License Renewal Season without the Scramble

So good afternoon and welcome to license renewal season without the scramble webinar. I have two wonderful ladies here with me today. Both have been at Cornerstone for a very long time. starting with Don Graham. She is our training manager. and she [clears throat] is she's been here for over a decade actually with the company and she has a prior education and design scalable step-by-step training programs and she equips corner styles licensing specialist to master complex state-by-state requirements accelerating ramp time and evaluating quality. Jennifer Kim is our renewal manager and she leads that department. Orchestrate and orchestrates a nationwide portfolio with standard standardized workflow and proactive tracking to keep filings current and on time.

Now in her six year at Cornerstone, she manages a renewable team and drives accuracy, predictability, and measurable turnaround improvements. Why are we here? Getting approved with a license is just the start. Most licenses need renewals to stay active. As perpetual licenses fade, many teams face a year-end pileup of renewals. Those annual reports, sorry, annual reports, NMS NMLS updates, and state specific filings, often all at once. Those annual reports are separate from Secretary of State filings and can require financial data, bond calculations, and other documents that take time to assemble. Today, we're going to focus on a couple of things. a renewal timeline and annual report obligations, material changes to your data and how to handle deficiencies and do everything you can to get those renewals started and submitted on time.

I'm going you're invited to share questions. I will try to work those in as much as possible. one last housekeeping item. Due to the nature of the topics we will be discussing today, we need to establish the following disclaimer. This information is not intended to be legal advice and may not be used as legal advice. Legal advice must be tailored to the specific circumstances of each case. Every effort has been made to asssure this information is up to date. It is not intended to be a full and exhaustive explanation of the law in any area. However, nor should it be used to replace the advice of your own legal counsel.

All right, let's jump in now that the housekeeping is over with and start talking about our topics here. Let's talk about mapping renewal timelines and annual reports. Jennifer, let's start with you. Year end is a huge renewal time. What licenses are we looking at renewing here in Q4? And what are the open windows to start doing these licenses? When does that close? Kind of is it stagger? Does it all at once? What's what's that look like for us? so you know Q4 is a big year for all types of licenses collections lenders student loan licenses anything of that sort money transmitters we see a lot of them and they are housed in a registry called NMLS which more and more states are going toward transitioning into that portal you know that holds all the licenses and all those state regulators have preview into you know all the specifics of the company and documents that companies upload in there.

So that is opening up always opens up around November 1st 2nd this year you know November 1st is a Sunday but we do that is the first official day where companies can go in and renew their licenses. and so most licenses are going to be due between 121 and 12:31 with you know some examples where there are some that are due actually you know right on that first week of November very few but and then some at the end of November but majority I would say are 121 to 1231. Don would you agree with that? Yeah, the majority of them are going to fall just like you said.

There's an exception here and there I believe of like November 15th is a requirement for a state and then you have some like you said November 30th they're going to want you to go ahead and have those done. And a lot of times that's just to give the state an opportunity to review the renewal before they actually approve it. And because some of those states I'm sure they're going to talk about later have different requirements. And so you know for someone like California you're just paying it you're good. But others that ever have those forms and you know things that have to be submitted to go along with the renewal, they're going to want that time to review it before they actually approve the renewal.

So those are states that are in housed in NMLS, which I would say is a big majority of their state licenses, but there are you know states that have their own portals and that are due end of year as well. 1231 is a very common due date, you know, that you do see with those that are outside of NMLS. And I know one of the big things when I did renewals 100 years ago is starting working on those in like October because you don't want to just wait till November 1st. So you guys are already working renewals heavily, correct? Yes, we started I would say beginning of September just making sure that all of the you know because these states they tend to sometimes change their forms and so you know as a licensing company we have to make sure that all of those forms are current you know 2026 forms and then we get those out to our clients as soon as we can so that they have ample time to get those filled out in you know optimal whole, you know, situation would

be to have those forms in before we start renewing, you know, come November 1st. Awesome. Don, this is kind of a multi-level question here. which jurisdictions require a license annual report separate from the Secretary of State filing, separate from the license renewal? and then kind of what are the financials and bond calculations that you have to look at when you're renewing? You know, it license and your reports is it's funny, not funny. They are so common now. Like there are so many states. I it I couldn't begin to give you the entire list. I mean, we're literally talking all the way from Alabama down to Wisconsin depending on the license type that the clients actually have.

