Insurance & mortgage licensing: which license, which exam

1. Choose your lines. Life and accident-and-health (also called sickness) are separate lines of authority on a producer license. Most states test them in one combined exam; North Carolina, Illinois and Tennessee give two. This section covers the life and health lines only.
2. Check the education rule before anything else. Pre-licensing hours are set by each state, from none at all to a fixed number of hours per line, and some states want the course certificate before they let you book the exam.
3. Book the state exam with the vendor your state contracts: Pearson VUE, PSI or Prometric. A single exam costs $40–$92 depending on the state, and in two-exam states you pay twice. In some states, such as North Carolina and Florida, the license application comes before the exam.
4. Pass it. The pass mark is set by each state, and several states report it on a scale, so it is not the same as a share of correct answers.
5. Apply for the license, usually online through NIPR or Sircon (Florida runs its own portal), and pay the state's license fee and the fingerprint vendor's fee. Do not let the result sit: a pass counts toward the application for 1–2 years, depending on the state.
6. Get appointed. Selling also takes an appointment from an insurer you will represent, and in Florida the license is not valid without one.

The state-by-state numbers (question counts, time, fees, the vendor and the retake wait) are on the life and health exam facts page, each row with its source and date; booking and the education rules by state are on registration.

Mortgage licensing is national in its first half. Anyone who originates home loans for a mortgage company or broker needs a state MLO license, and every state requires the same test: the SAFE MLO Test, run by NMLS. Add at least 20 hours of approved education, pass at 75%, clear the background and credit checks, and apply in each state where you will lend.

Loan officers who work for banks and credit unions are registered federally instead and do not take the test. The full sequence, and who falls on which side, is on the SAFE MLO overview.

• Who writes the exam. The mortgage test has one national owner and one outline. Insurance exams are state products: each insurance department sets its own outline, pass mark and fee, and hires a vendor to deliver the exam.
• How many exams. One mortgage test serves every state license. An insurance exam belongs to the state that gives it and leads to that state's license.
• Where you test. Mortgage candidates sit at Prometric centers. Insurance exams are taken at the vendor's test centers, and only some states allow online proctoring.
• Keeping the license. MLO licenses renew every year with continuing education; insurance licenses renew on a state cycle, usually 2 years, also with continuing education.

There is no single credential that covers both. Someone who sells life insurance and originates mortgages holds two licenses, each under its own regulator.