Real estate title glossary
What is MERS?
Definition
MERS is a private registry that tracks servicing and ownership of mortgage loans; it is often named on the recorded mortgage as nominee for the lender, so later transfers need not be recorded.
A mortgage naming MERS shows MERS as mortgagee or beneficiary in the county record even when the loan has been sold several times. The MERS ServicerID service lets a borrower look up the current servicer.
How it shows up in a title search
Matching a release to a MERS loan takes care: the release may be signed by MERS or by a servicer that never appears in the county record.
Guides that go deeper
- Mortgage Search by Address: How to Find Who Holds a Mortgage on a PropertyHow a mortgage search by address works: turn the address into a parcel and owner, search recorded mortgages and assignments, and find a servicer or loan owner.
- Is That Mortgage Actually Open? Satisfactions, Assignments and CEMAsA recorded mortgage never leaves the record. Only a satisfaction closes it, an assignment does not, and a CEMA hides old mortgages inside a new one.
- Satisfaction of Mortgage: What It Is, Deadlines by State, and How to Confirm OneWhat a satisfaction of mortgage is, how long a lender has to record one in Florida, North Carolina, Texas and Arizona, and how to confirm it is in the land records.
Related terms
Book and pageAssignment of mortgageSubordination agreementPayoff statementUCC fixture filingAll terms
Source: MERSCORP Holdings, MERS ServicerID. Plain-English summary of general US usage; state law varies, and this is not legal advice.