Texas Mortgage Company License

Requirements

1. Licence, registration or exemption

   Acting as a residential mortgage loan company without one is unlawful. A mortgage banker registration is a separate credential; filing for the wrong one costs a full application fee. Tex. Fin. Code § 156.201(a)

2. Covered activity

   A residential mortgage loan is one primarily for personal, family or household use secured by a dwelling or residential real estate. A structure that could be a dwelling but used commercially, as an office or salon, falls outside the licence. Tex. Fin. Code § 180.002(18)

3. Wrap mortgage loans

   A wrap mortgage loan needs a company licence, banker registration or exemption. The seller-financing exemption is narrow: no more than three loans in any 12 consecutive months, counting co-owners as one owner if any is an entity. Tex. Fin. Code § 159.051

4. MU1 and fee through NMLS

   A completed MU1 with the $325 fee, filed through NMLS. The applicant must not violate chapter 156, a rule under it, or any commissioner order, and must supply financial statements plus anything else the commissioner requires, with no threshold. Tex. Fin. Code § 156.2041

5. Qualifying individual

   One person: an active Texas originator licensee under chapter 157, sponsored by the company, designated as its representative and answerable to the commissioner for every originator it sponsors. This is the long pole; it cannot be bought like a bond. Tex. Fin. Code § 156.002(10-b)

6. Name on file, and it has to match

   The company or assumed name filed with the Secretary of State or county clerk, plus an SS-4 or 147C letter proving the EIN, matching the MU1 exactly. A name containing bank, banc or trust needs a letter of no objection from the Texas Department of Banking. Tex. Fin. Code § 31.005

7. Good standing, twice over, plus authority to be here

   Good standing with both the Secretary of State and the Comptroller of Public Accounts: franchise tax standing is what catches out-of-state companies. A foreign entity also files a certificate of authority dated within 60 days; a sole proprietorship does not. Texas Department of Savings and Mortgage Lending

8. Texas registered agent

   The agent must be located in Texas and match the Secretary of State’s file. An officer, owner or employee may serve; an entity may not serve as its own agent. Texas Department of Savings and Mortgage Lending

9. Originator sponsorships and branch MU3s

   Each originator files an MU4, then the company files a sponsorship request the Department must approve before that individual’s licence issues. Each office conducting Texas mortgage business files an MU3 at $50, wherever it sits. 7 Tex. Admin. Code § 56.107

Renewal

Deadline

Expires 31 December. Texas uses the NMLS renewal window, 1 November to 31 December, and sets no earlier date. Tex. Fin. Code § 156.2081

Missing it

Reinstatement runs 1 January to the end of February at $412.50, 150 percent of the renewal fee. After that, the only route back is a new application at $325. Tex. Fin. Code § 156.2081

Holding it

Record retention

Two tiers: general books and records run three years, unclaimed-funds records run ten years from when the obligation to pay arose, which can outlast the licence. The funds themselves escheat to the Comptroller at three years. 7 Tex. Admin. Code § 56.304

Examinations

No frequency appears in the statute or rule, and no cycle, period or annual review either; the only discretion is the examiner’s, to expand files reviewed if conditions warrant. The Department’s own guidance describes risk-focused scheduling, practice rather than law, which can change without rulemaking. TX SML, Examination Overview

Surrender

File a surrender request for every active branch licence too, since each MU3 is its own credential, and remove every Texas originator sponsorship first. Outstanding call reports block it: the Department will not accept a surrender from a company out of compliance or behind on a call report. Texas Department of Savings and Mortgage Lending

Explore