,881 one year prior.
