Texas Amends Conditional Approval and Conditional Pre-Qualification Letter

The Texas Finance Commission has amended the loan status forms to be provided as written confirmation of conditional qualification (“Conditional Pre-Qualification Letter”) and of loan application approval on the basis of credit worthiness (“Conditional Approval Letter”), effective May 1, 2020. These loan status forms are not required. However, if a lender chooses to provide such a form to an applicant or prospective applicant, it must use either the promulgated forms or a version which provides the same information contained in the promulgated forms.

Additional States Issue Temporary Authority for Remote Online Notarization

As previously reported, numerous states which previously required notarizations to be done in person have enacted emergency legislation or issued emergency orders giving temporary authorization for remote online notarization (“RON”) in response to the current COVID-19 pandemic.

Recent state updates include the following:
• Hawaii, Massachusetts, New Jersey and Rhode Island have temporarily authorized RON until the state of emergencies declared in each state are lifted;
• The use of RON is authorized in Maine until 30 days after the termination of the state of emergency;
• The Missouri order authorizing RON is set to expire on May 15th unless the order is extended; and
• The Kansas order remains in effect until May 1st unless the state of emergency is lifted prior to that date.

As of April 30, 2020, the only states in which RON is not currently permitted, even temporarily, are Alaska, Delaware, the District of Columbia, North Carolina, Oregon and South Carolina.

Note that the states permitting remote online notarization are changing frequently and the requirements for remote online notarization in each state may vary. Please verify your state’s legislation or emergency orders for specific details and requirements.