1322.031 Application for loan officer license.

(A) An application for a license as a loan officer shall be in writing, under oath, and in the form prescribed by the superintendent of financial institutions. The application shall be accompanied by a nonrefundable application fee of one hundred dollars and shall provide all of the following:

(1) The name and address of the applicant;

(2) A statement as to whether the applicant has been convicted of or pleaded guilty to any criminal offense involving theft, receiving stolen property, embezzlement, forgery, fraud, passing bad checks, money laundering, or drug trafficking, or any criminal offense involving money or securities;

(3) A statement as to whether the applicant has been subject to an adverse judgment for conversion, embezzlement, misappropriation of funds, fraud, misfeasance or malfeasance, or breach of fiduciary duty;

(4) For loan officer applications submitted on or after January 1, 2007, proof, as determined by the superintendent, that the applicant has successfully completed at least twenty-four hours of live classroom instruction in a course or program of study approved by the superintendent that consists of at least all of the following:

(a) Four hours of instruction concerning state and federal mortgage lending laws, which shall include no less than two hours on this chapter;

(b) Four hours of instruction concerning the Ohio consumer sales practices act, Chapter 1345. of the Revised Code, as it applies to registrants and licensees;

(c) Four hours of instruction concerning the loan application process;

(d) Two hours of instruction concerning the underwriting process;

(e) Two hours of instruction concerning the secondary market for mortgage loans;

(f) Four hours of instruction concerning the loan closing process;

(g) Two hours of instruction covering basic mortgage financing concepts and terms;

(h) Two hours of instruction concerning the ethical responsibilities of a licensee, including with respect to confidentiality, consumer counseling, and the duties and standards of care created in section 1322.081 of the Revised Code.

Division (A)(4) of this section does not apply to any applicant who has an application on file with the division of financial institutions prior to January 1, 2007.

The proof submitted by the applicant pursuant to division (A)(4) of this section may be in the form of transcripts or a statement indicating that the applicant has, and will maintain, transcripts at the applicant’s place of business for a period of five years for inspection by the superintendent at the superintendent’s request.

(5) Any further information that the superintendent requires.

(B) Upon the filing of the application and payment of the application fee, the superintendent of financial institutions shall investigate the applicant as set forth in division (B) of this section.

(1) The superintendent shall request the superintendent of the bureau of criminal identification and investigation, or a vendor approved by the bureau, to conduct a criminal records check based on the applicant’s fingerprints in accordance with division (A)(11) of section 109.572 of the Revised Code. Notwithstanding division (K) of section 121.08 of the Revised Code, the superintendent of financial institutions shall request that criminal record information from the federal bureau of investigation be obtained as part of the criminal records check. Any fee required under division (C)(3) of section 109.572 of the Revised Code shall be paid by the applicant.

(2) The superintendent shall conduct a civil records check.

(3) If, in order to issue a license to an applicant, additional investigation by the superintendent outside this state is necessary, the superintendent may require the applicant to advance sufficient funds to pay the actual expenses of the investigation, if it appears that these expenses will exceed one hundred dollars. The superintendent shall provide the applicant with an itemized statement of the actual expenses that the applicant is required to pay.

(C) The superintendent shall pay all funds advanced and application and renewal fees and penalties the superintendent receives pursuant to this section and section 1322.041 of the Revised Code to the treasurer of state to the credit of the consumer finance fund created in section 1321.21 of the Revised Code.

(D) If an application for a license does not contain all of the information required under division (A) of this section, and if that information is not submitted to the superintendent within ninety days after the superintendent requests the information in writing, the superintendent may consider the application withdrawn.

(E)(1) The business of a loan officer shall principally be transacted at an office of the employing mortgage broker, which office is registered in accordance with division (A) of section 1322.02 of the Revised Code. Each original license shall be deposited with and maintained by the employing mortgage broker at the mortgage broker’s main office. A copy of the license shall be maintained and displayed at the office where the loan officer principally transacts business.

(2) If a loan officer’s employment is terminated, the mortgage broker shall return the original license to the superintendent within five business days after the termination. The licensee may request the transfer of the license to another mortgage broker by submitting a relocation application, along with a fifteen dollar fee, to the superintendent or may request the superintendent in writing to hold the license in escrow for a period not to exceed one year. Any licensee whose license is held in escrow shall cease activity as a loan officer.

A mortgage broker may employ a loan officer on a temporary basis pending the transfer of the loan officer’s license to the mortgage broker, if the mortgage broker receives written confirmation from the superintendent that the loan officer is licensed under sections 1322.01 to 1322.12 of the Revised Code.

(F) A license, or the authority granted under that license, is not assignable and cannot be franchised by contract or any other means.

Effective Date: 05-02-2002; 01-01-2007; 2006 SB 223 03-23-2007