You know, collection agencies have a license annual report that are due. Many of them you're talking about student loan servicesers, you're talking about lender license. So, there are so many that have this as a requirement. just off the bat, off top of my head, a few collection agency licenses that require a separate license annual report filing would be Nevada, you know, and with Nevada, that is one of those states where you're going to have to do a financial statement filing along with that license annual report. you've got Idaho and who else is it that's coming to mind? well, Idaho in terms of collection agency is going to have a bond calculation worksheet that you've got to complete to go along with that license and your report.

And then when you're talking about Oh, and Wisconsin, I think it's another state that's going to require you to provide a bond calculation worksheet with that license and your report. When we're talking about like lender licenses, like Texas has a financial statement requirement that goes along with the actual filing of the license and your report as well. So Chrissy, that's one of those that's going to vary from state to state to state, but that license and your court requirement is becoming more and more common with all of these various license types that we, you know, our clients are having. Awesome. Thank you, Don. Jennifer, one little quick followup to that.

How often are the bond calculations changing? So like when you're submitting these renewals, are the bonds always increasing and you have to get bond writers or do most of them stay the same? Well, it just depends on the client activity for that year. You know, we do have quite a few clients that we do see after they do complete their, you know, let's say Idaho bond calculation form where we have a certain amount of bond in place and then they've done extra business and they have to increase it by 10,000 and then they have to get a bond writer, you know, because the state does track that according to what they see on the form.

So, you know, it is the client's responsibility to make sure that they have the right amount of bond in place because the state regulators do know and are, you know, tracking that. So, it sounds like to me that this is another reason to start renewals as early as possible because you have to have a bond writer to submit the renewal and if you're submitting it the day before it's due now, you're going to have trouble getting that bond writer in time. It just seems like it's it's proving that you need to start as soon as possible. Yes, definitely. I know that for New Mexico this year, I mean every year, they do have a bond calculation sheet and that we do, you know, take a look and mex New Mexico is one that is due in November.

So, it is important that this client tells us and submits that to us so we know whether their bond needs to increase or decrease things of that sort. Awesome. Well, we kind of touched on NMLS. I heard that word a few minutes ago. Don, kind of tell us explain to us about the difference in filing a renewal in NMLS and maybe a state website like Florida or, you know, one that's direct to the state. You have to have passwords and payment methods and all that. tell me about how that kind of works out and if it's harder to do one or the other. Oh, that's a good that's a good question.

Like, is it harder to do one or the other? in some cases, yes. And in I'm going to say in NMLS and it's not necessarily the renewal that is more difficult when you're filing it in NMLS. It may be just accessing the account that's a little bit more challenging when you're in NMLS because, you know, NLS has built in additional factors of ver a authentication, excuse me, and getting in. So, if we get to log into NMLS and now that password is expired, it's going to take us to coordinate with our client in order to update that password. And so, you know, just accessing the system could be a little bit more challenging.

when it comes to the submission of the renewal, quite honestly, I think most of us have found the renewal process in NMLS to be far easier than a lot of the other state sites because it's more streamlined in NMLS. You know, you can go in and depending on how many licenses are held and what is what the requirements are for those licenses, you may be very well able to go in and renew 15, 20, 30 licenses at one time in NMLS, you know, versus the various state sites, you know, if the client has more than one location, excuse me, that has to be renewed and that's that license is not held in NMLS.

