20 Hour SAFE Comprehensive: Loan Originator Essentials
Starting a career in mortgage lending? This is the course that gets you there! The 20 Hour SAFE Comprehensive course assumes no mortgage background at all and builds your knowledge in order: first the life of a loan and the language of mortgages, then the federal laws that govern every step (RESPA, ECOA, TILA and TRID, HMDA, credit reporting, privacy and anti-money-laundering rules), then fair lending, advertising, fraud and the ethics of the job. From there you learn nontraditional and adjustable-rate products, the ability-to-repay rules, conventional, FHA, VA and USDA loans, and then the whole origination process on a live file: the application, disclosures, income, assets, credit, appraisals, title, insurance and closing. A mortgage math workshop makes every payment, ratio and closing figure something you can work by hand, and the final lessons cover the SAFE Act, getting and keeping your license, and how the SAFE MLO Test is built.
Every term is defined on screen the first time it appears, every module ends with a review, and cases you decide before they are resolved run through the whole course. Start any day you like and pick the pace that fits your life: 3, 7, or 14 days. Your instructor is in the course with you the whole way, answering questions in a live course chat and in the discussions, and you share a discussion thread for every module with classmates, plus four graded assignments on realistic loan files with written feedback.
Delivers the 20 hours of pre-licensing education the SAFE Act requires: 3 hours of federal law, 3 hours of ethics, 2 hours of nontraditional mortgage lending and 12 hours of electives. Twenty hours is the national minimum. Online, instructor-led.
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Format & How It Works
Online · Instructor-led. Start any day you like on a 3-, 7- or 14-day schedule! Before your start date you can read the welcome page, the syllabus and Lesson 1. From your first day, each module opens on its class day once you have finished the one before it, then stays open, so you work through it at your own pace. Your instructor is with you the whole way, in the course chat and the discussion threads, and answers every question within 24 hours.
- Pay your invoice in full before your class starts — an unpaid balance keeps the course locked
- Upload a valid, unexpired government-issued photo ID for identity verification before your class starts
- Acknowledge the NMLS Rules of Conduct when the course first opens
- Work through each module as it opens on your class schedule — your original post in each module's discussion thread opens the next module
- Finish the full course within your class schedule — 14 days at most
NMLS Approved Education
What You’ll Cover
20 Hour SAFE Comprehensive: Loan Originator Essentials
Foundations
153 minHow the modern mortgage and the laws around it came to be, every role on a loan file and in the markets behind it, the life of a loan from the first inquiry to recording, the core vocabulary of a loan conversation, how fixed-rate mortgages, interest, amortization and escrow work, and the agencies that regulate mortgage lending.
Federal Law
153 minRESPA and Regulation X, ECOA and Regulation B, TILA and Regulation Z with HOEPA and loan originator compensation, the TRID disclosures and their tolerances, HMDA, the FCRA and FACTA, the Homeowners Protection Act, GLBA privacy, the do-not-call rules, the Bank Secrecy Act and anti-money-laundering duties, E-SIGN, the MAP Rule and appraiser independence.
Ethics
153 minFair lending and how discrimination is shown, predatory practices, referrals, kickbacks and conflicts, truth in advertising across every channel, mortgage fraud and its red flags, permitted fees and the originator's financial responsibility, consumer complaints, and the consumer relationship and company compliance.
Nontraditional Lending and Ability to Repay
102 minNontraditional mortgage products and adjustable-rate mortgages from index and margin to caps and disclosures, specialty loans including reverse mortgages, and the ability-to-repay rule and qualified mortgages.
Loan Programs and the Application
204 minConventional and government loan programs, the application and its documentation, the disclosures on a live file, and how assets, liabilities and income are verified and calculated.
Qualifying, Closing, Mortgage Math and the SAFE Act
235 minCredit, qualifying ratios and the appraisal, insurance, title and closing, the mortgage math workshop, the SAFE Act and the originator's license, and a course review that puts it all together before the final exam.
Final Exam
Pass the final exam to complete the course and earn your credit.
Stay License-Ready, Year After Year
Knock out your NMLS hours in one place — federal CE, late CE, pre-licensing, and every state requirement you need, all reported for you.