Louisiana State added new legislation regarding mortgage brokers. Referred to as HB 810, it substitutes the present regulatory system for mortgage professionals with a new system based on the federal requirements. The previous law required mortgage lenders and brokers to attain a $50,000 license bond. As presented, this bill would have required mortgage lenders, brokers and originators to acquire a surety bond with an amount that is calculated using the total amount of loans originated. The lenders surety bond amount would have varied from $100,000 to $500,000; for brokers and originators the surety bond quantity would have ranged from $25,000 to $150,000.
When the bill was amended and enacted, the surety bond that must be attained with an application for a license as a mortgage lender, broker or loan originator must be $45,000 if the loan volume in the pervious year was $99,999,999 or less and $50,000 if the loan volume was $100 million or greater. The mortgage originators that are the workers of a mortgage lender or broker can use their employer’s surety bond to comply with the proposed requirements. In place of the surety bond, a licensee can deposit a quantity equivalent to the surety bond requirement in a federal insured depository establishment in Louisiana.