Now you're talking about additional processes to submit those license renewals for all of those various locations. So it can vary, you know, the for in my experience and with NMLS how far things have come, it is a much easier process to get the renewal submitted in that system. The issue is making sure you have addressed all of the additional requirements prior to submitting the renewal in NMLS. That's where the challenges come in because sometimes the excuse me the MU2 your officers control persons you have to make sure that they are like for the state of Massachusetts they're going to be required to submit a criminal background check.

So you need to make sure that is they have existing prints on file. If not then they're going to have to actually go and get fingerprinted and so that needs to be done but can only be done between a particular window. You don't want it done too early. you know, it's so many nuances that, you know, we have to make sure are done. So, yeah, one which is easier versus the other one. It just really depends. We love Florida. Florida is going in and paying for it and you get the license certificate, right? Then, so I don't want to put all of them in the same basket.

You know, Puerto Rico is a horse of another color. So, it just really depends. You know, one versus the other is going to be hard to say. I don't know if we have any regulators on. I don't want to step on any of them. Right. So, we kind of talked about this as well, Jennifer. bond writers, we talked about could be a hold up. what else do you can you guys have trouble getting sometimes, you know, Don just mentioned a criminal background check, but is there anything else that kind of slows the process down? you know with the criminal background checks also and you know just in case people don't know for some reason they required u new fingerprints every three years.

So just because a individual gets fingerprinted one time you know they have to doesn't mean that those fingerprints will stay on file with them for the rest of their you know time in NMLS. So that is an important thing that we do check for our clients. and also credit reports is another filing that is run for you know the control people the MU2 people of each company for certain licenses. another thing that does tend to slow us down are deficiencies. There are certain states that if you have a deficient item whether it's a tax issue, whether it's something in the disclosure question that needs explanation for one of their control people and that is not cleared up, then they will not let you renew.

There will won't even be an option to renew. And so that is very important for, you know, for us as, you know, licensing specialists that we make sure that the licenses are clear before, you know, November 1st does hit so that, you know, everything is smooth when we do start renewing so nothing stops us as far as those license deficiencies. And then you know just the sheer amount of forms for some states like Wyoming there are at least six different requirements that you know we have to fulfill to make sure that we you know turn in before we even try to renew that you know that state.

So just depending on the state but there are I would say license deficiencies in the forms are some you know top ones that we do see in slowing the process down. Thank you. Absolutely. Do you are there any states and I know this is again a big question. Are there any states where you have to do some of it online and some of it you have to mail or submit through a different portal. Is that still a thing? off the top of my head I think there are still a couple. There are again like we said a lot of the states are just trying to go into NMLS but there are still some stragglers.

And so I know Arizona their consumer lender license is renewed in NMLS but they have a separate portal where their reports are you know are due so you don't submit them in NMLS. So it's they're completely different portal and those you know reports are due I believe they were due like in October. So those have to be done before the renewal takes place. And so there are still a couple states that there are those extra portals. You got to be really on top of the requirements to know that there's that separate paper form or whatever portal that has to be done. That's interesting. So we've talked about starting early.

how long so we don't have December backlog. How early can you submit things? I think you said November 1st for the NMLS dates, but are there any states that you could like renew today or last week for the 1231 deadline or do they wait a little bit closer to time? I think there are a couple there are they're like Don was mentioning, Florida. I believe it's open for renewal. again, with those it's this is a fee only. I believe Delaware 2 is open. that's due on 1231. Illinois. Not sure yet. because sometimes they do change their requirements. So, we're kind of holding off for now until we hear.

but that's the ones that I can think. And then there are some that like I could think of like the Oklahoma supervised lender have not I think those are paper forms. They have not been released yet. So the ones in paper, they don't really tend to get released until at least 60 days prior to the due date. Awesome. So, kind of a followup to that. Do you suggest people if everything's due at 12:31 and they have five ready to go, do they should they file those now or wait until 12 or closer to 12:31 and file all of them together? I would say file earlier the better.

