Every licensed mortgage loan originator (MLO) must complete at least 8 hours of NMLS-approved continuing education (CE) each year to renew their license. Those 8 hours are broken into specific categories by the SAFE Act (the federal law that governs MLO licensing), and covered in the 7 Hours CORE Continuing Education course. The remaining hour(s) are covered in electives.
The requirement is per license, per year. Even if you’re licensed in multiple states, you only need to complete the 8-hour federal CE once each year (though some states will add extras — more on that below).
Take a look at the chart below to see your state's specific requirements, click on each state for more information.
The good news is, you only need to complete your 7 hour CORE Federal requirement once, no matter how many states you're licensed in. The trickier part is figuring out how many elective credits you need to fulfill the requirements of all the states you hold a license in, so we break it down below. You can refer to the chart above to see each state's requirements.
Then you only need to take the 7 hours + 1 hour general elective, for a total of 8 hours.
Example: Alaska & Colorado both require 1 hour of a general elective. You would only need to complete 8 hours (7 hours CORE + 1 hour GE) to satisfy both of these states' requirements.
You need to take the 7 hours CORE, plus the state-specific elective for every state you hold a license in. This could total up to 9+ hours depending on how many states you are licensed in with state-specific elective requirements.
Example: Connecticut & Florida both require 1 hour of their state-specific elective. You would need to complete 9 hours (7 hours CORE + 1 hour CT + 1 hour FL) to satisfy both of these states' requirements.
In most cases, a state-specific elective hour counts toward your general elective requirement, meaning if you hold a license in a state requiring 1 hour of a general elective, and another in a state requiring 1 hour of their state-specific elective, you would only need to complete the 7 hours + 1 hour state-specific elective, for a total of 8 hours. In this case, your state-specific elective counts toward your general elective hours.
Example: Alaska requires 1 hour of a general elective & Connecticut requires 1 hour of their state-specific elective. You would only to complete 8 hours (7 hours CORE + 1 hour CT) to satisfy both of these states' requirements.
It's important to note that this does not apply to states requiring both a general elective and a state-specific elective, like Washington or New York. Some states, like New Jersey, New York, and Washington require multiple state-specific hours or require both a state-specific and general elective.
The good thing is, we make it easy to find all of your requirements. Use our state-selection tool to show all the CE courses you need — a good rule of thumb is you should never have more than 1 of each course in your cart!
We know how holding multiple licenses can make it confusing. You can always reach out to us if you need help determining which courses you need to fulfill all your requirements to keep that license happy.
Many states require you to take a specific elective. If you are licensed in multiple states, you may be required to take multiple state-specific electives for each state you are licensed in. However, your state-specific elective may satisfy your general elective hour in a state that doesn't have a state-specific elective (more on that above).
Some states, like New Jersey, New York, and Washington require multiple state-specific hours or require both a state-specific and general elective.
You can refer to the chart above to see what electives each state requires.
Some states don't require a state-specific elective requirement. If you are only licensed in a state with no state-specific electives, you can take a general elective to complete your CE hours. If you are licensed in multiple states, your state-specific elective for one state may satisfy your general elective hour in another (more on that above).
The national CE completion deadline is December 31, but most states enforce the SMART deadline (December 15) to ensure reporting in time for renewal.
Some states have an earlier deadline, those states are listed below:
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