A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT to eliminate the requirement that licensed mortgage lenders obtain an audited financial statement, as recommended by the legislative research commission study committee on banking law amendments.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
SECTION 1.  G.S. 53‑244.104 reads as rewritten:
"§ 53‑244.104.  Minimum net worth requirements.
(a)	A minimum net worth shall be continuously maintained for licensees in accordance with this section. In the event that the mortgage loan originator or transitional mortgage loan originator is an employee or exclusive agent of a person subject to this Article, the net worth of the person subject to this Article can be used in lieu of the mortgage loan originator's or transitional mortgage loan originator's minimum net worth requirement. The minimum net worth to be maintained for each license is as follows:
(1)	If the licensee is a mortgage lender, it shall maintain a net worth of at least one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000), including evidence of liquidity of one million dollars ($1,000,000), which may include a warehouse line of credit of one million dollars ($1,000,000) or other evidence of funding capacity to conduct mortgage originations as documented by a certified public accountant's compilation of financial condition.
(2)	If the licensee is a mortgage servicer, it shall maintain a net worth of at least one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000), not including monies in any escrow accounts held for others.
(3)	If the licensee is a mortgage broker, it shall maintain a net worth of at least twenty‑five thousand dollars ($25,000), including evidence of liquidity of ten thousand dollars ($10,000), as certified by the licensee in a certified statement of financial condition.
(b)	The Commissioner may adopt rules to require additional minimum net worth or otherwise amend net worth requirements as are necessary to ensure licensees maintain adequate financial responsibility and accomplish the purposes of this Article."
SECTION 2.  This act is effective when it becomes law.