How to Check if a Lender Is Licensed
A step-by-step check you can run in about ten minutes before you sign: search NMLS Consumer Access, confirm with your state regulator's own lookup, match the legal name on the agreement, and know what an unlicensed loan can mean for what you actually owe.
How to check if a lender is licensed comes down to two lookups and one side-by-side comparison, and you can do all three in about ten minutes before you sign anything. Start with NMLS Consumer Access, the national database that covers mortgage, consumer-lending, and money-service licenses in most states; then confirm with your own state’s financial regulator, because not every state runs its small-dollar or payday license through NMLS. Finally, match the legal name on your loan agreement — not the brand name on the website — to what the license record actually shows. Skipping this step matters more than it sounds.
If the company is asking you to pay a fee before any money reaches your account, stop and read how to spot a loan scam first. If you already borrowed and the lender turns out to be unlicensed, skip to if the lender isn’t licensed.
Why licensing matters before you sign
A state issues a lending license to hold a company to that state’s rate caps, fee limits, and collection rules — and to give a regulator somewhere to send a complaint. When a lender skips that step, the consequences can fall on the loan itself, not just on the lender. The CFPB’s page on how to tell if a payday lender is licensed states plainly that “if a payday loan is made by a business that is not licensed in that state, the payday loan may be void,” and that in that case “the lender may not have the right to collect or require the consumer to repay the payday loan.” New York is explicit about this in its own statute: Banking Law § 340 requires a license to make small loans above the rate a non-licensee could legally charge, and General Obligations Law § 5-511 says a usurious loan contract “shall be void,” with the court ordering it “surrendered and cancelled.” Not every state treats an unlicensed loan the same way, and this isn’t legal advice about your specific loan — but it’s exactly why the CFPB tells you to verify the license before you sign, not after.
Step one: search NMLS Consumer Access
The Nationwide Multistate Licensing System assigns the mortgage, consumer-lending, and money-services companies licensed through it — and many of their branches and loan officers — a permanent NMLS ID, searchable at no charge through NMLS Consumer Access. A record shows which states hold a license for that company, the license type and status, and any regulatory actions on file, which is useful if a company is licensed but was recently fined or had a license revoked elsewhere. The catch is coverage: NMLS is where states put mortgage and, since 2012, consumer-finance and money-services licensing, but a state’s small-dollar or payday license isn’t automatically one of them. Texas shows why that’s changing rather than fixed — the Office of Consumer Credit Commissioner now takes Credit Access Business license applications through NMLS, while its own ALECS search still lists licensees — so check both NMLS and the state regulator rather than assuming either one is complete.
Step two: check your state regulator directly
Every state runs its own license lookup, and some route you straight back to NMLS while others keep a separate tool entirely. The regulator and the license to search for vary by state:
| State | Regulator | What to search for |
|---|---|---|
| Texas | Office of Consumer Credit Commissioner (OCCC) | Credit Access Business (CAB) license, via OCCC’s ALECS search (alecs.occc.texas.gov) or NMLS Consumer Access |
| California | Department of Financial Protection and Innovation (DFPI) | Deferred deposit originator license under the California Deferred Deposit Transaction Law (payday); California Financing Law license (installment) |
| Florida | Office of Financial Regulation (OFR) | Deferred presentment provider license, in OFR’s REAL system |
| Illinois | Department of Financial and Professional Regulation (IDFPR) | Payday Loan license or Consumer Installment license |
| Ohio | Department of Commerce, Division of Financial Institutions | Short-Term Loan Act (STLA) license — search the division’s own licensee list |
| Washington | Department of Financial Institutions (DFI) | Check casher or seller license with a small loan endorsement (payday, RCW 31.45); Consumer Loan License (installment), both via NMLS Consumer Access |
| Nevada | Financial Institutions Division (FID) | Installment Loans license or Check Cashing/Deferred Deposit Services license, via NMLS Consumer Access |
| Missouri | Division of Finance | Pay Day Lenders license or Consumer Installment license |
| Michigan | Department of Insurance and Financial Services (DIFS) | Deferred-presentment or installment lender license — search the department’s own licensee list |
| Wisconsin | Department of Financial Institutions (DFI) | Payday Lender license |
CashNetUSA is a useful example of why the right regulator matters: in Texas, its loans are structured through a licensed Credit Access Business arrangement rather than lent directly, which is a different license to look for than a direct lending license in another state — see our review of CashNetUSA for how that plays out state by state. If your state isn’t on this list, its banking department, division of financial institutions, or department of financial regulation almost always runs an equivalent search; “licensee search” or “verify a license” in that department’s own site search usually finds it.
