Arizona Mortgage Broker Bond

Broker or Banker? Arizona Treats Them as Two Different Licenses

Most bond guides talk about "mortgage bonds" as one product. In Arizona, that's misleading. A mortgage broker — someone who arranges loans funded by outside investors without funding them directly — bonds under § 6-903 for $10,000 or $15,000. A mortgage banker — a company that closes loans with its own funds or a warehouse line before selling them — bonds under a separate statute, § 6-943, and the number is not fixed. Bankers whose investors are limited solely to institutional investors post a flat $25,000. Bankers with any noninstitutional money in the mix are bonded on a sliding scale tied to total assets plus unpaid servicing balances, which can reach $100,000 for large operations.

If your company holds both licenses — brokering some loans and funding others directly — DIFI expects a bond under each statute. Confusing the two is the single most common mistake we see from companies expanding into Arizona from a state that only has one mortgage bond, not two.