California - Department of Financial Protection and Innovation

CA DFPI PE and CE Requirements for MLOs

Pre-Licensure Education Requirements

New state-licensed MLOs are required to complete 20 hours of NMLS-approved education. This education must include 3 hours of Federal law, 3 hours of ethics (which shall include fraud, consumer protection, and fair lending issues), 2 hours of non-traditional mortgage lending, plus 10 hours of undefined education (referred to as electives) + 2 hours of CA-DFPI law.
Important: CA-DFPI has a requirement for 2 hours of instruction on state-specific laws which may be satisfied by either taking a CA-DFPI comprehensive course or a state-specific elective course
.

Number of hours is 3/3/2/10/ + 2hrs of CA-DFPI law = 20

PE Expiration: Pending Enactment See the State Licensing Checklist Compiler for details.

Continuing Education Requirements

MLO: Every state licensed MLO (in any approved status) is required to complete at least 8 hours of NMLS approved education annually beginning the year they are licensed (unless PE was completed in the same year). Annual CE education must include 3 hours of Federal law, 2 hours of ethics (which shall include fraud, consumer protection, and fair lending issues), 2 hours of non-traditional mortgage lending, plus one (1) additional hour of CA-DFPI specific education (referred to as an elective).

Number of hours is 3/2/2/ + 1hr of agency law = 8

Additional Persons: N/A

Table 1. Am I required to take Continuing Education this year?Continuing education decision grid
If I became federal compliant for PE between 2009–2025 and was licensed between 2009–2026 am I required to complete CE in 2026 YES
If I became federal compliant for PE in 2026 and I was approved for an initial license in 2026 am I required to complete CE in 2026 No

Deadline

The deadline to complete CE is December 31. However, MLOs with CA-DFPI are prevented from applying to renew their license if they have not completed CE. Since it may take as long as seven (7) days for a course provider to report a course completion into NMLS, MLOs are strongly encouraged not to wait until the last minute to try to complete CE or they may be prevented from submitting for renewal on time.