The MERS System versus the County Recordation System
Extract Systems-
MERS® is an acronym for Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, Inc. It was envisioned in 1993 by the major banks who sought to securitize residential mortgage loans on Wall Street through simple data entry, bypassing the county recordation process and fees. The initial MERS mortgage is recorded in the County Clerk’s office with “Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, Inc.” named as the lender’s nominee or mortgagee of record on the instrument. During the lifetime of the mortgage, the beneficial ownership interest or servicing rights may be transferred among MERS members (MERS assignments), but these assignments are not publicly recorded.
MERS claims to have involved itself in over 70-million mortgages in America and currently boasts over 30-million mortgages currently operating in its electronic database. For all intents and purposes, MERS is a computer. The MERS business model operates in part from this computer system, which is 100% owned by the MERSCORP Holdings, Inc.