CFPBG_20230731_omb

Supporting Statement for the
Registration of Mortgage Loan Originators
(CFPB G; OMB No. 7100-0328)
Summary
The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (Board), under authority
delegated by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), has extended for three years, with
revision, the Registration of Mortgage Loan Originators (CFPB G; OMB No. 7100-0328). In
accordance with the Secure and Fair Enforcement for Mortgage Licensing Act (SAFE Act), the
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) Regulation G requires residential mortgage
loan originators (MLOs) to register with the Nationwide Multistate Licensing System (NMLS),1
maintain this registration, obtain a unique identifier, and disclose to consumers upon request and
through the NMLS their unique identifier and the MLO’s employment history and publicly
adjudicated disciplinary and enforcement actions. The CFPB’s regulation also requires the
institutions employing MLOs to adopt and follow written policies and procedures to ensure that
their employees comply with these requirements and to conduct annual independent compliance
tests. The CFPB’s regulation applies to a broad range of financial institutions and their
employees. Regarding entities supervised by the Board, the CFPB’s regulation applies to state
member banks (SMBs) with $10 billion or less in total assets that are not affiliates of insured
depository institutions with total assets of more than $10 billion; subsidiaries of such SMBs that
are not functionally regulated within the meaning of section 5(c)(5) of the Bank Holding
Company Act of 1956; branches and agencies of foreign banks (other than federal branches,
federal agencies,2 and insured state branches of foreign banks); commercial lending companies
owned or controlled by foreign banks; and their employees who act as MLOs.
The revisions update the CFPB G burden estimation methodology, including certain
hourly burden estimates, in order to more accurately capture associated banking organization
recordkeeping and disclosure burden. These revisions are effective immediately.
The current estimated total annual burden for the CFPB G is 87,317 hours, and would
decrease to 23,366 hours. The revisions would result in a decrease of 63,951 hours.
Background and Justification
The SAFE Act, enacted on July 30, 2008, required the Board, Office of the Comptroller
of the Currency (OCC), Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), former Office of Thrift
Supervision (OTS), National Credit Union Administration (NCUA), and Farm Credit
Administration (FCA) to jointly implement rules and develop and maintain a federal registration
system for those MLOs employed by agency-regulated institutions. The SAFE Act provides that
the objectives of the NMLS are to aggregate and improve the flow of information to and between
regulators, provide increased accountability and tracking of MLOs, enhance consumer
protections, reduce fraud in the residential mortgage loan origination process, and provide
1

https://mortgage.nationwidelicensingsystem.org/Pages/default.aspx.
The terms “federal agency” and “federal branch” have the same meanings as in section 1 of the International
Banking Act of 1978 (12 U.S.C. § 3101). See 12 CFR 211.21.
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consumers with easily accessible information at no charge regarding the employment history of
and publicly adjudicated disciplinary and enforcement actions against MLOs. On July 28, 2010,
the Board amended Regulation H - Membership of State Banking Institutions in the Federal
Reserve System (12 CFR Part 208) to implement the SAFE Act with respect to its regulated
entities.3
On July 21, 2011, provisions of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer
Protection Act of 2010 (Dodd-Frank Act) transferred certain SAFE Act responsibilities to the
CFPB, including rulemaking authority for all federal depository institutions and supervisory
authority for SAFE Act compliance for entities under the CFPB’s jurisdiction.4 On December 19,
2011, the CFPB published an interim final rule establishing a new Regulation G,5 SAFE
Mortgage Licensing Act - Federal Registration of Residential Mortgage Loan Originators.6 The
Board subsequently repealed its regulations implementing the SAFE Act.7 The CFPB’s rule did
not impose any new substantive obligations on regulated persons or entities beyond the
obligations that had been in the rules of the Board and the other agencies. The Board retains
supervisory authority for SAFE Act compliance for SMBs with $10 billion or less in total assets
that are not affiliates of insured depository institutions with total assets of more than $10 billion;
subsidiaries of such SMBs that are not functionally regulated within the meaning of section
5(c)(5) of the Bank Holding Company Act of 1956; branches and agencies of foreign banks
(other than federal branches, federal agencies, and insured state branches of foreign banks); and
commercial lending companies owned or controlled by foreign banks; and their employees who
act as MLOs. This information is not available from other sources.
Description of Information Collection
The CFPB’s Regulation G requires MLO employees of federally regulated depository
institutions to register with the NMLS, maintain their registration, and obtain a unique identifier.
The regulation also requires Board-supervised entities to ensure compliance by their MLO
employees and establish written policies and procedures. These requirements are described in 12
CFR 1007.103, 1007.104, and 1007.105. Details of the requirements for each section are
provided below.
MLOs – Sections 1007.103(a), (b), (c)(1), (c)(2), and (d) (Registration of mortgage loan
originators) and section 1007.105 (Use of unique identifier). Generally, sections 1007.103(a) and
(b) require an employee of a depository institution that engages in the business of a MLO to
register with the NMLS, maintain such registration, and obtain a unique identifier. Section
1007.103(c)(1) provides that registration pursuant to section 1007.103(a)(1) is effective on the
date the NMLS transmits notification to the registrant that the registrant is registered. Section
3

