As detailed in the following releases from MERS, in support of new federal legislation designed to assist homeowners in staying in their homes, MERSCORP, Inc. (MERS) has unveiled a new program that will inform borrowers of changes to the owner of their loan. Thereby bringing greater transparency and accountability to the mortgage lending process

The Helping Families Save Their Homes Act of 2009, signed by President Obama on May 20, 2009, amends the Truth in Lending Act (TILA) and requires that, when a loan secured by the primary home of the borrower is sold, transferred or assigned, the new owner of the loan notify the borrower in writing of the transfer of ownership within thirty days.

Because MERS is the real estate finance industry’s utility, and the repository of information on over 60 million loans registered by lenders on the MERS® System, the company has unveiled a program that will inform the borrower of future changes to the investor when the loan is registered on the MERS® System. The MERS® InvestorID program will automatically send a Mortgage Transfer Notice to the primary borrower when the ownership of their loan changes on the MERS® System. MERS members with their own notification solution can opt out of using MERS® InvestorID.

“We are excited to support Congress and the Obama Administration’s efforts to help distressed borrowers stay in their homes,” said R.K. Arnold, MERS President and CEO. “This program will be another tool for the real estate finance industry and the Administration’s efforts to bring greater transparency and accountability to the mortgage lending process.” For more information on MERS® InvestorID, contact MERS at 800-646-6377.

6/12/2009 
MERS® InvestorID Automatic Notifications Starting June 19, 2009 - Opt Out Deadline 

On June 19, 2009, MERS will implement Phase I of MERS® InvestorID to help Members meet the requirements of the Helping Families Save Their Homes Act of 2009 that went into effect on May 20, 2009.

When a Transfer of Beneficial Rights (TOB) transaction occurs on the MERS® System, MERS® InvestorID will mail a system-generated Mortgage Loan Transfer Notice on behalf of the new Investor to the Primary Borrower at the Property Address reflected on the MERS® System for the transferrred loan, informing the borrower of the change of ownership.

To meet the deadline for compliance with the Act, on June 19th MERS® InvestorID will generate Mortgage Loan Transfer Notices for all TOB transactions that have occurred since May 20, 2009. Members who do not wish to have notices sent for TOB transactions on which their organization was the new Investor can opt out of MERS® InvestorID by sending an email to InvestorID@mersinc.org with "opt-out" and their Org ID in the subject line, including the requesting contact's name, title, telephone number, and email address in the body of the email. To exclude your organization from the initial run on June 19th, we must receive your email by 5:00PM EDT on June 18th.

If you have any questions about the new automated Mortgage Loan Transfer Notice functionality, please call the MERS corporate office at 703-761-1270 and ask for the MERS® InvestorID team. A Training Bulletin will be sent early next week with more detail about the MERS® System information used to populate the notices.