Don’t be fooled by multiple CE deadlines for MLOs. No matter what the NMLS’s national rules are, in certain states you must submit your CE based on earlier dates that are different from the NMLS’ deadlines. If you thought a deadline was a single date, not multiple dates, I admire your innocence. In fact, depending on the state, there are as many as five different deadlines for MLO CE, each with different implications. A simple, single deadline would be rather boring, since there wouldn’t be the thrill of confusion and uncertainty.
The deceptively simple ultimate deadline mandated by the NMLS is December 31st, 2024 for renewal applications to have been processed by the NMLS. However, submitting your CE near this date will result in a period of time where you will not be able to legally practice loan origination while your CE submission is reviewed. This is why the NMLS has a “Guaranteed-to-Miss-Renewal” deadline of Dec. 27th, which means that you will have a period of time where you will not be actively licensed while your renewal is processed. It is this reviewing and processing of all renewal applications that creates vagueness surrounding renewal deadlines, since there is no mailbox rule that applies here; even if your renewal was submitted on the due date, your license will not be considered renewed until the renewal is processed by the NMLS. In keeping with this, the NMLS additionally has an “At-Risk-to-Miss” deadline of December 13th, which means that if you submit your renewal application by December 13th, you may have a period of time during which you cannot legally originate loans while your CE submission is processed, but not necessarily. Additionally, there’s a SMART deadline of December 6th, which is the deadline for CE submissions that should not result in any period of time in January during which you will not be able to originate loans while your CE is processed. The earlier you submit your renewal application, the more likely it is that you will not have a gap in your licensure.
This so far seems a bit complicated, but fairly straightforward. However, just to make things more exciting, certain states have their own different deadlines to guarantee that your CE submission will be processed before January 1st. For example, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Vermont, and Delaware have Dec. 1st deadlines.
Since there are so many deadlines with different implications, it’s very easy to miss these unintentionally. Getting your CE over with as early as possible will allow you to breezily originate loans without a care in the world, rather than having to stress about multiple dates with varying degrees of uncertainty. Here’s a link to our CE courses so you can get a head start: https://www.onlineed.com/catalog/mortgage
All states use the same deadlines as the NMLS that we’ve outlined above except for the following states, which have their own, different deadlines for CE submissions. These dates supersede the Dec. 31st deadline mandated by the NMLS. Note that South Carolina and Utah have two different dates depending on which bureau you are licensed under.
Deadlines for States That Do Not Use The NMLS’ Dec. 31st Deadline:
Delaware: Dec. 1st
District of Columbia: Nov. 1st
Georgia: Oct 31st
Idaho: Dec.1
Iowa: Dec 1
Kansas: Dec 1
Kentucky: Nov. 30th
Puerto Rico: Dec. 1
South Carolina: Nov. 30th IF LICENSED BY DCA, Dec. 31st IF LICENSED BY BFI
Utah: Dec. 15th IF LICENSED BY DRE, Dec. 31st IF LICENSED BY DFI
Vermont: Dec. 1
Washington: Dec 15th
West Virginia: Nov 1st