Step three: match the name on the agreement
A license record only helps if it matches what’s actually in front of you. Read the legal name printed on the loan agreement — not the brand name on the website or the name in the email you received — and search that exact name, not the marketing name, on whichever lookup applies. Many lenders print their license information in the website footer for exactly this reason: Mariner Finance, for example, is licensed as Mariner Finance, LLC (NMLS No. 166564), and Upgrade discloses its own NMLS number, #1548935, on its site. If the name on your paperwork doesn’t match any name in the license record — close but not exact, a different LLC, a different state of registration — that’s worth a direct question to the lender before you sign, not an assumption that it’s a clerical error.
When the lender on the paperwork is a bank or a tribal entity
Some loans aren’t made by the company whose brand is on the page — they’re made by a bank, under a bank-origination model where a chartered bank is the actual lender of record and the technology company handles the application and servicing. Mariner Finance’s online loans between $1,500 and $14,000, for instance, are as of our last check originated by WebBank except in California and Maryland, where Mariner originates them itself; Upgrade’s personal loans are originated by Cross River Bank. A bank chartered by a state or federal regulator generally doesn’t need the same state consumer-lending license a non-bank lender does, so the check shifts: confirm the bank is a real, FDIC-insured institution, and separately check whether the non-bank company handling your application is registered anywhere that’s required. A tribal lender is a different model again — a business organized as an arm of a federally recognized tribe can claim sovereign immunity from a state’s licensing and rate-cap rules entirely, which is a different question from whether a license simply exists. Our guide to tribal loans and sovereign immunity covers what that claim does and doesn’t change.
If the lender isn’t licensed
If you search both NMLS Consumer Access and your state regulator’s own lookup and can’t find the legal name on your agreement under a license covering your state, don’t sign. Ask the lender directly for its license number and the state(s) it’s licensed in — a legitimate lender can produce this on request, and a refusal or inability to do so is itself a reason to walk away. If you’ve already borrowed from a lender that turns out to be unlicensed, file a complaint with your state’s financial regulator — the same office from the table above — and with the CFPB; both take complaints about unlicensed lending specifically, and a regulator or court is what actually resolves a void-loan question in a state like New York, rather than withholding payment on your own.
Our payday loans hub rounds up every guide and review on this site if you want the fuller picture. For the state-by-state backdrop — what your state caps, bans, or allows before you even get to the licensing question — our guide to payday loan laws by state is the place to start. If a bad-credit installment loan is the product you’re actually weighing, what to watch for there covers the fee stack a license check doesn’t catch. If you’d rather compare offers, you can start a loan request and see what the lending networks you consent to offer — you may hear from lenders and lending networks you haven’t heard of, so run these same checks on whoever makes you an offer. Our guide to what happens after you submit a loan request walks through the steps.
This is general information, not legal advice. Licensing requirements and what an unlicensed loan means for what you owe vary by state and change over time — confirm current rules with your state regulator before you rely on anything here.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is NMLS Consumer Access?
NMLS Consumer Access is the public database run on the Nationwide Multistate Licensing System, where you can look up a company's or individual's licenses, the states where it holds them, and any regulatory actions on record, using its NMLS ID or legal name. It covers mortgage, consumer-lending, and money-service licenses in the states that use NMLS for them, but not every state runs its small-dollar or payday loan license through NMLS, so it's a first step rather than the only one.
Is a loan from an unlicensed lender still valid?
It depends on the state, but in some states the answer is no. The CFPB states that a payday loan made by a business not licensed in that state may be void, meaning the lender may not have the right to collect or require repayment. New York law goes further for usurious lending: General Obligations Law § 5-511 lets a court declare the contract void and order it canceled. This is not legal advice for your specific loan — confirm with your state regulator or a legal aid office if you're already in this situation.
Does a bank-origination model mean the lender doesn't need a state license?
Often yes for the bank itself, which is why some loans are made in the name of a chartered, FDIC-insured bank rather than the company whose brand is on the website. A bank generally doesn't need the same state consumer-lending license a non-bank lender does, so the check shifts: confirm the bank is real and FDIC-insured, and check whether the company actually handling your application is registered anywhere it's required to be, rather than assuming a bank name on the paperwork means nothing to verify.
What should I do if I already borrowed from a lender that turns out to be unlicensed?
Don't rely on withholding payment on your own — file a complaint with your state's financial regulator and with the CFPB, since a regulator or court is what actually determines whether a specific loan is void or still owed. Keep copies of the loan agreement, any license numbers the lender provided, and your communications, since that record is what a complaint or dispute will turn on.
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