State Licensing Navigator
Know whether your next loan needs a state mortgage license — before you fund it.
Install it in one line — paste a single command into Claude, ChatGPT or Cursor and it writes the skill into your project.
Free, and about thirty seconds: a work email and a six-digit code.
Downloading shares your name, firm, role, and email with The Helvetica Group. That introduction is what keeps every skill here free.
What this skill does
Answers whether your next loan needs a state mortgage license — before you fund it. It works through the business-purpose exemption, owner-occupancy risk, state licensing statutes, the SAFE Act, foreign entity registration, and usury limits, in that order, and writes the analysis up for committee.
What it does
- State-by-state licensing analysis for business-purpose loans
- Separates foreign-entity registration requirements from lending licenses — they are different obligations and get confused constantly
- Covers the federal overlay: SAFE Act, TILA, RESPA, ECOA, and HMDA
- Flags usury limits that apply to the structure you are proposing
- Produces a committee-ready memo with prioritized action items
When to use it
- A deal has come in from a state you have not lent in before
- Someone asks "can we lend in [state]?" and you need a defensible answer
- A loan has any owner-occupancy exposure and you need the risk assessed
- Committee wants the compliance position documented before approval
What to have ready
- The state, and the property's occupancy status
- Loan purpose and how business purpose is evidenced
- The structure — bridge, fix-and-flip, DSCR, or construction
- Your lending entity and where it is organized
- Rate and fees, if usury is a live question
How to use it
- Download it with the button above. You'll sign in with a work email — that's how the creator knows who is using their skill.
- Copy the install prompt from the "Run it in Claude" box, and paste it into Claude along with the file. Claude installs the skill, fills in your firm's details where the file has
[BRACKETED]placeholders, and runs a quick test with you. - Then just ask in plain English. Claude picks the skill up on its own when a request matches it. Anything it still needs, it asks you for — it won't invent a number.
"Can we lend in Minnesota? Business-purpose bridge loan on a non-owner-occupied fourplex, $1.8M."
What you get back
A branded Word memo covering the exemption analysis, state and federal requirements, and a prioritized action list — ready for committee sign-off.
Good to know
- Output quality tracks input quality. A missing figure is flagged as missing — it is never estimated to fill a gap.
- Every draft is a starting point for your own review, not a finished decision.
- Runs anywhere Claude does: the Claude app, Claude Desktop, or Claude Code.
- Structures the analysis for counsel to review. It is not a substitute for legal advice, and it says so in its own output.
Legal disclaimer
This skill drafts; it does not decide. Its output is not legal, tax, accounting, appraisal, or investment advice, and using it creates no attorney-client, fiduciary, or advisory relationship. Nothing it produces is a commitment to lend or an offer to sell a security. Verify every number, date, citation, and conclusion against the source documents, and have a qualified professional licensed in the relevant jurisdiction review the work before you rely on it or send it to a borrower, investor, counterparty, or regulator. Laws, rates, and market data change. The final work product is yours.
Inside this skill
The actual file you get. Members can read it in full before saving it.
Lending Licensing Requirements Memo Skill
Produces a branded credit-committee memo analyzing whether a lender needs a state mortgage license for a specific loan scenario. The memo is always branded as [Your Firm] ([YOUR-LICENSE-LINE]), even if the lender on the loan is a different entity (e.g., an affiliated lending entity).
Step 1 — Intake
Collect the following before starting. Pull from conversation context first; ask only for what's missing.
| Input | Required? | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| State | ✅ | Where the collateral is located |
| Lender entity | ✅ | Who is making the loan (your firm or an affiliate) |
| Property type | ✅ | SFR, 2-4 unit, multifamily, commercial, land |
| Occupancy | ✅ | Non-owner-occupied (investment) vs. owner-occupied |
| Borrower entity type | ✅ | LLC, corporation, individual |
| Loan purpose | ✅ | Fix & flip, bridge, DSCR, construction, cash-out |
| Loan amount | Optional | Helps with usury and concentration analysis |
| Loan number / deal name | Optional | For the memo header |
Minimum viable: state + lender + property type + occupancy + borrower entity type. Everything else can be noted as "pending" in the memo.
Step 2 — Research the State
Use WebSearch to find current information. Search in parallel where possible.
Required searches (run all of these):
"[STATE] mortgage lender license requirements NMLS [YEAR]"— find what NMLS licenses apply"[STATE] [statute name, e.g. IC 24-4.4] business purpose exemption investment property LLC"— find the statutory exemption text"[STATE] hard money lender license requirements private lender non-owner occupied"— find enforcement posture"[STATE] DFI [or banking regulator name] mortgage licensing business purpose exemption"— find regulator guidance"[STATE] foreign LLC registration transacting business real estate lending"— find entity registration requirements"[STATE] usury limit commercial loans maximum interest rate"— find rate limits
Fetch the actual statute where possible — the business purpose exemption is the single most important fact to get right.
Read references/state-research-guide.md for a 50-state quick-reference on foreclosure type, typical licensing statute names, and known exemption patterns — it will save research time.
Step 3 — Apply the Analysis Framework
Reading the full skill counts as a download. The contributor receives your name, company, and email.
Ratings & reviews
No written reviews yet. If you run this on a live file, say how it went. The next lender reading this page is deciding whether to trust it.
Examination record
Run it in Claude
- Copy the install command above
- Paste it into Claude, ChatGPT or Cursor
- It writes the skill in, fills in your firm’s details, and test-runs it with you
Prefer the file? The prompt above is for a package you already downloaded.
Details
More from The Helvetica Group
They publish here under a verified work email. Their other skills, and how to reach them, are on their contributor page.