MERS, owned and operated by the mortgage lending industry, was created to eliminate the need to prepare and record assignments when trading mortgage loans. MERS does this by acting as mortgagee for all MERS members in the county land records. That way, the legal mortgagee interest in the land records never changes when the loan is traded.
As the mortgage industry's central electronic registry, MERS tracks ownership interests and servicing rights for residential and commercial loans alike. Loans registered in the MERS® System are protected against future assignments because MERS remains the mortgagee no matter how often servicing is traded between MERS members. Registering loans on MERS saves lenders time, money, and in the case of MERS® Commercial, eliminates the repurchase risk and costs associated with preparing, recording and tracking assignments. MERS products include MERS® Commercial, MERS® OnLine, MERS® 1-2-3. MERS has been approved by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, FHA, VA, Ginnie Mae, and all Wall Street rating agencies to act as original mortgagee and nominee for the lender in all 50 states.
Most recently, MERS launched the MERS® eRegistry, a system of record that identifies the owner (Controller) and custodian (Location) for registered eNotes. It provides greater liquidity, transferability and security for lenders, making it the first true step toward a complete electronic mortgage system. |