75 FR 44656 (July 28, 2010). See also 75 FR 51623 (August 23, 2010) (correcting footnote numbering in preamble
to 75 FR 44656).
4
The Dodd-Frank Act transferred to the CFPB examination and enforcement responsibility for the SAFE Act for
insured depository institutions with over $10 billion in total consolidated assets and their affiliates (collectively,
covered institutions). For SMBs with $10 billion or less in total consolidated assets that are not affiliated with a
covered institution, the Federal Reserve retained its SAFE Act examination and enforcement authority.
5
12 CFR Part 1007.
6
76 FR 78483 (December 19, 2011).
7
84 FR 21691 (May 15, 2019).

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1007.103(c)(2) provides that a renewal or update pursuant to section 1007.103(b) is effective on
the date the NMLS transmits notification to the registrant that the registration has been renewed
or updated. Section 1007.103(d) describes the categories of information that an employee, or the
employing depository institution on the employee’s behalf, must submit to the NMLS, with the
employee’s attestation as to the correctness of the information supplied, and his or her
authorization to obtain further information. Section 1007.105 requires a registered MLO to
provide his or her unique identifier to a consumer upon request, before acting as an MLO, and
through the originator’s initial written communication with a consumer, if any.
Depository Institutions – Section 1007.103(e) (Registration of mortgage loan
originators), section 1007.104 (Policies and procedures), and section 1007.105 (Use of unique
identifier). Section 1007.103(e) specifies institution and employee information that a depository
institution would submit to the NMLS in connection with the initial registration of one or more
MLOs and thereafter update. Section 1007.104 requires that an agency-regulated institution
employing MLOs adopt and follow written policies and procedures, at a minimum addressing
certain specified areas, but otherwise appropriate to the nature, size, complexity, and scope of its
mortgage lending activities. Section 1007.105 requires a depository institution to make the
unique identifier(s) of its registered MLOs available to consumers in a manner and method
practicable for the institution.
Respondent Panel
The Board’s CFPB G panel comprises SMBs with $10 billion or less in total assets that
are not affiliates of insured depository institutions with total assets of more than $10 billion;
subsidiaries of such SMBs that are not functionally regulated within the meaning of section
5(c)(5) of the Bank Holding Company Act of 1956; branches and agencies of foreign banks
(other than federal branches, federal agencies, and insured state branches of foreign banks); and
commercial lending companies owned or controlled by foreign banks (collectively, banking
organizations); and the employees of these banking organizations who act as residential MLOs.
Frequency and Time Schedule
The CFPB G is retained or disclosed annually. MLOs registered with the NMLS must
renew their registration, at least annually, but within 30 days if there are certain changes. There
are also episodic disclosures to consumers.
Revisions to the CFPB G
As noted above, the Board adopted revisions to the CFPB G, updating its burden
estimation methodology, including certain hourly burden estimates, in order to more accurately
capture associated banking organization disclosure and recordkeeping burden. These revisions
are effective immediately.
First, the Board accounted for section 1007.103(e) banking organization disclosure of
registration information requirements burden separately from section 1007.104 banking
organization recordkeeping requirements burden. The Board determined that it is more accurate