Yeah, always earlier the better because then the regulators don't aren't swamped and they can get their approvals a lot easier. We saw that back in J in June when we did a lot of the June renewals are you know not anonymous obviously and so we saw that the clients that did submit their paperwork for those June renewals were getting their approvals a lot faster than the ones that were you know going into June. I mean I still have a couple that are struggling from those June renewals because they submitted late. So I could see that becoming a problem at the with the L E when their clients are wanting to see licenses and what do you mean it expired in June and it's still pending.

So another reason to do work as fast as possible but make sure you're sending the right things in. tell if you can't if you don't have all of the documents required to renew something, should they should you submit that knowing there's a deficiency or is there a way to ask for more time? Don, I think you have that answer. Yeah, I'll take that one. So, it's one of those situations where it's always best to do what's right the first time around, right? And so, which is why we start so early asking our clients to give us everything that we know is going to be required in order to get this license renewed, right?

However, comma, however, comma, if we are pressed with meeting the deadline and we know that it's not going to be renewed or that a deficiency is going to be issued, but if we don't submit it, a license could be lost, we're going to submit it without those documents and we're just going to deal with the fact that deficiencies will be issued and we'll just get those addressed as soon as possible. That of course is less than ideal because the other thing that clients need to be aware of is yes you will get it submitted. Excuse me. And you won't risk losing the license immediately. However, there are some states that will tell you if the license renewal is not approved by that deadline, collection activity will have to cease until an approval is granted.

So, you know, you've saved yourself by not losing the license. However, your actual license activity will still need to be put on pause until you actually have an active license in place. That varies from state to state. Not all states are like that. Some will say as long as the renewal has been submitted by the deadline, you can continue to collect. But that is not the stance of every state. So, best case scenario, earlier the better to keep yourself out of that potential situation. That makes it even more important to work ahead. Absolutely. That's crazy. Yeah, we have seen, if I can just real quick, I'm just because you're on this kick of being early and with NMLS, we have seen where the system has been overloaded and it simply will not function where, you know, because too many people are accessing it at the same time.

I know all of us, we're on a webinar right now, you know, technology is wonderful when it works, but there are times that it just does not. And so the last minute really is your biggest enemy when it comes to submitting these renewals. Awesome. Okay, so let's move into one of my favorite topics to talk about changes. [gasps] so Don, what ownership officer or dress or tra trade name changes occur? How does that affect a license? is there any kind of trigger for you have to do this within 30 days or you have to do this before the change? Let's talk about that for a minute.

Yeah, I would say 99% of the states are going to require you to report a material change. And by material, we mean officer, owner, manager, address, you know, those kinds of things. they're going to require you to report that to the licensing authority within 30 days of occurrence. And so, I know I think Rhode Island is one of those states, I've got to watch my mouth, one of those states where they want prior notification to a change happening, which is, you know, depending on the type of change is next to impossible. If we're talking about an address, most companies will be aware that an address change is coming in plenty of time leading up to it.

But if we're talking about a personnel change, sometimes you're not made aware of that, you know, outside of 2 weeks before that person is going to leave the company. So, most states understand that, which is why you have that 30-day window from the effective date of whatever that change is. But I would say, yeah, in most cases that clock gets started, 30 days from that effective date is when you need to have all information. If it's forms, if it's fees, if it's if it's amendments to your articles, whatever it is, that needs to be to the state within 30 days of the effective date. Awesome.

Jennifer, I know you do a lot of changes. if you don't meet that 30 day clock that I'm sure the state's watching what happens so they can you know I've seen clients get reprimmended by you know state regulators sometimes there's fines sometimes they get cease you cease and desist of activities there's a lot of things that can happen if these changes aren't reported to these states. So that's why we take these changes very seriously and you know in high regard because you know it is something that these state regulators they do keep track of and they do speak with each other about it. So it is very important because there are consequences to not reporting these material changes, right?

