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To the Students from the LO CE class on May 21, 2013 at Guild Mortgage Kent

| May 23, 2013 | 0 Comments

Hi Everyone, Here’s the follow up from today’s class. Here’s the article I wrote about NACA as published on Seattle Bubble. NACA is the org that’s bringing their zero down loan to town soon. Here is a link to the CFPB Consumer Compliant database. There’s a menu running across the page, not at the top but near the top. [...]

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To the Students from the May 15, 2013 Guild Mortgage LO CE class in Bellevue

| May 16, 2013 | 0 Comments

Hi Everyone, Here’s the follow up from today’s class. Here’s the article I wrote about NACA as published on Seattle Bubble. NACA is the org that’s bringing their zero down loan to town soon. Here is a link to the CFPB Consumer Compliant database. There’s a menu running across the page, not at the top but near the [...]

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4 Hour Washington State Law Pre-Licensing Class Is Now Approved

| March 23, 2013 | 0 Comments

Hi Everyone, Just wanted to let everyone know that I have received approval from the NMLS for my new 4 Hour WA State Law Pre-Licensing class which means when April 1, 2013 rolls around, I am ready to help all loan originator candidates who need the 20 Hour Loan Originator Pre-Licensing Class along with the [...]

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New SAFE MLO Test with Uniform State Component Plus More LO Pre-Education to Start April 1

| March 1, 2013 | 0 Comments

Washington State has adopted the new uniform SAFE loan originator licensing exam and our state will begin delivering this new exam April 1, 2013.  Read more here. This means loan originator candidates will take just one exam instead of a federal exam and then another Wa State specific exam. In moving to the Uniform State [...]

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8 Hr SAFE LO Continuing Ed

To the Students from the LO CE class on May 21, 2013 at Guild Mortgage Kent

| May 23, 2013 | 0 Comments

Hi Everyone, Here’s the follow up from today’s class. Here’s the article I wrote about NACA as published on Seattle Bubble. NACA is the org that’s bringing their zero down loan to town soon. Here is a link to the CFPB Consumer Compliant database. There’s a menu running across the page, not at the top but near the top. [...]

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To the Students from the May 15, 2013 Guild Mortgage LO CE class in Bellevue

| May 16, 2013 | 0 Comments

Hi Everyone, Here’s the follow up from today’s class. Here’s the article I wrote about NACA as published on Seattle Bubble. NACA is the org that’s bringing their zero down loan to town soon. Here is a link to the CFPB Consumer Compliant database. There’s a menu running across the page, not at the top but near the [...]

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All New 2013 Loan Originator CE Classes Now Available!

| April 25, 2013 | 0 Comments

NAMF has received approval for the 2013 LO CE class! Note: If you took the CE course from me last year, this is an all new course.  There is no rule against using the same course provider every year. Instead, LOs may not take the same course year after year. The 2013 course is all new with [...]

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LATE CE Classes are now available for 2012-2013 license renewal

| January 3, 2013 | 0 Comments

Late CE Classes are now available for loan originators who did not renew their license at the end of 2012 and need to take the required CE class in order to renew. NAMF Approved Course Provider 1400068 LATE CE 8 Hr SAFE LO CE #3247 LATE CE 1 Hr Wa Law CE #3246 This is [...]

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20 Hr SAFE MLO Pre-Licensing

To the Students from the April 1-2, 2013 Loan Originator Pre-Licensing Class

| April 4, 2013 | 0 Comments

Hi Everyone, Here’s the follow up Q&A from our time together: Q: Why does HMDA (Home Mortgage Disclosure Act) require a breakdown as to ethnicity–specifically hispanic/non-hispanic? A: From this article, HMDA has separate categories for race and ethnicity.  Do a keyword search on the word “Hispanic.” There are seven matches and then jus scroll to [...]

