Message from Charlie Clark

Renewal Recap

We have completed another renewal period, and things went very well. Thank you to all of the mortgage loan originators (MLOs) who completed their education and who submitted renewal requests early. Our license count in this area continues to grow, and more than 19,000 MLOs were eligible for renewal this year. This total represents an 8% increase over last year.

I am pleased to report that by December 31, 2017, 99.8% of MLO renewal requests submitted had been completed by our licensing staff. Requests not processed were delayed due to outstanding license items. If you missed the renewal timeframe, we are currently working on reinstatements, and we encourage you to submit your requests right away.

Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity-is your business ready to respond?

Looking back on all of the natural disasters and instances of cybercrime over the last year, it is clear that businesses today are subject to multiple risks that could result in a serious disruption of day-to-day operations. These disruptions not only threaten your business, they potentially threaten important financial services that consumers rely on. You should have a comprehensive business resumption plan identifying strategies to continue operations in the event of a natural disaster or other unforeseen circumstances, including computer hacking, ransomware attacks, a data breach, theft, or other harmful event to your information systems and their security.

At a minimum, a business resumption plan should ensure safety of records and access to operating funds in the event of unforeseen circumstances. The plan should also include provisions for electronic back-up of files. There are multiple methods available to accomplish this, whether you prefer a secure cloud service or external hardware that remains in a safe location separate from your paper files. Please take the time now to assess the risks and create and then maintain a business resumption plan to overcome unexpected serious events and minimize any disruption in service to your customers.