Contacts:

Cecil Stack
of MERS
703-761-1270

Joan C. Dal Farra
of GMAC Mortgage
215-682-1931

McLean, Va., DATE – MERS officials announced today that GMAC Mortgage Corporation is implementing the MERS® System in all its distribution channels. GMAC Mortgage, one of the country’s leading mortgage originators and servicers, opened its retail, direct lending, wholesale and correspondent channels to MERS on Feb 1.

“We are partnering with MERS to use its process for various originations,” said Joanne Moore, MERS project manager of GMAC Mortgage. In early 2000, GMAC Mortgage’s correspondent lending division began looking at MERS as a competitive edge. “As discussions about MERS evolved, GMAC Mortgage began to see the advantages of MERS in all its channels,” said Doug Danko, MERS Vice President, Marketing and Sales. MERS, the Mortgage Electronic Registration System, is an electronic registry that tracks the ownership of loans and servicing rights with more than 3 million loans registered.

“We are excited anytime a top mortgage originator completes MERS integration and begins registering loans on the system,” said R.K. Arnold, MERS president and CEO. “The decision will maximize cost savings for the company.”

“MERS will alleviate the need for the preparation, execution and recording of assignments of security instruments,” stated Barbara Krawczun, vice president of secondary marketing operations. “The decision to implement MERS was based on the opportunity to reduce operating costs. In addition, workflow efficiencies will be achieved in several key areas of the company.”

The mortgage industry created MERS to streamline the mortgage process. MERS benefits include the elimination of paper assignments by acting as the mortgagee of record in the county land records for the lender and servicer. Ownership interests are then tracked electronically on the MERS® System, a national loan registry. Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, VA, FHA, Ginnie Mae, the Federal Home Loan Bank MPF® Program, California and New York housing authorities, and all major Wall Street rating agencies have approved MERS.

GMAC Mortgage, headquartered in Horsham, Pa., originates first and second lien residential mortgage loans through a nationwide network of retail offices, direct lending centers and internet sites under the brands gmacmortgage.com and ditech.com, and GM Family First, a custom mortgage services program offered to GM employees, retirees and dealers.

GMAC Mortgage is the nation's seventh largest residential mortgage servicer. As of Dec. 31, 2000, GMAC Mortgage originated $16.8 billion residential mortgages, representing more than 195,000 transactions. The company’s servicing portfolio of more than $164 billion represents 2 million customers throughout the nation.