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4 Hour Washington State Law Pre-Licensing Class Is Now Approved

| March 23, 2013 | 0 Comments

Hi Everyone, Just wanted to let everyone know that I have received approval from the NMLS for my new 4 Hour WA State Law Pre-Licensing class which means when April 1, 2013 rolls around, I am ready to help all loan originator candidates who need the 20 Hour Loan Originator Pre-Licensing Class along with the [...]

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To the Students from the March 11-12 Pre-Licensing class at Rockwell Bellevue

| March 13, 2013 | 0 Comments

Hi Everyone, Here’s the follow up Q&A from our time together: There was a request for more definitions and acronyms.  I like this page for definitions. And this link for basic mortgage acronyms. I promised the scathing expose from 60 Minutes segment on the Fair Credit Reporting Act.  Makes me not so proud of the Credit [...]

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New SAFE MLO Test with Uniform State Component Plus More LO Pre-Education to Start April 1

| March 1, 2013 | 0 Comments

Washington State has adopted the new uniform SAFE loan originator licensing exam and our state will begin delivering this new exam April 1, 2013.  Read more here. This means loan originator candidates will take just one exam instead of a federal exam and then another Wa State specific exam. In moving to the Uniform State [...]

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Ethics

The Moral Terrain of Mortgage Lending

| May 12, 2012 | 0 Comments

General ethics applies to everyone in all spheres of life; in contrast, professional ethics is usually memorialized by written code and is intended to apply only to those individuals who have been identified as professionals in their field.  For example, in the legal industry, both lawyers and paralegals are considered professionals and must abide by [...]

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Mortgage Folks: Stop Blaming Fannie, Freddie and the CRA for the Meltdown

| November 2, 2011 | 5 Comments

Hi Everyone, When the topic of blame comes up, lots of us in the mortgage lending industry always seem to want to point towards someone else instead of taking a look at our own role as loan originators, processors, underwriters, and so forth.  One thing I constantly hear is how it was the fault of [...]

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Are the Cash Call radio ads advertising a “no fee” loan deceptive?

| June 24, 2011 | 12 Comments

I listen to 97.3FM and am a longtime listener of Dave, Luke, Dori (accidentally listening since 1995), Ron, Don, John, @thenewschick and @joshkerns38. I am so sick and tired of hearing the Cash Call radio ads that everytime one of the ads run, I feel the need to switch the dial over to satellite radio and I’ve been meaning [...]

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Newest Scam: Assignment of Mortgage Payment System

| June 17, 2011 | 43 Comments

I have received several emails from confused loan originators and Realtors wondering if this “Assignment of Mortgage Payment” system is real or just another scam. There will always be a get-rich-quick scheme and people willing to take your money to sell you a system.  The people who are really making the money are the ones [...]

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Informed Consent, Fiduciary Duties

The Moral Terrain of Mortgage Lending

| May 12, 2012 | 0 Comments

General ethics applies to everyone in all spheres of life; in contrast, professional ethics is usually memorialized by written code and is intended to apply only to those individuals who have been identified as professionals in their field.  For example, in the legal industry, both lawyers and paralegals are considered professionals and must abide by [...]

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Informed Consent for Mortgage Lending

| October 19, 2008 | 31 Comments

In Part 4, of a 6-part series, the Mortgage Professor states, as follows: “In sum, regardless of why borrowers refinance, the question of whether they receive a net benefit from it is for borrowers alone to answer. Loan providers do not have the information needed to second-guess them.” He goes on to say that “on the [...]

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Mortgage Fraud

Secondary Marketing Fraud Question from an Anon Caller

| February 3, 2011 | 0 Comments

Question from an anonymous phone caller: “I work at retail bank. When rates were dropping, I asked my processor to lock several FHA loans.  All the paperwork to lock was completed and sent to management.  Management did not lock the loans, hoping to ride the wave down and earn extra yield for the bank….rates rose [...]

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Loan Originator Liza Bautista Finally Arrested

| August 11, 2010 | 8 Comments

Liza Bautista was a mortgage broker with a strong client base inside her Christian church in Tukwila. After successfully closing several prime loans for folk with A-paper credit, she targeted consumers who were turned down by lenders and created two sets of loan documents.  She submitted the credit history and identity of her prime, A [...]