And I know we're talking a lot about renewals right now, but just to clarify, when changes happen, you have to you don't wait till renewal time. You have to report it within these 30-day timelines or before in order to keep things smooth. I'm sorry if I can since this is your favorite topic, Christie. it is when it comes to the changes, we're speaking specifically about the licenses and getting those reported to the licensing authorities, but be advised some secretary of states are requiring the record to be reflecting exactly what's on the license record as well. Not many, but there are a few. So, like Florida, I think in Illinois and maybe California, where if you're going to change the information relative to the license, they're also going to want you to update the, record with the Secretary of State.

And so, in most cases when we're talking about a change, we're only talking about licenses, but there are a few instances where you're also going to have to update that information with the Secretary of State. It's very important for the for everyone to review the definition of the control person that the NLS has. I think that's very informative and a lot of people when they're setting up their companies, they kind of look at that to structure appropriately. Jennifer, with the MV1s and MV2s, do you see a lot of that stuff at renewal time where maybe I think they had a disclosure statement, disclosure question they had to do a couple months ago where everybody had to go in and do that.

Do you see where that wasn't done and that causes an extra delay or an extra step or extra trouble at renewal time? yes. So I think that you know sometimes people do get confused with that control person definition and they don't realize it's all officers is all owners directors and so even if you hold a you know you know let's say indirect amount of ownership of a company and you're a person that is listed in NLS then you have certain expectations that you need to meet for certain states that the company is licensed with and a lot of times we have to we do have to explain that because that is not a cornerstone rule that is there those state rules.

so definitely we do did see that now with this new change that took place in April where there were there was a change in disclosure questions for all MU2 control people. we worked you know very hard you know as a company to make sure that our clients control people got all of that updated so that it wouldn't you know affect come renewal time we did have a due date of the end of August so what I can potentially see is because once you know like once you go into do to upload a document and you go to you know do that there is a something that stops you and says you know this person has not completed their disclosure questions and they will not let you upload documents they won't let you do any kind of filings in NMLS so that so that's going to I think very going to pose a problem come in a month with four companies who have not updated those disclosure questions don't you think Don oh absolutely you know we unfortunately itely have a client here and there.

Not many. Most of our clients were very cooperative with us and getting that addressed, but there are a couple out there and like for instance, we're talking about it impacting the renewal. Well, if you have a state that requires you to submit forms like Connecticut, right, prior to submitting the renewal, if those forms are not in and the state does not make that renewal available, you can't you can put them in the system, but this the regulator won't have access to them because you cannot attest to the filing with that outstanding item being on there for those disclosure questions. And yeah, so we try to make sure our clients understand that with that with NMLS, it is it's very sensitive.

You cannot have an open filing and submit something else. It all has to go through that same filing. And so if anyone is out there that's not a Cornerstone client and you have not done your disclosure questions for your control people, you're going to want to do that as soon as possible, like today. Just get it over with. It doesn't take that long, you know, to go ahead and get it done and you will save yourself a headache down the road. Absolutely. So, I'm going to pick on two states here for no reason. if you tell Arizona something on the NMLS, do the other states then ask questions about it, are there other filings for the other states or does it not matter?

Oh, it absolutely matters. It absolutely matters. we've seen it where a particular state will ask you for let's say a management chart and you our clients I've seen this happen where a client will go in and they'll put that management chart in there and they'll get rid of all of the other management charts. They've addressed what one state wanted, but by removing the other management charts, now they've upset other states in the system. And so now they get deficiencies from all of these other states saying, "Where's this information and where is that?" And one, excuse me, every state in NMLS has access to what is put in that system.

And the states do talk one to another. And so when we are addressing the needs of a state, we as specialists try to make sure it is not going to upset the apple cart with the other states. I know I have reached out to regulators personally and said, "Hey, I know you only want one of whatever this item is in the system. However, we have state ABC that wants it to look this way." So, we want to make sure you have what it is you're requesting, but I cannot remove this other document because it's going to cause deficiencies for these other states. And then I have seen, it has been my experience, that those states will take that into consideration.

