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The legal questions surrounding MERS are numerous and the answers vary from state to state. Both Merscorp, of Reston, Va., and its legal critics have both won their share of court decisions.
June 2 -
The Michigan Court of Appeals ruled that Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems Inc. is ineligible to use the state’s non-judicial foreclosure process, vacating the 2009 foreclosures of two borrowers.
April 27 -
Regulators never questioned the underlying business model of Merscorp, whose private loan registry has become a lightning rod for foreclosure litigation.
April 15
Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley has launched an investigation of the Mortgage Electronic Registration System, or MERS, the middleman in millions of foreclosure filings.
In a letter Monday, Ms. Coakley said her office is planning to send civil investigative demands to Massachusetts registers of deeds as part of its investigation of MERS. According to the letter, the investigation focuses "particularly on creditors' reliance on MERS" and whether the company "conforms to the requirements of Massachusetts law, in the context of foreclosures and otherwise."
MERS is an electronic-lien registry set up by the mortgage industry to handle documentation on loans bundled into pools and sold as securities. Some county officials in Massachusetts have alleged that MERS has filed fraudulent documents in the state and failed to pay for and file proper mortgage assignments as required by state law.
The company's legal standing has also faced criticism from some judges around the U.S.
In the letter sent to Massachusetts registers of deeds, Ms. Coakley said she wouldn't agree to any settlement of the ongoing 50-state investigation of alleged foreclosure abuses "if it includes a comprehensive liability release regarding securitization and the MERS conduct."
Efforts to reach a MERS spokeswoman were unsuccessful.
