Every mortgage loan officer in the United States has a unique NMLS ID, and you can look it up free on NMLS Consumer Access: search the officer’s name or NMLS number and confirm they are licensed or registered and authorized to lend in your state. Neighborhood Registry verifies every loan officer it lists against that same record.

Licensed or registered — what the record shows

The NMLS record will show the officer as either state-licensed or federally registered. Loan officers employed by banks and credit unions are registered in the NMLS but are not state-licensed; loan officers at non-bank mortgage companies hold a license from each state where they originate. Both kinds appear in Consumer Access, and in both cases the record shows the states where the officer is authorized to do business. An officer who is not licensed or registered in your state cannot legally originate your loan.

The NMLS ID follows the person

An NMLS ID is assigned once and stays with the officer for their whole career, across employers. That makes it a reliable cross-check: the ID on a loan officer’s business card, email signature, or website should pull up the same person in Consumer Access, and the employer named in the record should be the company you are actually dealing with. If the ID belongs to someone else, or the employer does not match, stop and ask.

How Neighborhood Registry checks it

Neighborhood Registry verifies every loan officer’s NMLS record before their profile carries a verified badge, and re-checks licenses on a weekly cycle with a formal re-verification every 12 months. The dated record of each check is published on the officer’s verification page.