If you are a mortgage broker you are quite aware the government has made Broker shops the bad guy. The government and big banks blame brokers for all the fraud and bad loans that took place.The most interesting fact about all of this is the banks, Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae were setting the underwriting standards.  Brokers just delivered those underwriting standards and the loans were bought and sold on the secondary market. To this day I have not figured out why Brokers have been so heavily targeted other than big banks making deals with Washington to squeeze out the competition.

As a result of all of these issues tough regulations have been forced on Mortgage Brokers. All loan officers now need to pass a national exam along with a state exam under the SAFE Act of 2008. This new regulation requires a background check along with your local state regulator receiving a copy of your credit report. This new credit report requirement has caused anxiety within the loan officer community This concern comes with good reason. Most loan officer’s income starting in 2007 went from a 6 digit income to an income that was just above poverty level.

We are not completely sure how many credit issues on your report will cause a denial of your license. Each state regulator will be responsible for reviewing your credit report and determining how responsible you are with your finances. According the State of Texas Commissioner multiple issues of following will trigger a state review of your credit report.

• Bankruptcies files within the last 10 years;

• Current outstanding judgments (except judgments solely as a result of medical expenses);

• Current outstanding tax liens or other government liens

• History of and current collection accounts;

• Foreclosures within the past three years;

• Three or more accounts more than 90 days past due;

• Multiple Social Security Numbers attached to the individuals name;

• Consumer provided comments

• No credit history for the individual;

• Credit items the individual is appealing, if noted in the report; and

• Outstanding child support

Also according to the commissioner they will not be looking at your credit score, but systematically looking at your overall long term financial irresponsibility before they make a final decision.

The guys over at ThinkBigWorkSmall did a video today on this very subject. They give a very humorous illustration of this credit report scare. So this should be very interesting considering how many possible loan officers have credit issues due to the market and not because of irresponsibility.

Author: Mike Clover

CreditScoreQuick.com

Every day you get home from work and, if you’re like me, you check your mail.  It’s certainly no surprise to see your box full of credit card offers but have you ever wondered exactly why and how those offers find you?  You might be shocked to learn that the credit reporting agencies sell your name and address to credit card issuers and that’s why your mailbox is filling up with those offers.

Credit card issuers are constantly looking to acquire new credit card customers.  They do so by buying a list of consumer names who have met predetermined criteria, such as decent credit scores and no active bankruptcies.  Imagine the following request made by a credit card company to any of the three credit bureaus.

“I’d like to solicit a new credit card to consumers living in these five states and have FICO scores of at least 680.  I want 3 million names and addresses of consumers who meet that criteria.  I also want these consumers to have no bankruptcies on their credit reports and no defaulted credit cards for the past 36 months.”

This is a simplistic example of how your name makes it on their pre-approval lists.  Once your name and address has been delivered to the credit card issuer it’s only a matter of time before their offer finds its way to your mailbox.  You can have your name removed from their lists by going to www.optoutprescreen.com and begin to enjoy a lighter mail load.

John Ulzheimer is the President of Consumer Education for Credit.com and owner of  2StepCredit.com.  He is an expert on credit reporting, credit scoring, credit score ratings, and identity theft. Formerly of FICO and Equifax, John is the only recognized credit expert who actually comes from the credit industry.  He is a weekly guest on FOX’s The Willis Report and is the credit blogger for the New York Times and Mint.com.  He has served as a credit expert witness in more than 65 cases and has been qualified to testify in both Federal and State court on the topic of consumer credit.