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to reflect the information collection burden associated with section 1007.103(e) requirements as
disclosure requirements instead of as recordkeeping requirements, as was done previously.
Next, the Board revised the average annual estimated hourly burden per banking
organization (for both banking organizations already subject to these requirements and banking
organizations newly subject to these requirements) associated with section 1007.103(e)
disclosure of registration information to 3.7 hours.
Additionally, the Board revised the average annual estimated hourly burden per banking
organization already subject to section 1007.104 recordkeeping requirements to 7.0 hours and to
revise the average annual estimated hourly burden per banking organization newly subject to
section 1007.104 recordkeeping requirements to 114.3 hours. This represents a change from the
Board’s existing methodology, which estimated that the combined section 1007.103(e) and
section 1007.104 average annual estimated hourly burden for all banking organizations is 118.0
hours. The revision reflects that the limited number of new banking organization respondents
would incur a higher one-time burden to implement the requirements, whereas the majority of
banking organization respondents that have already implemented the requirements would incur a
much lower ongoing burden.
Finally, the Board determined that it is more accurate to reflect the information collection
burden associated with section 1007.105 requirements as disclosure requirements instead of as
recordkeeping requirements, as was done previously. The disclosures associated with section
1007.105 – disclosure of unique identifier – are primarily electronic and produce de minimis
burden. Therefore, the Board will not estimate any associated burden for these disclosures.
Public Availability of Data
Certain information that is derived from NMLS data is made available to the public
through the NMLS’s Consumer AccessSM portal, a free service for consumers to confirm that the
financial services company or professional with whom they wish to conduct business is federally
registered or authorized to conduct business in their state. The portal provides consumers with
the unique identifiers and the employment history of, and the publicly adjudicated disciplinary
and enforcement actions against, MLOs.8
Legal Status
The CFPB G is authorized pursuant to the SAFE Act (12 U.S.C. § 5101 et seq.), as
amended by the Dodd-Frank Act (12 U.S.C. § 5581), and the CFPB’s Regulation G. The Board
is authorized under section 1061 of the Dodd-Frank Act to enforce consumer financial protection
functions, including the CFPB’s Regulation G, with respect to state member banks with $10
billion or less in total consolidated assets and their respective subsidiaries that are not
functionally regulated within the meaning of section 5(c)(5) of the Bank Holding Company Act
8

Consumer AccessSM (https://www.nmlsconsumeraccess.org/) contains licensing/registration information on
mortgage, consumer finance, debt, and money services companies, branches, and individuals licensed by state
regulatory agencies participating in the NMLS. It also contains information regarding federal agency-regulated
institutions and their MLOs who are registered with the NMLS.

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of 1956 (12 U.S.C. § 5581(c)). The Board is authorized to enforce the CFPB’s Regulation G with
respect to branches and agencies of foreign banks and commercial lending companies owned or
controlled by foreign banks under sections 7 and 13 of the International Banking Act of 1978
(IBA) (12 U.S.C. §§ 3105(c) and 3108(b)), which authorize the Board to examine such entities
and enforce the IBA’s requirement that such entities conduct their operations in the United States
in full compliance with the provisions of any law of the United States which impose
requirements that protect the rights of consumers in financial transactions (12 U.S.C. §
3106a(1)). The CFPB G is mandatory.
Most of the information submitted to register with the NMLS under the CFPB G will be
publicly available. However, personnel and medical files of individuals who act as MLOs, the
disclosure of which would constitute an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy, may be
entitled to confidential treatment under exemption 6 of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)
(5 U.S.C. § 552(b)(6)).
With respect to the information collection requirements imposed on depository
institutions, the FOIA would be implicated if the Board’s examiners obtained a copy of these
records as part of the examination or supervision process of a financial institution. Records
obtained in this manner may be protected from disclosure pursuant to exemption 8 of the FOIA
(5 U.S.C. § 552(b)(8)).
Consultation Outside the Agency
The Board consulted with the CFPB, FDIC, and OCC with respect to the estimated
burden of the CFPB G.
Public Comments
On January 27, 2023, the Board published an initial notice in the Federal Register (88 FR
5343) requesting public comment for 60 days on the extension, with revision, of the CFPB G.
The comment period for this notice expired on March 28, 2023. The Board did not receive any
comments. The Board adopted the extension, with revision, of the CFPB G as originally
proposed. On June 7, 2023, the Board published a final notice in the Federal Register (88 FR
37250).
Estimate of Respondent Burden
As shown in the table below, the estimated total annual burden for the CFPB G is 87,317
hours, and would decrease to 23,366 hours with the revisions. The MLO and banking
organization respondent counts were calculated using data from the NMLS. The Board deducted
CFPB-supervised institutions so as to avoid double-counting and determined the number of
Small Business Administration (SBA)-defined “small entities” with assets of less than $850
million. The Board respondent counts assume that the growth (increase) in new MLOs likewise
reflects the overall growth (increase) in loan officers. To calculate that growth rate, the Board
used the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ projection for the relevant period. Other related MLO
assumptions include (1) all MLOs will renew their registration, (2) entities will hire replacement

