Real Estate Articles » Mortgages & Lending

Mortgage Research Solving The Mystery Of Mers

By: Dan O'Connor
Submitted: 05:36PM on Saturday 16 August 2008

Although MERS (Mortgage Electronic Registration System) makes it a bit difficult for the novice investor to actually find out who the current lender is, the process of finding out who owns what is actually pretty easy once you know where to look.

And once you know where to look and discover which lender currently holds which interest in your potential deal, making contact becomes a whole lot easier. More on unveiling the MERS mystery of lender identification in a minute. First, you need to have a clear understanding of what exactly MERS is and does.


Officially formed in 1995, MERS (A Delaware Corp) has become a mainstay in the mortgage industry having reached its 50,000,000th registered loan in 2007. With members and shareholders including the Mortgage Bankers Association of America (MBA), Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Ginnie Mae, Washington Mutual, Wells Fargo, HSBC, GMAC, Stewart Title, First American Title, Countrywide, CitiMortgage, Chase, ABN Amro and many others, MERS is here for the long run.

MERS serves a couple of purposes. First, MERS acts as an agent for the loan servicer (as nominee) and beneficial owner of a mortgage loan in public records. The second purpose is basically to serve as a national registry for tracking loan servicers and beneficial ownership interests in mortgage loans.

The chicken or the egg?

Lenders and loan servicers join MERS and, as members, appoint MERS as the mortgagee of record for all of the loans that they register in the MERS system. Basically, this process eliminates any need to record assignments when servicing rights are sold from one MERS member to another.

No paper trail to follow and no stacks of assignments to keep track of make the steady stream of loan assignments from MERS members flow easily.

MERS enters the picture…

MERS becomes the Mortgagee of Record in a couple of ways including bulk transfers of loan servicing by means of an assignment from a lender or servicer to MERS or at the time of closing, the lender names MERS as the mortgagee of record as nominee for itself (and/or successors/assigns) in the security instrument, although MERS is not actually involved in the loan process itself. The latter method is commonly referred to as “MOM” (MERS as Original Mortgagee).

Once MERS is named in the original security instrument or by way of a MOM assignment, the document is then recorded in the respective public records and no future assignments of the mortgage to other MERS members ever need to be recorded in the future. All subsequent transfers of loan servicing rights and ownership of mortgage loans are handled electronically through the MERS system to ensure a solid chain of title.

Identifying the lender or loan servicer of a mortgage or deed of trust…

Remember, MERS is neither a lender nor a loan servicer so don’t contact them to inquire about purchasing a debt instrument.

MERS has a system in place to help in identifying current loan servicers and lenders. This system is referred to as the Servicer Information System (SIS) and you can contact them 24/7 at 888-679-6377 and then follow the simple automated process of voice prompts.

If you have the 18 digit Mortgage Identification Number (MIN) typically listed near the top of the 1st page of the deed of trust or mortgage document, you’ll be provided with the name and telephone number of the current servicer. If you don’t have the MIN, you can provide the Borrower’s Social Security Number (SSN).

As an alternative, if you’re totally in the dark and you don’t have the MIN or the Borrower’s SSN, during the hours of 8:00 am EST and 10:00 pm EST Monday through Friday, you can call the MERS Helpdesk at 888-680-6377 and provide the Borrower name and/or property address to get this information. The Servicer of the mortgage loan will be able to provide you with further information.

How does all of this come into play?

The last piece…

When the average investor sees MERS on a deed of trust or mortgage, they typically decide that it’s a dead end and choose not to pursue a potential deal. Don’t be average.

By knowing how to quickly locate the actual loan servicer or lender, you can get to the decision maker quickly and, in doing so, get to the all important “yes” or “no” while everybody else is scratching their head wondering what happened.

Imagine being able to find out who the mortgagee is within a couple of minutes of seeing MERS on a mortgage or deed of trust. You’ll be able to instantly know if the lender is one you’ve dealt with in the past and if they’re open to negotiation regarding a short sale, discount or a potential note assignment.

Powerful information? You’d better believe it!

Now try a couple of ‘dry run’ searches in your local property records (by searching MERS in the grantor/grantee index) to see just how easy it is to find the mortgagee through the MERS system and document your results. You’ll soon have your own database of lender contacts to work from.

Then, in the future if the clock is ticking and you need to know a mortgagee’s contact information, you’ll already have it or know how to quickly access it while your competition is left fumbling around wishing they knew which lender had the loan!