MERS looks like it will prevail when it comes to questions about the validity of assignments where it is involved, but some think it may “lock down” its procedures as a result of the concerns.
“In my opinion, MERS is still and will remain an important part of the industry,” said Mike Wileman, president and chief executive officer of Orion Financial Group. “There are going to be some procedural lockdowns I think are necessary, but think in the long run it’s too much an integral part of the industry [to go away].”
When asked about questions that have arisen about the validity of assignments where MERS is involved, Wileman said, “I could only weigh in from the standpoint of you’ve got rulings on both sides of the fence.
“Obviously, I think MERS and their members feel like they have the ability to assign loans and I think there’s probably been some adjustments and there’s been some additional education.
“They’re taking the steps to make sure people understand and have some basic information on MERS and what their role is as an assignment officer,” he said. MERS is “re-emphasizing to the members their responsibility of maintaining good information in the system,” he said.
When asked how his company handles situations involving MERS, he said it would vet them to the extent that the company’s own legal counsel was satisfied.
“We know from experience and certainly from our legal counsel…what needs to be done to have complete chain of title,” Wileman said. “If there are really title chain issues that are unresolved…then we will tell clients, ‘You’re going to need more direct legal counsel.’”
MERS does have competitors but to date none appear to have been as prominent in the industry. Among these is the Global Debt Registry, which says it has a patent-pending repository for the registry of securitized mortgages.
