We have a somewhat similar setup but ours relates to a 3rd party that assists us with secondary market originations. Requests for short term portfolio loans go to our inhouse mortgage area, requests for longer term fixed rate loans would go to an originator who sits in one of our lobbies but is actually employed by the third party that does our processing and then ultimately buys our loans for resale in the secondary market. This person is technically an employee of the third party – we have an agreement for them to perform origination work for us and they provide an LO to work with our customers. In reading through the reg it states that “an employee of a creditor or loan originator that provides an application form from a different entity or directs a consumer to a loan origintor employed by a differnt entity is a loan originator under the rule.” So I think we’re going to have to make sure our teller staff refers everyone to our inhouse mortgage area and then they decide where the loan should be worked.
