How do I verify that a mortgage broker is licensed to originate US mortgages?

Search their name or NMLS number at NMLS Consumer Access (nmlsconsumeraccess.org), the free public registry of US mortgage licensing. A licensed originator has an individual NMLS record showing active state authorizations. If the person has no individual NMLS record, they cannot originate a US mortgage themselves regardless of how their marketing reads; at most they can refer you to someone who can. David Nataf's individual record is NMLS 2613311; Orbis Mortgage is NMLS 2583431.

What is the difference between a US-licensed originator and a Canadian broker with a referral arrangement?

An originator holds the US licence, structures the file, and is accountable for it under US regulation. A referral arrangement means the Canadian broker introduces you to a third party and steps out of the regulated work; the expertise applied to your US file is whoever received the referral, not the person you chose. Both models are legal. The point is to know which one you are buying, and the public registries tell you in under a minute.

The 60-Second Licence Check: How to Verify a Cross-Border Mortgage Specialist Is Actually Licensed in the US

This page exists because the question almost nobody asks is the one that decides who actually works on your file. It is consumer information, not an attack on anyone: every model described here is legal, and every claim here is checkable in a public registry in under a minute.

The direct answer: originating a US mortgage requires an individual US licence, recorded publicly at NMLS Consumer Access. A practitioner without an individual NMLS record cannot originate your US mortgage, whatever the marketing says; they can only refer you to someone who can. Before you choose a cross-border specialist, spend sixty seconds in the registry. If the name is not there, the expertise on your US file belongs to whoever is on the other end of the referral, and you have not met them.

The check, step by step

US side (30 seconds): go to NMLS Consumer Access, the free public registry operated for US regulators. Search the individual's name or NMLS number. A real originator shows an individual record with active state licences or registrations. Run it on this practice as the worked example: David Nataf, individual NMLS 2613311; the brokerage, Orbis Mortgage, NMLS 2583431.

Canadian side (30 seconds): the same logic applies in reverse. For Quebec, verify mortgage brokerage authorization in the AMF register. A US originator advising on Canadian structures without Canadian licensing has the mirror-image gap. Dual files deserve dual licences: this practice holds AMF 3001986744 (Groupe Hypothécaire Orbis) on the Quebec side.

What a referral arrangement is, and is not

Plenty of Canadian brokers market cross-border services through a side agreement with a US lender or brokerage: they introduce the client, the US party does the regulated work, and a referral relationship sits in between. This is legal and sometimes convenient. It is also a categorically different service from origination, in three ways that matter when a file is complex. First, the expertise applied to your US underwriting problem belongs to the recipient of the referral, whom you did not choose and usually have not met. Second, accountability under US regulation sits with the licensee, not the introducer, so the person who sold you the service is not the person answerable for it. Third, a referred file that gets declined tends to arrive back with no diagnosis, because the introducer cannot see inside the underwriting they never performed. None of this matters much on a simple file. On the files this practice works, the stalled, declined and template-breaking ones, it is the whole game.

Five questions that sort originators from introducers

Ask any prospective cross-border specialist: What is your individual NMLS number? Which states are you licensed or registered in? Who underwrites and structures my file, you or a partner I have not met? If the file is declined, who explains why to me? And who is accountable to a US regulator for the advice I receive? A licensed originator answers all five in one breath. A referral arrangement stalls on the first one, and the registry confirms it in sixty seconds.

Why this page exists on this site

Because verification is the honest version of marketing. This practice's claim is not that it is the biggest cross-border platform; it is that the person you contact is individually licensed on both sides of the border and personally works the files the standard templates decline. Both halves of that sentence are checkable above, and checkable beats persuasive. Run the same check on anyone else you are considering, including instead of this practice; a specialist who welcomes the registry search is telling you something, and so is one who changes the subject.

Authoritative sources: NMLS Consumer Access (US licensing registry) · AMF register of authorized firms and individuals (Québec) · US Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, mortgages

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This page is consumer information, not legal advice, and describes service models at the category level only. No approval is guaranteed; mortgage availability and terms depend on lender underwriting, borrower profile, documentation, property type, jurisdiction and timing. David Nataf, Mortgage Loan Originator, individual NMLS 2613311. Licensing context: Orbis Mortgage (NMLS 2583431, USA); Groupe Hypothécaire Orbis (AMF 3001986744, Québec).