Virginia MLO licensing requirements

Virginia licenses mortgage loan originators (MLOs) through the Bureau of Financial Institutions (BFI), a bureau of the Virginia State Corporation Commission (SCC), the same body that regulates the state’s banks, trust companies, consumer finance companies, and mortgage lenders and brokers. BFI is a single regulator for MLOs: Virginia does not split originators between two agencies by employer type the way a state like California does.

The governing law

Virginia licenses MLOs under Title 6.2, Chapter 17 of the Code of Virginia (Virginia Mortgage Loan Originators), implemented through the Virginia Administrative Code at 10 VAC 5-161. Filings run through the Nationwide Multistate Licensing System (NMLS), the same national system covered in our how to become an MLO guide: NMLS account, pre-licensure education, the SAFE MLO National Test, background and credit checks, bond, application, then sponsorship.

What is Virginia-specific

• Regulator: Virginia Bureau of Financial Institutions, State Corporation Commission. Official page: scc.virginia.gov/regulated-industries/bureau-of-financial-institutions. BFI maintains a dedicated MLO sponsorship contact channel, separate from its general licensing line, published on the official page above.
• Pre-licensure and continuing education hours beyond the federal minimum. BFI’s public licensing pages, as reviewed, do not state a Virginia-specific pre-licensure hour add-on distinct from the federal 20-hour SAFE Act floor. Confirm the current requirement on the state matrix and the BFI page before enrolling, since state add-ons do change.
  • Surety bond and application fee. Virginia sets its own bond and fee amounts as part of its licensing regulations under 10 VAC 5-161. We do not host a dollar figure we have not sourced and dated ourselves; use the state matrix and the BFI page linked above for the current numbers.
• Single-regulator structure. Unlike states that split MLOs between a banking regulator and a real estate regulator, Virginia keeps all MLO licensing inside BFI regardless of whether the originator’s employer is a mortgage lender, broker, or affiliated business.

Sponsorship and next steps

A Virginia MLO license, like every state license, stays inactive until an NMLS-registered company sponsors it, which is exactly why BFI runs a dedicated sponsorship contact. See sponsorship explained for how that works in practice, and use the state licensing steps tool to walk the full ordered sequence, or the cost breakdown tool to see where Virginia’s education, application, and bond costs land against other paths.

Sources: Virginia Bureau of Financial Institutions, State Corporation Commission (scc.virginia.gov/regulated-industries/bureau-of-financial-institutions), reviewed 2026-07-29; Code of Virginia Title 6.2, Chapter 17, reviewed 2026-07-29.