North Carolina

State PE and CE Requirements for MLOs

Pre-Licensure Education Requirements

New state-licensed MLOs are required to complete 24 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, 12 hours of undefined education (referred to as electives) + 4 hours of NC law.
Important: North Carolina has a requirement for 4 hours of instruction on state-specific law which may be satisfied by either taking a NC comprehensive course or a state-specific elective course
.

Number of hours is 3/3/2/12/+ 4hrs of NC law = 24

Attention: NC PE must be completed within 3 years of new or subsequent license application.

PE Expiration: Enacted 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), and 2 hours of non-traditional mortgage lending, plus 1 hour of NC-specific education (referred to as an elective).

Number of hours is 3/2/2/ + 1hr of NC 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 2009–2024 and was licensed between 2009–2025 am I required to complete CE in 2025 YES
If I became federal compliant for PE in 2025 and I was approved for an initial license in 2025 am I required to complete CE in 2025 No

Deadline

The deadline to complete CE is December 31. However, MLOs in North Carolina are prohibited 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.