Now, if you just go in and do it willy-nilly, you're going to get what you get. But sometimes when you know one state's request is going to upset another state, we just take it upon ourselves to reach out to that state making the request and explain to them why this could potentially be a problem. Great. Great. Jennifer, so we've talked about NMLS a lot because that's where a lot of the licenses coming 1231 are at. What about states that aren't on the NMLS? What does the change process look like there? Is it paper forms? Is it paper, real fingerprint cards. What's What does that look like outside of the NMLS?

Oh gosh, there's just so much. I would say all the good thing about NMLS is that a lot of things are streamlined. because like we said, once you submit a management chart, all states get it. in any states that require that management chart for, you know, a officer change or owner change, they're, you know, privy to see that. Now, that doesn't work so much for states that are outside of the NMLS. And so, each state has their own set of forms, own set of requirements. I would say for you know address changes, bond writers are a big thing where you know they do require bond writers for that for you to prove that you know that this address indeed has changed and that it is covered.

ownership changes I would say operating agreements. that's that's a big requirement. and then you know like Don had mentioned officer changes. A lot of these states do require like Illinois does require the secretary of state to be amended to make sure that it reflects that change. And so and this is in addition to their own separate you know forms that they require to be signed and also a notification letter that you know is required to be sent beforehand. So it all differs by state. There are ones that we just when we see them we're like oh no like so Yeah, the ones that do require fingerprint cards, those are a little bit hairy just because they have to be sent.

Make sure they're legible. Make sure they are filled out the correct way. Make sure they're processed the right way. Then follow up and then in addition to the forms and amendments that have to be made. So yes, those are a little trickier. Have we ever seen a renewal be held up because a change is pending? Maybe the officer had none of those fingerprint cards. Definitely. Like, so like I said, like if there especially in NMLS, if it has a deficiency item, it says a, you know, a criminal background check is required, you know, for this new officer that was added a month ago and it's not been done.

then like Nevada has been known to hold up the renewal and not release that renewal because they don't have current fingerprints for that officer. And does that mean sometimes relic licensing? Yes, because if you don't get it in on time by that 1231 date, and I'm not sure exactly for that state because there are a few states that do allow reinstatement. But again, if the reinstatement is like a month and they still don't have it, then yes, it requires relicensing. Are there any business changes that companies often forget to report? We know the big ones, ownership officer, managers. Is there any other things that often get overlooked?

Does titles matter? I mean, titles do matter. Absolutely. You know, because a title can reflect the person's position within the company. Certain states look at a title as being a control person regardless of whether the state I mean the client looks at it that way or not. So for instance, you can't use a title of chief executive officer and then tell the state that this person is not a control person. It's just not going to happen. So if they went from you and I make up names all the time, you guys. So if I they went from being just the grand pooha of janitorial services to now being the chief financial officer, that's a big difference.

And so the state is going to want you to report that. Something else I was just thinking about address changes. You know, u clients say, "Well, we just moved from suite 101 to 102. What's the big deal?" is you were licensed under suite 101. You were not licensed under suite 102. So now you have to submit that as an address change. Even though you're in the same building, it doesn't matter. You're not occupying the same space that is reflected on your current license. So things like that do matter and they do get missed until we catch it and we address it. One of the things that we do on the renewal side of things is we send out a quarterly verification.

It's called quarterly. We send it out twice a year verification to our clients so that they can update information or let us know if something has changed. And if we notice that something of this nature has occurred, we immediately advise them that this is an actual change that has to be submitted to the states. I would say another one that is easily kind of overlooked is a DBA a trade name. So a lot of our clients don't they think well you know we're just adding this doesn't need to be added to the licenses but you're still operating under that DBA and so it does need to be reported and you know changed or added to each license that they're using it for.

and then while Don was talking I was thinking for manager changes you know for officer changes yeah if you know delay a little bit and not you know updating their fingerprints or things of that sort you know it you can still operate but for manager changes there are certain states if you do not have a manager in place you cannot operate anymore and so that is why for those states you know cornerstone we do recommend backup managers like Nevada and Michigan. Yes. And because if you do and then just the process for Nevada and Michigan of managers, you know, getting added, it takes several months to a year because there's testing involved.

