Hi Folks. A few weeks ago I decided to start asking my past Short Sale Sellers to send me the Release of Mortgage notice once they received it from their lender after the short sale was completed.
I’m just getting started on my quest but have received several “Release of Mortgage” notices thus far. As I was reading through them I noticed 2 things that were the same even though the Lenders were completely different.
First they all state “…..acknowledge that it has received full payment and satisfaction, and in consideration thereof, does hereby cancel and discharge said Mortgage”.
And secondly the “Original Mortgagee” as stated in all of the releases thus far is……..“Mortgage Electronic Registration Services, Inc.” or MERS.
So whether the lender/servicer was Bank of America, Wells Fargo or Chase (the 3 notices I have received) the “Original Mortgagee is MERS.
MERS, from what I understand, steps between the original Lender and the servicer. It acts as the nominee for the Lender and the servicer. Nominee: A person or organization in whose name a security is registered though true ownership is held by another party.
So when MERS is involved we have no clue who the true owner of the mortgage is. I wonder how this will affect Lenders going after a Deficiency Judgment in the future?
MERS is a privately owned company with some pretty serious players as shareholders.
Their mission is to…“Register every mortgage loan in the United States into the MERS System".
OK so what am I missing here? Does this company have way too much control or are they truly nothing more than a registration company? Help me out here. What say you?
Do NOT be foreclosed on! Avoid foreclosure. Short Sales DO close.
Want to find out more? www.CentralFloridaShortSales.com
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Chase Short Sale,Sun Trust Short Sale, GMAC Short Sale, Wells Fargo Short Sale,Bank of America Short Sale,USA Bank Short Sale,PNC Bank Short Sale,Citi Short Sale,HomeEq Short Sale,Fifth Third Bank Short Sale,ING Direct Short Sale,GreenTree Short Sale,Capital One Short Sale,ASC Short Sale,First Horizon Short Sale,E-Trade Short Sale,Transland Financial Short Sale,US Bank Short Sale,IBM LBPS Short Sale,
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Hun...
I've been so busy today I haven't taken the time to digest it and twirl it around in my head. I think I'll save that crap until tomorrow :)
TLW...ROAR!
Bryant - I would say if MERS is the official nominee, acting in behalf of the lender, then the satisfaction, discharge and cancellation is correct. This was great research, by the way.
Hopefully these releases are all recorded. Not a year goes by that we don't get a call from a title company that the buyer has a previously owned property showing in the land records where the title company failed to record the deed.
In Maryland title is held by a "Trustee".
It's quite wierd.
Sounds convoluted
Question for you about the first part (not about MERS): Since it says something to the effect of "full payment and satisfaction", could you theoretically send this to the three credit reporting agencies and get the short sale ding removed from your credit?
"Pretty Big Players" is an understatement methinks. Wow, Wow, Wow! I believe our loans are held in trust as Lenn has commented but I would like to know for sure. Will we ever know the whole truth? I guess time will tell.
There was an article about MERS back on April 27, 2009 from Ralph R Roberts entitled "Who Owns My Mortgage" on Realty Times that was very interesting about this same topic.
Bryant,
You ask a good question...but I think you raise an even bigger issue...
".....acknowledge that it has received full payment and satisfaction, and in consideration thereof, does hereby cancel and discharge said Mortgage".
If I were the homeowner who received this, I'd be checking my credit report and regardless of how the lender reported the debt, I'd make sure it showed as PAID IN FULL.
Just my opinion... now 'what say you?'
Hi Bryant... WOW! Just when I thought I had heard it all you come up with this! I don't have an answer but will be anxious to see what you and others find out about MERS.
Bryant - In the stock brokerage industry, shares that are not issued in paper certificate form are generally held in electronic form under the name of a clearing house, whose name escapes me at this point in time. This makes the transferring of shares very easy because the clearing house only needs to record the name of the stock brokerage whose client has beneficial interest in the shares. The stock brokerage is responsible for tracking the name of the beneficial owner (client) that actually owns the shares. This type of situation exists in both the USA and Canada.
Perhaps a somewhat similar situation exists in the US mortgage industry, at least with some of the bigger players.
Most of the time these guys aren't the original loan holder/servicer and one can see who the original loan was issues by, though not always. MERS has lots of loans in our area.
My mortgage was originated by Countrywide and then sold to Fannie Mae. I believe BOA now has the servicing.
I'm still learning about MERS. I thought it was a data base not the holder of mortgages. Nominee....hummm?
Most wholesale lender require a MERS report as part of the loan submission. It does allow the lender to have more information on the borrowers current loans and applications.
Is that good? Probably for the lenders.
My understanding is like Mark's, it acts as a database and an intermediate for the mortgage holders and servicers. In essence it hides who really holds your mortgage. Wells Fargo may service it, but is owned by some foreign country. MERS hides who the true owner is- they set up the investor with the servicer, and servicer with the payor.... Just my take...
BB - I really think that MERS is very much in control, since reading the Legal Primer on their web site in the foreclosure section, although the case may be different in each State and reading their web site. Thanks for pointing this out to us.