The Utah Division of Real Estate amended its licensing provisions to expand the ways an individual may satisfy the experience requirement necessary to qualify for a Utah lending manager license, which is a prerequisite to serve as a branch lending manager. The amendment will create a third option for an applicant to demonstrate the necessary pre-licensing experience.

Under the new experience option, an applicant will need to have 10 years of experience as a loan manager directly supervising a minimum of five licensed or registered loan originators within the past 12 years. In addition, the applicant must have personally originated at least 15 first-lien residential mortgages within the previous five years.

The amendment also allows a lending manager applicant to request approval to take the required Utah-specific pre-licensing education, despite not having yet documented the necessary experience, upon the applicant’s written affirmation that:

• The applicant’s current employment status could be affected by documenting his or her experience
• The applicant requests approval to proceed with the Utah-specific pre-licensing education despite not having documented the necessary experience
• The applicant understands that if division approval is granted, he or she assumes the risk of the time and expense of the pre-licensing education, testing, and application fee with no assurance that the experience will qualify him or her for licensure as a lending manager

These provisions are effective immediately.