Essex County Register of Deeds in MA requests investigation of MERS

Last week, Essex County Register of Deeds John O’Brien sent a letter to Attorney General Martha Coakley requesting that she investigate whether or not the Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, Inc. has failed to pay the recording fees required when a lender assigns a mortgage to another entity. The so-called MERS system includes such banking conglomerates as Bank of America, Countrywide Home Loans, Wells Fargo Bank and others.


O’Brien said that it had come to his attention that a number of states have alleged in court filings that MERS intentionally failed to pay recording fees, and failed to disclose the transfer and assignments of interest in property, solely to avoid and decrease the recordation fees owed to the counties and the state.

In addition, MERS may have wrongfully bypassed Massachusetts recording requirements, thereby frustrating the borrower’s right to know the true identity of the holder of his or her mortgage, according to O’Brien.

“As the keeper of the land records in Essex County, I take my job very seriously,” O’Brien said. “Every day, hard-working people come into the Registry to record their documents, and they pay the proper fees. It troubles me greatly that these major lenders may have devised a scheme to avoid paying what the average citizen is legally required to pay. In many cases, MERS has assigned homeowners’ mortgages dozens of times to various MERS-related entities, thereby avoiding recording the proper assignments in the respective registries of deeds.”

O’Brien, whose district includes 30 cities and towns in Essex County, said that in his registry alone, if it is proven that fees were not properly paid, it could amount to hundreds of thousands of dollars in lost revenue for the state.

O’Brien is asking the attorney general for an official opinion as to whether or not the taxpayers have been victimized. If so, he is requesting that Massachusetts follow other states’ lead and immediately file a lawsuit to recoup any and all fees, penalties and interest.

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