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MLOs for those who leave, and (3) one-half of MLOs will make a single change to their registry
record during a year. The CFPB believes, and the Board agrees, that the disclosures associated
with section 1007.105 – disclosure of unique identifier – are primarily electronic and produce de
minimis burden; therefore, the Board does not estimate burden for these disclosures. These
recordkeeping and disclosure requirements represent less than 1 percent of the Board’s total
paperwork burden.

CFPB G
Current
Recordkeeping
Sections 1007.103(e),
1007.104, and 1007.105
Banking organizations
Disclosure
Section 1007.103(a)
MLOs (new) initial set-up and
disclosure
Section 1007.103(b)
MLOs (existing) maintenance
and disclosure
Sections 1007.103(c)(1) and (2)
MLOs (existing) updates for
changes
Current Total
Proposed
Recordkeeping
Section 1007.104
Banking organizations (new)
Section 1007.104
Banking organizations
(existing)
Disclosure
Section 1007.103(a)
MLOs (new) initial set-up and
disclosure
Section 1007.103(b)

Estimated
number of
respondents9

Estimated
annual
frequency

Estimated
Estimated
average hours annual burden
per response
hours

597

1

118.0

70,446

167

1

3.5

585

16,703

1

0.85

14,198

8,352

1

0.25

2,088
87,317

1

1

114.3

114

596

1

7.0

4,172

167
16,703

1
1

3.5
0.85

585
14,198

9

The respondent panel includes both banking organizations and MLOs. Of these respondents, 1 for banking
organizations (new) recordkeeping row, 398 for banking organizations (existing) recordkeeping row, none for
MLOs rows, and 399 for banking organizations (existing and new) disclosure of registration information row are
considered small entities as defined by the SBA (i.e., entities with less than $850 million in total assets). Size
standards effective March 17, 2023. See https://www.sba.gov/document/support-table-size-standards. There are no
special accommodations given to mitigate the burden on small institutions.

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MLOs (existing) maintenance
and disclosure
Sections 1007.103(c)(1) and (2)
MLOs (existing) updates and
changes
Section 1007.103(e)
Banking organizations (existing
and new) disclosure of
registration information
Proposed Total

8,352

1

0.25

2,088

597

1

3.7

2,209
23,366

Change

(63,951)

The estimated total annual cost to the public for the CFPB G is $5,784,751, and would
decrease to $1,547,998 with the revisions.10
Sensitive Questions
These collections of information contain no questions of a sensitive nature, as defined by
OMB guidelines.
Estimate of Cost to the Federal Reserve System
The estimated cost to the Federal Reserve System for collecting and processing this
information collection is negligible.

10

Total cost to the public was estimated using the following formula: percent of staff time, multiplied by annual
burden hours, multiplied by hourly rates (30% Office & Administrative Support at $22, 45% Financial Managers at
$80, 15% Lawyers at $79, and 10% Chief Executives at $118). Hourly rates for each occupational group are the
(rounded) mean hourly wages from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), Occupational Employment and Wages,
May 2022, published April 25, 2023, https://www.bls.gov/news.release/ocwage.t01.htm. Occupations are defined
using the BLS Standard Occupational Classification System, https://www.bls.gov/soc/.

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