What are NMLS late CE courses and when are they required?
NMLS Late CE courses are the only courses approved to make up a continuing education requirement for a past year, and the current catalog covers 2010 through 2025. You need Late CE when a state regulator instructs it, when you reinstate a lapsed license during the January-February reinstatement period, or when you return to the industry and must cure the CE deficiency for the last year you held a license. If you have been unlicensed for three years or more, your pre-licensing education expires and must be retaken instead.
Late CE is the continuing education a formerly licensed MLO must complete for the last year the license was held before a new or renewed license can issue, per MCA 32-9-118. In Montana, if less than 3 years have passed since your license terminated, you complete late CE and then reapply. If more than 3 years have passed, you must retake the 20 hours of prelicensing education, and after more than 5 years, the SAFE test as well.
Sources: Montana DBFI: Mortgage Loan Originators page; MCA 32-9-107: Prelicensing education requirements for mortgage loan originators; MCA 32-9-110: Examination requirements for mortgage loan originators.
Late CE is continuing education completed after the annual December 31 deadline, and it becomes an issue when your renewal is at risk. New Hampshire prohibits MLOs from applying to renew their license if CE is not completed, but a license that misses the deadline may be reinstated during NMLS's January-February reinstatement period once the overdue hours are finished. Because course providers can take up to 7 days to report a completion into NMLS, complete any late CE well before acting on renewal.
Sources: NMLS: New Hampshire State PE and CE Requirements for MLOs.
Late CE is continuing education finished after the December 31 deadline. Rhode Island requires 8 hours of Nationwide Multistate Licensing System (NMLS)-approved CE each year and bars an MLO from applying to renew until it is complete, so late CE courses let you close the gap during the January 1 to end-of-February reinstatement period. If you do not reinstate by the last day of February, you must re-apply for the license.
Sources: NMLS: Rhode Island state-specific PE and CE requirements for MLOs.