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LICENSES
CA has 3 licenses: Which License is Best For You? Let us Help You.
{1} CA Residential Mortgage Law Act License "RML" or "Mortgage Banker" through the CA
Department of Corporations which requires a large governmental approval like Fannie
Mae, Freddie Mac or HUD Full Eagle in order to apply
[2] CA Finance Lender License "CFL" through the CA Department of Corporations that
allows both brokering [with CFL Lenders only] and lending [but not table-funding]
[3] CA Real Estate Broker License "DRE" or "Mortgage Broker" through the CA Department
of Real Estate which is the broadest and most popular CA mortgage broker license but
cannot be used from locations outside of CA.
Most brokers cannot qualify for the RML so they choose between the CFL and DRE. There
is no perfect license in CA. Each license has its pros and cons. The CFL is the license of
choice for most out-of-state brokers because there is no CA physical office requirement,
no loan officer requirement and out-of-state branches are permitted. The DRE would
require all their loan officers to CA to take college courses and an exam to get their Real
Estate Salesman licenses, a CA Physical office requirement and does not permit
out-of-state branches. However, the CFL brokering capacity is limited and restricted only
to CFL lenders but most CFL brokers develop a new group of wholesale lenders in CA
and can shift to being a lender at some time in the future when they obtain a warehouse
line of credit.
It depends on how you want to conduct mortgage business in CA as to whether you need
just the CFL or whether you need both the DRE and the CFL licenses. If you do not have
the HUD Full Eagle you cannot qualify for the RML. CFL license allows both a broker and
a lender license [but it does not allow table funding]. The brokering is restricted to using
only wholesale lenders who have the CFL license [which precludes many wholesale
lenders like banks but there are still plenty of good wholesale lenders that do have the
CFL - they just might not be the ones that you are used to working with]. The lending is
restricted to selling to only institutional investors and not private investors. Under the
CFL, your Loan Officers can be located anywhere in the country and do not need a
separate loan officer license if they are your W-2 employee. The DRE [Dept of Real Estate]
license must have a CA physical office and all deals must go through the Designated
Broker located in CA holding a real estate broker license and all loan officers must have
Real Estate Salesman Licenses [which has hard courses and exam] and all loan officers
must be located only in CA and operate out of the CA offices. The good part of the DRE
license is that you can use all wholesale lenders including banks.
CA MORTGAGE BROKER CA MORTGAGE LENDER/ CA MORTGAGE LENDER
LICENSE- DRE BROKER LICENSE -CFL LICENSE -RML
CA Department of Real Estate CA Department of Corporations CA Department of Corporations
CA Dept of Real Estate
How to Apply
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