“The Delimma For The “Newbie” or “Wannabee” Loan Officer [ As well as a bunch of old pros ]

Only having to take 20 clock hours instead of 60 clock hours is the good news; the bad news is that the aspiring loan officer, as well as a bunch of old pros, are gladly pursuing a mortgage loan career with the bare minimum of education. The SAFE ACT only requires 20 hours, which from a well seasoned instructor’s viewpoint, is woefully short of being sufficient to make the student ready to take the national test. Most, and soon to be all, states require another test called the state component. The national costs $92.00 and the state is usually around $48.00. The national requires a passing score of at least 75%, and the state component will usually require a score of 75% as well. Instructors with many years of teaching experience at the finest provider schools are faced with trying to get enough information into the students in 20 hours as they used to do in 60 hours. Many of the provider schools offer a “prep course” of one day for each component which is also woefully short on material. The loan officer already state licensed required to only take the 20 hours may not have taken a test in five years or more. Then they go take the national with only about half of them passing on their first try. The boringly elementary prep tests given by so many provider schools lack the solid material the student requires to take either the national or the state test with confidence. Many very good prep tests are available online, although some offer so much material the student is overwhelmed with the excess. It is easy to go into a test under prepared, but it is difficult to go into a test over prepared. We have all had it drilled into us – “time is money”, and the person who goes into the test under prepared is willingly paying a tax of either $92.00 or $48.00. So, the question is: Do you enjoy wasting your time and paying unnecessary taxes to boot ?