And so those are states that very important that our clients tell us way beforehand so that we can make sure that a new MAC backup manager is put in place. Awesome. Okay. Well, that was my favorite topic. So, let's go on to something here else. A little more into the deficiency and regulator followup and tracking. what is a deficiency triage process? So, you get some kind of process or some kind of change has been reported or something in the renewal wasn't submitted correctly. What's the immediate steps that you kind of what do you jump into action mode? What is the first step there? daughter. So for defic for NMLS there it's a little easier because you could see it all on one platform.

The deficiencies are very clearly you know marked right next to the license when you go into the your dashboard. And so once we see that there is a deficiency we review it to make sure that if it's anything that we can handle for the client. would say that, you know, there does need to be a, you know, a bond writer that is issued and if we handle their bonds, it's an easy fix. but then there's ones that, you know, it could be a tax issue that we don't handle for our clients. So, we our first, you know, course of action is we do let our clients know.

We mark it in our system to make sure that we follow up with it, you know, at least weekly. is if especially if there is no due date, we're just assuming that this needs to get done as soon as possible. and just continue to follow up with our client and then once that is handled, following up and if that deficiency is not removed, following with the state regulator saying is there anything else needed to clear this deficiency. That's a big part of, you know, the process that we go through with those NMLS deficiencies. with the ones that are outside of NMLS a little harder especially because if that you know contact information of that license is to directly to our clients that our clients have the responsibility of having to tell us because we don't know there is a deficiency with some of these states some of the portals they do you know like North Carolina they do put the deficiencies there but some states do not they reach out directly to our clients and so that is a tricky one where we can't track

as well. But again, now that more states are going into NLS, it is much more visible to see those deficiencies. How long when a deficiency is throng, do they give you a lot of time to respond to that and fix the deficiency or is it like, hey, do this right now or today, tomorrow? It really varies from state to state, you know. we've we've seen some in most kind of being careful with my words here often times state states will allow anywhere between two weeks to a month to address a deficiency depending on the nature of the deficiency. Right? However, there are other times like I just had one where state gave five days to address this deficiency because there were new owners that were mentioned on a manage excuse me, not owners, forgive me, new officers that were mentioned on a management chart, but they had not been entered in as MU2s in the system.

And so the state gave literally 5 days to get these people into the system getting their backgrounds and their credit checks done. And so it just really it varies from state to state in terms of how much time you're going to be given to address these deficiencies. Awesome. So we've kind of taught a little doom and gloom here deficiencies and time frames. let's say we've submitted a renewal. How often is a good cadence to follow up with the regulators? or do you just check an MLS kind of how do you process once it's submitted? What's the process to approval? Jeffrey, you want to start with that one?

Are you talking about submit approval as in approval of the deficiency? no. Let's just say we have submitted a license renewal. Everything's great and fine and it's just pending now. Waiting on it to get approved. There's no deficiencies as far as we know. It's going to be approved any day. How often do you follow up with the regulators? Do you check in often? Is it an email or a phone call? It's wondering why state. Yeah. So, so us here at Cornerstone, we try not to make the regulators mad by reaching out to them too much because they do get bothered especially if I mean there's already you know 17 people on just our team you know renewal team and then I'm sure there's companies a lot of companies reaching out.

So we try not to reach out to regulators unless there is a problem. So or it's been like months and we don't see anything. So normal processing time once we start putting these renewals come November, a lot of states will immediately the next day approve, you know, North Dakota. Yay, North Dakota. we'll always approve really quickly. and so and then a lot of the other states will follow suit and then we as a team will check every week, every couple weeks to make sure that you know these you know license appro approvals are coming in but also that there are no license deficiencies that are attached.

