Approved Courses
Residential Mortgage Education courses need to be approved by the Department of Commerce.  A list will be continuously updated as additional courses are approved [download from column at right].

Background
Section 58.126 of Minnesota Statutes requires individuals who engage in residential mortgage origination or make residential mortgage loans, whether as an employee or independent contractor, to complete 20 hours of educational training which has been approved by the Commissioner of Commerce. The training must cover state and federal laws concerning residential mortgage lending. The initial education requirement of Section 58.126 shall be met with 20 hours of residential mortgage originator education with a minimum of 4 of those hours covering Minnesota laws.  In addition to initial education requirements, each individual must complete 8 hours of continuing education annually.  The education must include: 3 hours of federal law and regulations; 2 hours of ethics, including fraud, consumer protection, and fair lending; and 2 hours of stardards governing nontraditional mortgage lending.

The licensee is required to affirm, as part of the licensing process, that it will maintain a roster of individuals employed as residential mortgage originators, including employees and independent contractors, which includes the date that the mandatory education was completed.  Persons that perform only clerical duties subject to the instruction and supervision of an originator are excluded from education requirements.  Natural persons employed by a bank or credit union also are excluded from education requirements.

The following subjects will qualify to satisfy the hours of educational training:

State and Federal Law

• The provisions of Chapter 58, Section 47.20, Section 47.59, and Section 609.822 of Minnesota Statutes
• The Fair Housing Act, the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA), the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) and other fair lending laws.
• The Home Ownership Equity Protection Act (HOEPA).
• The Truth in Lending Act, Regulation Z and the Commentary to Regulation Z.
• The Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA), Regulation X.
• The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA).

Practice and Procedure

• Loan origination procedures, including pre-qualifying borrowers, residential loan applications, underwriting standards, mortgage loan packaging, loan documentation, loan closings and loan servicing.
• Types of mortgage loans, including Federal Housing Authority (FHA) and Veterans Administration (VA) loans.
• U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) closing statement.
• Brokerage fees and limitations.
• Prepayment penalties.
• Appraisal analysis, review, standards and underwriting.
• Credit scoring, open-end credit, closed-end credit.
• Subprime lending, including high cost and other covered loans.
• Fraud detection and prevention.
• Predatory lending.
• Federal National Mortgage Association (FNMA or Fannie Mae) guidelines.
• Government National Mortgage Association (GNMA or Ginnie Mae) guidelines.
• Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (FHLMC or Freddie Mac) guidelines.

Actions and Ethics

• Administrative actions and criminal penalties under Chapter 45, 58, and 690.

Other

• New developments in the law, practice and procedure

If you have questions or concerns about license education, contact the Department of Commerce at Mortgage.Commerce@state.mn.us