Effective July 1, 2007 all Georgia loan originators must be licensed to originate loans on properties in Georgia. HB 718 amended the Georgia Residential Mortgage Act to include the liensure of loans officers. Loan officer means a person who acts as an employee and not as an independent contractor to assist a licensee in performing one or more of the following activities to or for a consumer: accepting or offering to accept a mortgage loan application, soliciting a mortgage loan, negotiating the terms or conditions of a mortgage loan, issuing mortgage loan commitments or interest rate guarantee agreements, or advising on any aspect of a mortgage loan transaction. A lender or broker who is an approved FHA Title II supervised, nonsupervised, government, or loan correspondent mortgagee with an audited net worth of at least $150,000.00 is exempt from the new LO Licensing.