And so the only time we really reach out to the regulators as far as renewal approvals is if there has been a deficiency and we've we've addressed it and it's not being cleared you know over a couple weeks and then that's when we do reach out. But as far as approvals, we don't we tend not to bother them with that because again they're they have bulks and bulks of renewals coming in. Yeah. I would say some of the one of the benefits that we have at Cornerstone is I can go into our system and I can look and see who else has this license that I have and see has their renewal been approved.

And so if I go into the system and I see we have 70 other companies that have this license and all of their renewals have been approved and mine hasn't, that's kind of an indication to me that I need to reach out to the regulator and see what's going on. But the ver reverse of that is also true. If I go in there and I see that we have 80 renewals and only two have been approved. Now I know, okay, this is just a regulator in the state having to work through all of these renewals. And so I just need to pack my patients and continue to follow up in the system just to see when the renewal has actually just been approved.

Makes sense. All right. So here's here's a fun one. What's one mistake you see every renewal season? You said not from the same client. One mistake. What is it? The most common thing that happens of, you know, when it comes to renewal time, do you see is it changes that aren't reported? Is it a new form, a new requirement of the state? I would say changes is a big one. But, you know, here's the thing. I would say I wouldn't necessarily even say that it's a common mistake. One of the things I would say that happens commonly when it comes to these renewals is that maybe the state has left something off of a checklist.

And so we've done everything according to the checklist in terms of submitting a renewal, but because the state says, "Oh, well, we also want a certificate of good standing from your doicile state." And it's like, well, that's easy for us to provide. didn't mention that on the checklist, you know, and so that happens from time to time where it's like, okay. And so when that happens, first person to get the deficiency in the department, we send that out to say, hey, by the way, so and so state is asking for a doiciled letter of good standing, and they're like, that's not on checklist. We know, but that's something that's going to have to be addressed.

So, we see that happen commonly, you know, in terms of renewal season. Jennifer, can you think of something else that happens? and I know we were talking about this before, Don, is that with certain forms that are a little bit more lengthy, a common thing that we see are is just and them not being filled in correctly. And so, you know, a set cornerstone, our job is to definitely, you know, do as much as we can to prep those forms and make it as easy for our clients to, but there are some things that are just we cannot fill out, you know, that, you know, are financial related.

And I would say a lot of times with those financial forms is where we see a lot of mistakes happen. And you know I think I'm thinking of Wyoming in particular, but they do have a financial form that if there are certain sections that are highlighted that are you know not answered or answered zero, they have to provide an addendum or appendix. And you know the earlier like Don said, the earlier the clients come and return those forms for us, the more time and just the eyes that we have to look at those forms very carefully to make sure, oh, you missed this and that.

But as we get going you know, the time gets limited and we're getting into that rush of everything is due, everything is due. We just want to get these submitted for everybody. then you know it can be a case where we miss that. And so I think that definitely getting those things in earlier so that we could have fresh pairs of eyes on those is one of the benefits but that is also something that we do see when there is you know a crunch in getting those in. Well, ladies, you have been great today answering a lot of questions for folks out there dealing with renewals this busy season.

kind of seems to me like the takeaway from here is start early, work hard, be consistent, and Don's however but or however, that's there's always going to be a however there. So, thank you ladies for your time today. Any last closing statements before we kick off today? Not really. I think I hope everyone walked away with the just that on your mind that now is the time to start. Okay, it's the like the old adage, early is on time, on time is late. Now is the time to start before we actually hit the due date, right? You want to go in and prepare as best you can.

And of course, we're here to answer any questions as they arrive. And yeah, earlier the better. Love it. Well, ladies, thank you so much for your time today. I know you're busy with renewals, so I appreciate the hour carved out here to help folks understand how important renewals are. Thank you everyone for joining us today. Have a good afternoon.