In Brief: Mortgage Loan Tracking Firm Raises Capital

Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems Inc. said it has obtained the additional capital it needed to make its electronic system for tracking mortgage servicing rights the industry standard.

Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and the Mortgage Bankers Association will guarantee Mers some $8 million in additional funds over the next five years, the company said Friday.

The company also signed up more than a dozen lenders to purchase $1.4 million in loan registrations. These steps will bring the organization's total capitalization to about $20 million.

The Mers system has been up and running since April 1997, but its revenue stream has been slower than expected. Lenders were preoccupied with the refinance boom and the year-2000 problem, so they were slow to register, a company spokeswoman said. - Marc Hochstein

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