An email from a concerned reader…
I have been using the MERS ServicerID website to look up the *alleged* investor on various loans for some time now, for attorneys and other clients of mine, as well as my own loan. I am well aware that the MERS database is full of holes, and lacks any checks and balances or oversight. But I’ve found it useful to point out what MERS says, vs. what a plaintiff is claiming, just to add further doubt in the cases I work on. (I am not an attorney – I do forensic analysis and research for fraud/forgery/etc.)
Today, I noticed that MERS ServicerID changed their website, so that ONLY the borrower can look up the investor/owner now!!
And even WORSE, they require you to enter your entire SSN or Tax ID number in order to see the investor!
NOTE: I DO NOT RECOMMEND ANYONE ENTERS THEIR SSN OR TIN INTO THE MERS WEBSITE. God knows who would see it, or what they would do with it!
Plus, as you probably know, oftentimes the results say, “The investor on this loan has chosen not to share their details.”
Furthermore, what business does MERS have storing peoples’ SSNs!? They are not a Federal agency. I think this may be against the law?
Perhaps this means they are feeling the heat, so I guess it’s potentially good news. Likely people have been using their data as evidence in court that the foreclosing entity isn’t the “real” owner of their loan.
To add insult to injury…. check this out – this is displayed as you’re going through the process of looking up your loan:
“By checking this box, the borrower or borrower’s authorized representative is attesting to the fact that he or she is in fact the borrower or borrower’s authorized representative for the loan in question. Additionally, borrowers wishing to learn the identity of their loan’s investor must confirm their identity by entering their last name or corporation name as well as their SSN or TIN. If this information does not match the information contained in the MERS® System for the borrower of the loan, the investor information will not be displayed. Borrowers should verify the results with their loan servicer.”
In other words, according to MERS, the information displayed may not even be accurate!
That actually jives with the disclaimer on the MERS website about how the information cannot be guaranteed for accuracy.
Here’s the link if you don’t already have it – they also added a new “captcha” box, which isn’t a big deal:
https://www.mers-servicerid.org/sis/
I guess they’ve just become even more opaque than they already were.
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I put in my info on mers site and got my info I wanted. It says that chase services my loan, which is correct. It also says chase is the investor. So is this info reliable? Last I heard, aurora loan services owned my loan. But that was several years ago.
And should I be worried that I entered my SSN in? What could happen?
It is only as accurate as the servicer enters it. In a 3-month period, after I hounded Bofa, the investor went from being BofA, to HSBC, and now to Wells Fargo. This caused me to submit TILA, RESPA, and MA 93A demands to MERS. I used MERS’ own contract against them. They have refused to reply, except to state that the servicer would have this information.
Do not let them off the hook. MERS acts as an agent for the lender/investor, not the servicer. Their boilerplate contracts are the best tool to use against them.
For a company that reputedly has only 50 employees, they manage to keep making changes in the same mortgage loan.
If you do a google search for the building address that MERS is located, it is a “virtual office”. Nothing with MERS is reality. Unfortunately, judges, and many attorneys, are too stupid to realize this.
The administration that make Mers function are probably getting antcy, trying to cover their tracks on things like timing and reporting structure. Until now MERS enjoyed little scrutiny. Now exposure of their system is revealing deception. I think it is a little amusing that they keep backing off disclosure or transparency as their “handlers,” the banks, increasingly seem to expose MERS as an identifiable stand-alone entity, which is accountable to the courts, acting as nominee trustees, named as foreclosing even though MERS owns nothing and should have NO legal standing since they neither loan nor own. If courts deny MERS relief from a stay in BK court, why should they be allowed authority to foreclose in non-judicial states based on the fact that they exist! My thinking is that if MERS has legal standing, they also have legal responsibility to be who or what they represent. We all know MERS is set up as a registry client for banks to avoid transfer fees. If MERS is designed to defraud municipalities of their fees set by law how can they legally defend their fraud? So legally, what are they? MERS is like an onion, when you peel away the layers there is nothing there; like an onion, all you have are the tears . . . .
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I checked MERS yesterday, noticed the new captcha installed, and having to use
personal id to find out who is the lender. Earlier in the year, the lender information
was not accessible, now lender can be identified after using SS#. Also the system
is gong to be changed again, as MERS is no longer going to offer this so called
service.
I looked up ours and found not a thing on our property,but put my husbands ssn,big mistake now,now what do i do if they use my husbands ssn,im so sick of this fraud!!!
What good is MERS if the information given is not accurate? I know that is what many a homeowner is asking. And they claim they are not responsibile for inaccurate info. So why in the world should we as borrowers have to put up with this and even more important why are the courts doing so?
I have been following my mortgage as well. In a three month period, MERS has shown 3 different investors. The one they currently show is not even the investor which the servicer claims holds the note….since 2005.
The MERS system has shown that it is not a legitimate database. I highly recommend that you check your MERS info on a monthly basis.