Trade name and branch compliance, mapped to where you are registered.
Every brand your team uses online should be a registered trade name in every state it operates. Audit Hound maps your DBAs and branch names to where they are actually registered and shows you the gaps before a regulator does.
The problem this solves
Loan officers and branches create brand names, "Summit Home Loans," a team name, a vanity website, often without compliance knowing and without the trade name being registered where it is used. Regulators cite companies for names used in states where the DBA is not registered. It is one of the most common and most missed gaps in mortgage marketing compliance, and it is exactly the kind of issue EASE advisors see raised in examinations.
The picture lives in two independent systems that work in concert, and a name can be clean in one and missing from the other. Audit Hound holds one unit, a trade name in a state, against four facts: is it used there, is it on the NMLS list, is it authorized for that state, and is it filed with that state's Secretary of State.
Two kinds of trade names, one system
Every trade name is one of two things, and Audit Hound treats each the way a regulator would.
The company's own brands
The names the company itself markets under. Each one is verified against NMLS Other Trade Names and each state's registrations, and every use online is mapped back to that record.
Managed like the branch they effectively are
A producing team marketing under its own name gets managed as its own unit: its own roster of officers and assistants, its own board, its own coverage map, its own posts and findings, and searches, reports, and exports scoped to just that team. In many companies that team is a branch in everything but paperwork, and the monitoring treats it that way.
Three levels where a trade name fails
A brand is only clear when all three hold in every state where it appears. Most companies only ever check the first.
Is the name listed under the company's Other Trade Names? A brand your team uses that appears nowhere on the record fails before the state question even starts.
State regulators control each state's authorization separately. A name approved in Georgia is not approved in Tennessee, and the record shows it state by state.
A separate corporate-registry filing outside NMLS entirely. A name can be fully authorized on NMLS and still have no assumed-name filing where it is used. We check both systems, side by side.
Trade name registration ledger| State | Used | On NMLS list | Authorized in state | Secretary of State |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Georgia | Yes | Listed | Authorized | Filed |
| Florida | Yes | Listed | Authorized | No filing found |
| Tennessee | Yes | Listed | Not authorized | No filing found |
Officers marketing under names that are not on the record
Every officer's public record lists the names they may market under: the legal name, NMLS other names, approved team names. We hold every captured post against that list, and a name outside it is a finding.
Officer name checkReady to buy this spring? The Ellis Home Loan Pros team gets you to the closing table.
A trade name finding, mapped to the record
Not just "this name looks unapproved." Where it is used, who is licensed there, what the record shows, and what to file. Fictional sample below.
DBA-STATE-GAP
- Condition
- The brand "Summit Home Loans" appears on a landing page and officer profiles targeting Tennessee, where three of the company's officers are licensed. The name is not listed under the company's NMLS Other Trade Names for Tennessee, and no Tennessee Secretary of State registration was found.
- Criteria
- NMLS Other Trade Names record; Tennessee trade name registration requirements.
A licensee may not transact business under a name other than a name registered with the department.
- Corrective action
- File the trade name with the Tennessee Secretary of State and add it under Other Trade Names for Tennessee in NMLS, or stop using the brand in Tennessee.
Why only Audit Hound can do this
This check depends on holding your licensing and trade name registration data, which is what EASE compliance work is built on.
We do not just find an unapproved name. We tell you it is being used in a state where it is not registered, for an officer licensed in that state, and what to file to fix it.
A registration ledger, not a guess
Each trade name gets a per-state ledger: where it appears on NMLS, where it is filed with the Secretary of State, where your officers are licensed, and exactly where the gaps are, in an examiner-ready PDF.
Re-verified on your cadence
Registrations are pulled from NMLS and every state's Secretary of State, then re-verified on your plan's rhythm, quarterly, monthly, or daily. A filing that lapses or a record that drifts is caught on the next sweep, not discovered in an exam.
Every finding is confirmed by an EASE advisor before it reaches you. Sourced, human-reviewed reference, not legal advice.
One per company, officer, or trade name: the rule, the verbatim regulatory text, the evidence, and the fix. Built to hand to an examiner.
Drop an ad on Ask and it is reviewed against the same rulebook in seconds, so marketing can ask before they post.
Compliance, unleashed.
Transparent pricing from $149 per month, no demo required. Your first advisor-reviewed report arrives within a week of activation.