Florida recently enacted House Bill 1185, granting loan originators permission to work from remote locations, subject to certain conditions. The bill also clarifies that mortgage lenders can conduct business from both branch offices and remote locations.
This update to the statute formalizes the existing practice of the Florida Office of Financial Regulations, which allows work to be performed from locations other than licensed premises while specifying the necessary requirements. The effective dates of the bill’s provisions vary between July 1, 2023, and January 1, 2024.
According to the bill, a remote location is defined as a place other than the principal place of business or a branch office where a licensee’s loan originator can conduct business. To permit loan originators to work remotely, certain conditions must be met.
These conditions include the licensee having written policies and procedures for supervising remote loan originators, ensuring secure access to company platforms and customer information in line with a comprehensive written information security plan, prohibiting in-person customer interactions at a loan originator’s residence (unless it is a licensed location), not maintaining physical records at remote locations, and ensuring compliance with applicable federal and state information security requirements during customer interactions and conversations.
Additionally, loan originators working remotely must access their company’s secure systems or documents through a virtual private network or system that guarantees secure connectivity and meets other specified requirements.
Licensees must also ensure that appropriate security updates, patches, or alterations to the security of all devices used at remote locations are installed and maintained. They should be capable of remotely locking or erasing company-related contents on devices or restricting access to secure systems.
Furthermore, the loan originator’s registered location on the registry must designate the principal place of business, or the loan originator must elect a licensed branch office as a registered location. The bill also revises the definition of “branch office” to exclude mortgage brokers’ or mortgage lenders’ principal places of business or remote locations.
It is worth noting that various states, including Virginia, Montana, and California, have recently introduced or passed legislation related to remote work.
