Since Congress passed the Secure and Fair Enforcement for Mortgage Licensing Act of 2008 (the SAFE Act), mortgage loan originators and non-depository mortgage companies have learned that the promised uniformity of regulation between them and loan officers employed by banks has been largely elusive. Implementation of the SAFE Act has resulted in unequal regulation among industry members, with a vast difference in the compliance burden for depository and nondepository institutions. This article, published in Mortgage Banking in July 2010 (co-authored with Heidi M. Bauer) includes a table outlining the loan originator federal registration requirements compared with the state licensing requirements for nondepository mortgage loan originators. It is reprinted with permission of the Mortgage Bankers Association.