With the surge in mortgage demand, we see many new companies throwing their hat in the ring to become licensed providers. For the uninitiated, prepare to spend some time gathering and uploading documents. For new and experienced alike, some of the requirements, and the vague way the Nationwide Mortgage Licensing System describes them in their requirement templates, can cause confusion. 

Provide a Copy of Your Business Plan...

A business plan is a great idea. The SBA definition of a business plan, and what most people think of as a business plan - including agencies like Fannie/Freddie and others - allows you to memorialize how you will do business; the ways and means including LOS selection, pricing, startup costs, volume projections, staffing as well as unique business propositions, marketing strategies, and other relevant elements. It looks like this:

This is a sample of a table of contents of an SBA-Style Business Plan

 



 

But... THIS IS NOT what the regulator wants. The regulator wants an answer to specific questions about how you will do business. We recommend that you write a 1 pager and simply answer the questions in a Q&A format. In this way, there can be no question as to the narrative. For Example:

Idaho

 
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Georgia

 
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NMLS Requirement for a Business Plan which is quite vague

For the business plan requirement, we recommend that you simply draft a memorandum answering the questions:

  • What is your marketing strategy?
  • What products will you offer?
  • Who will you market these products to?
  • How will you operate - e.g., branch processing, centralized? Manager? Loan Originators? Processors? To whom will they report?