West Virginia Code 31-17A-4 – State license application and issuance
(a) Applicants for a license must apply in a form as prescribed by the commissioner. Each form shall contain content as set forth by instruction or procedure of the commissioner and may be changed or updated as necessary by the commissioner in order to carry out the purposes of this article. The application must be submitted with an application fee of $200 plus the actual cost of fingerprint processing, together with any processing fee assessed by the Nationwide Mortgage Licensing System and Registry. The commissioner may elect to reduce or waive the application fees for mortgage loan originators employed by bona fide nonprofit organizations or other community housing development organizations that serve the housing needs of households or persons below the HUD-established median income for their area of residence. Any waiver of fees or other costs under this paragraph shall not be construed as a waiver of the duty to comply with all other provisions of this article.
Terms Used In West Virginia Code 31-17A-4
- Commissioner: means the Commissioner of Financial Institutions of this state. See West Virginia Code 31-17A-2
- Credit report: A detailed report of an individual's credit history prepared by a credit bureau and used by a lender in determining a loan applicant's creditworthiness. Source: OCC
- Fair Credit Reporting Act: A federal law, established in 1971 and revised in 1997, that gives consumers the right to see their credit records and correct any mistakes. Source: OCC
- Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
- Mortgage: The written agreement pledging property to a creditor as collateral for a loan.
- Mortgage loan: A loan made by a lender to a borrower for the financing of real property. Source: OCC
- Mortgage loan originator: means an individual who for compensation or gain or in the expectation of compensation or gain takes a residential mortgage loan application or offers or negotiates terms of a residential mortgage loan and is sponsored by a mortgage lender, broker, or regulated consumer lender licensed by the Division of Financial Institutions. See West Virginia Code 31-17A-2
- Nationwide Mortgage Licensing System and Registry: means a mortgage licensing system developed and maintained by the Conference of State Bank Supervisors and the American Association of Residential Mortgage Regulators for the licensing and registration of mortgage brokers and lenders licensed pursuant to §. See West Virginia Code 31-17A-2
- Service of process: The service of writs or summonses to the appropriate party.
- State: when applied to a part of the United States and not restricted by the context, includes the District of Columbia and the several territories, and the words "United States" also include the said district and territories. See West Virginia Code 2-2-10
(b) The commissioner is authorized to establish relationships or contracts with the Nationwide Mortgage Licensing System and Registry or other entities designated by the Nationwide Mortgage Licensing System and Registry to collect and maintain records and process transaction fees or other fees related to licensees or other persons subject to this article.
(c) In connection with an application for licensing as a mortgage loan originator, the applicant shall, at a minimum, furnish to the Nationwide Mortgage Licensing System and Registry information concerning the applicant’s identity, including:
(1) Fingerprints for submission to the Federal Bureau of Investigation and any governmental agency or entity authorized to receive such information for a state, national and international criminal history background check; and
(2) Personal history and experience in a form prescribed by the Nationwide Mortgage Licensing System and Registry and the commissioner, including the submission of authorization for the Nationwide Mortgage Licensing System and Registry and the commissioner to obtain:
(A) An independent credit report obtained from a consumer reporting agency described in Section 603(p) of the Fair Credit Reporting Act; and
(B) Information related to any administrative, civil or criminal findings by any governmental jurisdiction.
(d) To reduce the points of contact which the Federal Bureau of Investigation may have to maintain, the commissioner may use the Nationwide Mortgage Licensing System and Registry or its designated vendor as a channeling agent for requesting information from and distributing information to the Department of Justice or any governmental agency.
(e) To reduce the points of contact which the commissioner may have to maintain, the commissioner may use the Nationwide Mortgage Licensing System and Registry as a channeling agent for requesting and distributing information to and from any source so directed by the commissioner.
(f) Nonresident mortgage loan originators licensed under this article by their acceptance of the license acknowledge that they are subject to the jurisdiction of the courts of West Virginia and the service of process pursuant to §46A-2-137 and § 56-3-33 of this code.
(g) The commissioner may grant a provisional license to a mortgage loan originator who has met all other requirements for licensing under this article but: (1) Has not passed a test regarding West Virginia mortgage laws and regulations required for licensure: Provided, That the provisionally licensed mortgage loan originator takes and passes that test within 60 days of the test becoming available; or (2) for whom the commissioner has not received the results of a criminal background check despite the good faith effort of the applicant to provide in a timely manner the information necessary to obtain a criminal background check.