On February 18, 2025, the Maryland Office of Financial Regulation (OFR) extended its temporary moratorium on the enforcement of mortgage lender licensure guidance and emergency regulations it issued on January 10, 2025. In that guidance and regulations, the OFR for the first time applied the State’s mortgage lender licensure requirements to acquirers and assignees (including passive trusts) of residential mortgage loans on Maryland properties. The temporary moratorium will expire making the new compliance deadline July 6, 2025. Please read our earlier discussion of these emergency regulations in our legal update Even Passive Trusts?!? Maryland Extends Mortgage Lender Licensure Requirements to Holders of Residential Mortgage Loans.

Following broad pushback from industry stakeholders, including some who suspended all mortgage operations in Maryland, Senator Pamela Beidle and Delegate Pam Queen sponsored the Maryland Secondary Market Stability Act of 2025 before both chambers of the Maryland General Assembly. As proposed, the emergency bill would provide an exemption from Maryland’s mortgage lender and installment loan licensure requirements for entities under certain circumstances that acquire or are assigned certain mortgage loan and/or installment loans but who do not originate, service, or collect payments on these loans on their own behalf. In their February 18^th release, the OFR indicated they “strongly support[] the passage of this bill to ensure the continued availability of mortgage loans for Maryland consumers.”

Finally, through its announcement, the OFR “clarifie[d] that commercial lenders making loans exclusively for business purposes under Maryland’s installment loan statutes . . . are not subject to OFR’s licensing requirements under mortgage lending and installment licensing provisions.”

Hunton will continue to monitor developments from the Maryland legislature and the OFR regarding these assignee licensure requirements and provide periodic updates to clients. As always, Hunton stands ready to help you navigate these and other regulatory challenges.