CONTACT:

Karmela Lejarde
Phone: 703-761-1274
Email: KarmelaL@mersinc.org

Orlando, FL—Today at the Mortgage Bankers Association of America’s National Technology in Mortgage Banking Conference, MERS announced its intent to be the future provider for a national electronic note registry. The MERS announcement is in response to the MBA’s publication of the high-level business requirements for the registry.

The proposed e-note registry would be an industry utility that would keep track of each electronic note originated by lenders. The holder of an e-Note would have the same rights as that of a “Holder in Due Course” with a paper negotiable promissory note.

“MERS is ready to step forward and take on this responsibility,” said R.K. Arnold, President & CEO of MERS. “We already have experience serving as a registry for servicing assets, making us the logical choice to take on the job.”

The concept of a national e-note registry was the industry’s response to the requirements imposed by the Uniform Electronic Transactions Act (UETA) and the federal Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act (E-SIGN). It evolved out of the need to track and identify electronic promissory notes or e-notes for electronic mortgages.

About MERS
MERS is an electronic loan registry created by the real estate finance industry to eliminate assignments when trading mortgage loans. Borrowers name MERS as mortgagee and nominee for the lender on deeds of trust and mortgages that are recorded in the county land records. Lenders then register the loans on the MERS® System and electronically track changes in servicing and beneficial ownership rights over the life of the loan.

Loans registered with MERS are inoculated against future assignments because MERS remains the mortgagee of record no matter how often servicing is traded between MERS members. Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, VA, FHA, Ginnie Mae, the Federal Home Loan Bank MPF®, California and New York housing authorities, and all major Wall Street rating agencies have approved MERS.