Mortgage brokers who want to do business in Colorado must register with the Division of Real Estate by Jan. 1 and put up a $25,000 bond.
Colorado Gov. Bill Owens signed The Mortgage Broker Registration Act into law on June 2, leaving Alaska as the only state in the union that doesn’t regulate mortgage brokers.
This week, the Division of Real Estate began accepting online applications from mortgage brokers who wish to register to do business in the state. Registration is good for three years, and applicants must provide a criminal background check, fingerprints and a $200 application fee.
Brokers who provide FHA-approved mortgages are exempt from registration, as are those who work for banks, savings and loans, and credit unions organized under federal law. Others who are exempt include attorneys who render legal advice but whose primary business is not brokering mortgages, and owners who finance a purchase of real property.
Mortgage brokers who fail to register by Jan. 1 are required to stop providing services in the state. The Division of Real Estate will begin tracking complaints against mortgage brokers on that date, referring cases that fall outside its jurisdiction to the state attorney general or local district attorney’s offices.
Mortgage brokers aren’t the only real estate professionals who can expect to face more scrutiny from the Division of Real Estate. Former Deputy Insurance Commissioner Erin Toll, known for her investigations of kickbacks in the title insurance industry, took over as director of the Division of Real Estate on Sept. 5. Toll recently told the Rocky Mountain News her top priority will be shutting down appraisers who artificially inflate home values.
Toll’s predecessor, Debbie E. Campagnola, left the top job at the Division of Real Estate this summer to lead the Association of Real Estate License Law Officials (ARELLO).
