Get Ready for the Great MERS Whitewash Bill

[phantom power]

Perhaps even more devastatingly, some critics say that sloppiness at MERS—which has just 40 full-time employees—may have botched chain of title for many mortgages. They say that MERS lacks standing to bring foreclosure actions, and the botched chain of title may cast doubts on whether anyone has clear enough ownership of some mortgages to foreclose on a defaulting borrower. The problems with MERS system led JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon to stop using MERS for foreclosures in 2008.

Now it appears that Congress may attempt to prevent any MERS meltdown from occurring. MERS is owned by all the biggest banks, and they certainly do not want it to be sunk by huge fines. Investors in mortgage-backed securities also do not want to see the value of their bonds sink because of doubts about the ownership of the underlying mortgages.

So it looks like the stage may be set for Congress to pass a bill that would limit MERS exposure on the recording fee issue and perhaps retroactively legitimate mortgage transfers conducted through MERS private database.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/40150186

[dkf]

Too big to fail...

[HereSince1628]

1. Free-marketers to seek more protection from ...

the government that they hate so much. Fact is stranger than fiction. I can't wait for the pendulum of public hate to swing back and crush their rosy cheeks.

Decades of stories of welfare queens driving expensive cars turn into verifiable fact, but the "queens" turn out to be banksters from upscale neighborhoods, who can't understand why they should be prosecuted for malfeasance at a global scale.

[katandmoon]

2. If they do, will Obama sign it?

[sharesunited]

3. How is an assignment using MERS any different from

an assignment of beneficial interest in a land trust?

Both types of transfers happen outside of the public record, and the trustee has absolute authority to identify who the real party in interest is if called upon to do so.

It's like a cemetery plot registry. All happens in a book at the cemetery office, not at the office of the county recorder.

I have yet to get on board the "free houses thanks to MERS" express. Doesn't seem like a very compelling argument at all. More like wishful thinking.