2.2 Pre-Licensing & Continuing Education Mandates

2.2 Pre-Licensing & Continuing Education Mandates

Quick Answer: An SML new-license applicant must complete 20 hours of NMLS-approved pre-licensing education plus 3 hours of Texas origination law (23 hours), then pass the National Component with Uniform State Content on or after April 1, 2013. OCCC applicants complete the same 20-hour national course without an extra Texas PE module. After licensure, both paths require 8 hours of NMLS-approved continuing education every year. Pre-licensing coursework for a new SML license must be no older than 3 years, and the same CE course cannot be reused in successive years.

Education is not a courtesy orientation. Finance Code § 180.056 requires prelicensing courses that meet the federal SAFE Act minimums plus any additional hours the Texas regulatory official adopts by rule. Finance Code § 180.057 requires a written test that meets the federal SAFE Act. Finance Code § 180.060 requires annual continuing education to renew. SML implements those statutes for its originators in 7 TAC § 55.108. Do not reach for repealed 7 TAC Chapter 80 or 81 cites; originator education now lives in Chapter 55.

SML pre-licensing: 20 + 3 = 23

7 TAC § 55.108(a) requires an originator applicant to complete the pre-licensing education prescribed by the federal SAFE Act and approved by NMLS, and those hours must include 3 hours of instruction on the laws, rules, and practice considerations governing residential mortgage loan origination in Texas. SML's FAQs restate the arithmetic: at least 20 hours of NMLS-approved PE plus 3 Texas hours.

The 20-hour national course is not an undifferentiated block. NMLS's published PE composition, which Texas uses as the SAFE minimum, is:

Those 3 Texas hours are an SML add-on, not a substitute for ethics or federal law. A candidate who finishes a 20-hour national course and stops is not eligible for an SML original license.

Other-state hours: national content transfers, state content does not

Finance Code § 180.056(e) says an individual who successfully completed NMLS-approved PE for another state shall be given credit toward Texas PE. 7 TAC § 55.108(c) is the Texas limiter exam questions are written from. SML will recognize PE taken in another jurisdiction if it is NMLS-approved and meets the federal SAFE Act and Chapter 180. SML will not recognize hours whose content was specific to that other jurisdiction and that comprised the 12-hour undefined electives portion. In plain language: another state's 3-hour California, Florida, or New York module does not become Texas credit, and stuffing that other state's law into the 12 elective hours does not launder it into Texas PE.

The cure is a short Texas course limited to Texas laws, rules, and practice considerations, used to fill the shortfall after non-recognition of the other jurisdiction's state-specific hours (7 TAC § 55.108(c)). SML's FAQs match the rule: Texas recognizes SAFE-required PE from another jurisdiction but will not recognize hours dedicated to education specific to that other jurisdiction.

Three-year freshness and the April 1, 2013 exam line

7 TAC § 55.108(b) applies to an applicant who is seeking a new license, not a current license holder renewing under § 55.103. That new applicant must have completed the required PE within the 3 years preceding the date of application. Older PE has lapsed; the applicant must take the PE approved and offered at the time of the new application.

The same subsection draws a hard examination line. If the new-license applicant did not pass the National Component with Uniform State Content approved by NMLS on or after April 1, 2013, the applicant must pass the current NMLS pre-licensing examination. Examinations taken before April 1, 2013, will not satisfy Finance Code § 180.057. Texas no longer administers a separate 55-question state test. Candidates sit the National Test with Uniform State Content (120 items, 115 scored, 5 unscored, 75% passing score, administered through Prometric).

Waiting periods after a failed attempt are the federal SAFE / NMLS retake cycle: 30 calendar days after a first failure, 30 calendar days after a second failure, and 180 calendar days after a third consecutive failure, then the cycle repeats. Each attempt requires a separate paid enrollment. Passing the test does not freeze the result forever: leaving state licensure (and not remaining a registered originator at a depository) for 5 consecutive years generally means retesting.

Finance Code § 180.056(f) adds a related new-original-license rule: an applicant who previously held a qualifying originator license must show completion of all CE for the calendar year in which that license was last held before a new original license is issued.

OCCC: 20 hours, no extra Texas PE

OCCC originators still must complete NMLS-approved PE, but the OCCC path does not add SML's 3-hour Texas module. NMLS's Texas-OCCC education summary is 3 / 3 / 2 / 12 = 20 hours. That is why two Texas candidates sitting in the same 20-hour national classroom are not finished at the same time: the SML candidate still owes the Texas 3-hour course. OCCC has adopted the Uniform State Test (effective October 1, 2013), so OCCC candidates also pass the National Test with UST rather than a legacy Texas-only exam.

Pick the agency first, then buy the education. Completing 23 SML hours does not by itself move an OCCC-shop employee onto SML's roster, and skipping the Texas 3-hour course because a friend licensed through OCCC is a reliable way to have an SML application stall.

Annual CE: 8 hours, posted in NMLS, no successive-year repeats

7 TAC § 55.108(d) requires an originator, on an annual basis, to complete NMLS-approved continuing education in order to renew, as provided by Finance Code § 180.060 and 7 TAC § 55.103. SML's FAQs quantify the hours: 8 hours annually through an NMLS-approved provider. Finance Code §§ 157.015(a)(3) and 180.060 are the statutory CE mandates. SML does not add a recurring 3-hour Texas CE module on top of those 8 hours. The Texas 3-hour requirement is a pre-licensing item.

The 8-hour national CE composition used in NMLS is 3 hours of federal law, 2 hours of ethics (including fraud, consumer protection, and fair lending), 2 hours of nontraditional mortgage lending, and 1 elective hour. NMLS will not let the originator submit a renewal until the provider has posted completion. Providers have 7 calendar days to report; waiting until December 30 is how otherwise-qualified originators miss the December 31 renewal window.

The successive-years rule is an NMLS education-policy constraint that Texas enforces through the 8-hour annual mandate in 7 TAC § 55.108 and Finance Code § 180.060. Completing the same course in two successive calendar years does not post as CE for the second year. Using the same provider is allowed if the course itself is different. Repeating last year's title because the login is already bookmarked is the failure mode. If a repeat is posted and rejected, the originator must complete a different qualifying course and confirm the NMLS education record before requesting renewal.

An originator who completes PE and receives the initial license in the same calendar year is generally not also required to complete that year's CE; CE begins with the following renewal cycle. Inactive (Approved-Inactive) originators who want to keep the license must still complete CE and request renewal during November 1–December 31 even though they cannot originate until a new sponsorship is accepted.

Education fraud — sitting in someone else's course, falsifying attendance, or otherwise gaming PE, the exam, or CE — is treated as a false or deceptive statement under Finance Code § 180.153. 7 TAC § 55.110(g) also blocks a common military-applicant mistake: verified military service, training, or education may count toward employment history, but it cannot substitute for PE, the pre-licensing exam, or CE.

Treat the numbers as a checklist, not a vibe. SML new license: 23 hours, 3-year PE window, UST on or after April 1, 2013, then 8 hours of CE every year with no successive-year repeat. OCCC new license: 20 hours and the same UST, then the same 8-hour CE. That overlay, not a repealed Chapter 80 education cite, is what the Texas exam is testing.