Mortgage Loan Originator or Loan Broker Bond

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Who is Required To Purchase a Maine Mortgage Broker Surety Bond?

There are two primary mortgage surety bond requirements in Maine.

Supervised Lender License

If you're a business entity getting a supervised lender license, you'll have to purchase a mortgage surety bond with an amount of $50,000.

This $50,000 amount is technically a minimum. The supervisor has the right to require a higher amount. This would typically only be the case if you:

• Have a history of bond claims
• Or you are writing a very large dollar amount of mortgages

In Maine every separate location for your business requires a new license. This means that each location requires its own surety bond as well.

If you're a non-profit company who will be selling mortgages, you can apply for an exemption from this bond requirement.

Individual Mortgage Loan Originators

If you're an individual mortgage loan originator you only need to purchase a surety bond if you are going to be independent and not an employee of a sponsoring company.

The bond requirement for individual mortgage loan originators is $25,000.

Why is a Maine Mortgage Bond Required?

The Maine mortgage surety bond requirement is used as the primary tool of the state to hold licensed mortgage professionals accountable to the laws and regulations for operating a mortgage business.

It's also used to ensure a mortgage professional does not purposefully commit mortgage fraud against a customer to make more money.

Think of the bond from the state's perspective. By issuing you a license, the Department of Professional and Financial Regulation is signaling to the public that you are a mortgage professional they can trust.

The state can't police all the businesses and individuals they issue licenses to so they use the surety bond to hold you accountable.

Every year there will be a handful of mortgage professionals and companies who commit mortgage fraud to make more money:

Examples of fraudulent actions can include:

• Approving a borrower for a loan they can't afford
• Helping a borrower get approved for a loan by providing false information
• Hindering a borrower from getting approved by providing false information
• Pressing a borrower to enter a high commission loan to make more money
• Creating and charging fabricated fees

If a customer is financially harmed from these actions or similar, they can make a claim against the company's surety bond for financial compensation.

Bottom line, you are required to purchase this bond for the protection of your customers.

It essentially acts as a penalty for fraudulent mortgage businesses.

How Much Does a Maine Mortgage Surety Bond Cost?

The price of a Maine mortgage bond, whether you're getting a loan originator bond or a supervised loan bond will be custom to you.

Here's how the process to obtain your custom pricing works.

A special insurance company called a surety is responsible for underwriting these bonds.

The surety will primarily look at the following 3 factors when assessing an applicant:

• Personal credit of the business owner or owners
• Mortgage and all financial lending experience
• Prior bond claims if any owner has been licensed in the past

Based on this assessment the surety will quote a rate and the rate multiplied by your bond amount is the price you'll pay.

Mortgage Surety Bond Rates Vary A Lot

The rate that one surety will quote will be vastly different from the rate a different surety quotes.

We help mortgage professionals across the country every day and we don't fully understand why one rate can be so different from the other.

But in the case of your surety bond, you can easily save hundreds of dollars by getting a lower rate.

Let's look at some examples.

Mortgage Surety Bond Pricing With Example Rates

Here is example pricing so you can see how the price changes drastically based on the rate.

The rates used in the table are from really good to average.

Let's use the $50,000 bond amount in this example.

You can get your pricing today and know exactly what you will have to pay to meet this license requirement.

And if you're not ready to purchase, all quotes are guaranteed for 30 days so there is no rush or pressure if you're not ready to purchase.

Go request your price quote today. Remember, this is free information for you. There's no obligation to purchase. Quotes are good for 30 days.

If you prefer to speak with a bond specialist, you can call 1-800-608-9950.

What Do You Do After You Purchase Your Maine Mortgage Surety Bond?

When you're ready to purchase your bond and have it issued, all you have to do is complete an online order form.

Once your payment is complete, our issuance team will get to work to prepare your bond using the:

• Correct bond form
• Requires signatures and seals
• Power of attorney

Supervised loan mortgage bonds are e-filed with the National Multi-State Licensing Agency (NMLS).

We will e-file your bond for you to make the licensing process easier. You'll receive short instructions so we can get this done for you the same day.

If you're getting a mortgage loan originator bond, the Department of Professional and Financial Regulation requires you to mail the original bond to them. In this case, we will mail you the bond so you can submit it as required (make sure you sign it before sending it to the Department).

How Long Does a Maine Mortgage Surety Bond Last?

In Maine you'll have to renew your bond 12 months after the bonds activation date.

You will be required to renew your bond every 12 months from the bond activation date. You will set this activation date when you purchase your bond.

But renewing your bond is easy.

As a Surety Bonds Direct customer, you're assigned your own bond specialist to manage your bond for you.

As your renewal date approaches, your bond specialist will contact you to remind you of the expiration date and have renewing pricing ready to go.

If you need to increase or decrease your bond amount, this is when you'll make those changes.

The bonding process is not complicated and it only takes 1 to 2 business days once you request your price quote.

Click below and get this done today.

Mortgage Bonds And Getting Your Maine Business License/Registration

The following overview of the main steps to get a license will be geared towards a supervised lender license.

Use the NMLS Checklist Compiler to help with the details of each step.

Financial Statement and Net Worth

Your business is required to maintain assets in the amount of $25,000. You will have to provide copies of the more recent audited financial statements.

If you don't have audited statements, you can provide unaudited statements prepared by an accountant or signed copies of the applicant's federal income tax return.

Business Formation Documents

You must provide copies of your business formation documents filed with the Secretary of State.

This includes outlining any trade names you will use throughout the course of business.

You must also upload to the NMLS a certificate of good standing showing you're authorized to do business in Maine.

Business Plan

You must include your business plan which will break out:

• Marketing strategies
• The products you plan on selling
• Target markets you plan on serving
• Your fee schedule
• The operating structure you will use

You will have to upload documents samples that will be used during the course of regular business. These include forms such as:

• Consumer disclosure forms
• Origination forms
• Loan modification forms

Management and Organizational Chart

The management chart must show:

• Directors
• Officers
• Managers

This includes providing the individual names of each person. And this includes outlining the the internal reporting and business audit structure.

The organization chart outlines:

• Direct owners
• In-direct owners
• All subsidiaries and affiliates

Identify the Resident Agent and the Qualifying Individual

The resident agent must be identified and the qualifying individual.

The qualifying individual is the on-site manager who has to be appointed for all locations where the licensee conducts business with consumers. They are referred to as the branch manager.

Trust Account Authorization

You must provide authorization to examine the trust accounts that will be used for holding funds belonging to others (your customers). This will be required for each account if more than one is going to be used.

Criminal Background Checks

The last major requirement is a criminal background check of all owners and indirect owners.