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Mortgage Fraud 09: Bellevue

| March 27, 2009 | 7 Comments

From the Seattle Times: A Seattle grand jury has indicted seven people, including owners of two Bellevue mortgage loan companies and an escrow company, in a 40-count indictment alleging conspiracy to commit mortgage, bank and wire fraud totaling more than $47 million. The indictments allege the seven conspired to fraudulently purchase dozens of Seattle and [...]

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Bellevue LO Sentenced

| February 27, 2009 | 9 Comments

From the Seattle Times: A federal judge today is expected to sentence a former Bellevue loan officer to prison for perpetrating what prosecutors say is one of the largest home-mortgage fraud cases brought so far in Western Washington. Christopher Brooks, 39, pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit wire fraud in connection with fraudulent loan applications [...]

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Other Recent Articles

To the Students from the May 14, 2013 LO CE Class at Rockwell

| May 15, 2013 | 0 Comments

Hi Everyone, Here’s the follow up from today’s class. Here’s the article I wrote about NACA as published on Seattle Bubble. NACA is the org that’s bringing their zero down loan to town soon. Here’s the link to the proposed Social Media Guidelines. See the link at the bottom of the press release. Here’s the [...]

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Jillayne Schlicke: Inman’s 2013 Most Influential Thought Leaders

| January 28, 2013 | 0 Comments

Inman Real Estate News announced their list of Real Estate’s Most Influential Thought Leaders for 2013 and Jillayne Schlicke of CE Forward and The National Association of Mortgage Fiduciaries was on the list! What an honor to be named alongside many of the people whose work I admire and read on a daily basis. Thanks so much [...]

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Teaching Realtor Clock Hour Classes: Three Steps

| January 4, 2013 | 0 Comments

I’m writing this post because I am often asked how to get started teaching Realtor clock hour classes.  There are a million ways to answer this question.  Do you want to know what the state requirements are? I can easily point you in the direction of Washington State’s required forms but the form won’t tell you how [...]

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To the Students from the Nov 2, 2012 LO CE class at Alaska USA Mortgage, Everett

| November 3, 2012 | 2 Comments

here are always two bottoms to a housing market. Here’s a great article that explains the first (new construction home starts) and the second bottom (home values. Here’s a link to where I get all my cool graphs and charts.  Many thanks to Bill McBride who runs Calculated Risk. Here’s the article on FHA’s solvency. What’s the plan [...]

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To the Students from the Oct 23, 2012 LO CE class at Rockwell Bellevue

| October 24, 2012 | 0 Comments

here are always two bottoms to a housing market. Here’s a great article that explains the first (new construction home starts) and the second bottom (home values. Here’s a link to where I get all my cool graphs and charts.  Many thanks to Bill McBride who runs Calculated Risk. Here’s the article on FHA’s solvency. What’s the plan [...]

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To the Students from the Oct 17, 2012 LO CE Class at ORT Lynnwood

| October 18, 2012 | 0 Comments

here are always two bottoms to a housing market. Here’s a great article that explains the first (new construction home starts) and the second bottom (home values. Here’s a link to where I get all my cool graphs and charts.  Many thanks to Bill McBride who runs Calculated Risk. Here’s the article on FHA’s solvency. What’s the plan [...]

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To the Students from the Oct 10, 2012 LO CE Class at Rockwell Bellevue

| October 11, 2012 | 0 Comments

There are always two bottoms to a housing market. Here’s a great article that explains the first (new construction home starts) and the second bottom (home values. Here’s the article on FHA’s solvency. What’s the plan if the FHA mortgage insurance fund runs out of money? Here’s a link to where I get all my cool graphs and [...]

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To the Students from the Sept 26, 2012 SAFE LO CE Class at Rockwell Bellevue

| September 27, 2012 | 0 Comments

Here’s the quote from the Mortgage Bankers Association:  “We have caused extraordinary damage.” There are always two bottoms to a housing market. Here’s a great article that explains the first (new construction home starts) and the second bottom (home values. Here’s the article on FHA’s solvency. What’s the plan if the FHA mortgage insurance fund runs out [...]

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To the Students from the Sept 20, 2012 LO CE class at Guild Mortgage/Centerpoint Kent

| September 21, 2012 | 0 Comments

Hi Everyone, Here’s the follow up from class today. Here’s the Seattle Weekly story on the local Shawn Portmann mortgage fraud case. And here’s the latest: Shawn Portmann Pleads Guilty. Here’s the quote from the Mortgage Bankers Association:  “We have caused extraordinary damage.” There are always two bottoms to a housing market. Here’s a great article that explains the [...]

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To the Students from the Sept 18, 2012 class at ORTC Lynnwood

| September 19, 2012 | 0 Comments

Hi Everyone, Here’s the follow up from class today. Here’s the Seattle Weekly story on the local Shawn Portmann mortgage fraud case. And here’s that story where the Feds are asking Shawn for that giant bag of money. Here’s the quote from the Mortgage Bankers Association:  “We have caused extraordinary damage.” There are always two bottoms [...]

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To the Students from the Sept 10, 2012 LO CE class at Yakima Assoc of Realtors

| September 11, 2012 | 0 Comments

Hi Everyone, Thanks for coming to class today! Here are the follow up Q&As. We talked about a website where we can look at the various lenders in our state and their FHA default rate. It’s called Neighborhood Watch. Click on “early warnings” in the upper left hand side to get started. Here’s the news story [...]

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To the Students from the Sept 4 and 5, 2012 Pre-Licensing class

| September 6, 2012 | 0 Comments

Hi Everyone, Here are some links to things we talked about over the last two days. Here is a link to the Exam Candidate Handbook. (Look for link that says MLO Testing Handbook.) The following question came up regarding the new Good Faith Estimate and RESPA: Can the adjusted origination charge be a positive or [...]

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To the Student from the July 20, 2012 LO CE Class at Absolute Mortgage

| July 21, 2012 | 0 Comments

Hi Everyone, Here’s the follow up from class today. Here’s the Seattle Weekly story on the local Shawn Portmann mortgage fraud case. Here’s the CFPB enforcement action against Capital One. There are always two bottoms to a housing market. Here’s a great article that explains the first (new construction home starts) and the second bottom [...]

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To the Students from the July 17, 2012 SAFE LO CE Class at Rockwell Bellevue

| July 18, 2012 | 0 Comments

Hi Everyone, Here’s the follow up from class today. Here’s the HUD link to the Neighborhood Watch website where you can see the FHA delinquency rate of WA State lenders. Click on “early warnings” upper left hand side of the site to get started. Here’s a link to the NMLS Consumer Access website. Here’s the [...]

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Regulators propose new mortgage disclosure forms

| July 12, 2012 | 0 Comments

Goal is ‘restoring trust in the mortgage market’ BY ANDREA V. BRAMBILA TUESDAY, JULY 10, 2012. Inman News® After a year and a half of research and review, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau released simplified mortgage disclosure forms Monday that it hopes will make it easier for borrowers to understand the terms and costs of their [...]

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To the Students from the June 26, 2012 LO CE Class

| June 27, 2012 | 0 Comments

Hi Everyone, Here’s the follow up from class today. I promised more details on the Community Reinvestment Act. “The Community Reinvestment Act of 1977 was irrelevant to the subprime boom, which was overwhelmingly driven by loan originators not subject to the Act….”  More here. There was a request for information on local HUD-Approved Housing Counseling [...]

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SAFE LO CE Classes Booking for Summer and Fall, 2012

| June 25, 2012 | 2 Comments

Hi Everyone, The summer and fall schedules are posted here. I’d like to bring the SAFE LO CE Continuing Ed class to more cities this summer and fall. I will always offer the class in Snohomish and King County every month but I’d also like to come to Kitsap, Thurston, Skagit, Spokane, Yakima, Clark, and [...]

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