South Carolina passed a bill amending the Mortgage Lending Act (MLA). The amendments to the MLA: add a definition for “loan correspondent”; revise licensing requirements for mortgage lenders also act as a mortgage broker; revise pre-licensing and continuing education requirements to include 3 hours (for pre-licensing education) and 1 hour (for continuing education) on South Carolina law; require that surety bond amounts be based on the total dollar amount of mortgage loans subject to regulation under the MLA (rather than the total dollar amount of mortgage loans originated); remove the de minimus exemption for persons that originate or servicer no more than 5 purchase money mortgages in 1 calendar year; exempts from the MLA persons deemed exempt pursuant to the federal Secure and Fair Enforcement for Mortgage Licensing Act; and permit the State Board of Financial Institutions to license a loan originator’s personal residence as a branch office if the residence is more than 75 miles from a commercial branch office. The bill went into effect September 19, 2017.
See South Carolina Legislature website for the full text of the Statutes:
