MERS foreclosure amendment dies in Oregon House committee

A late attempt by the finance industry to waive Oregon mortgage recording laws in most foreclosures is dead.

The Oregon House Judiciary Committee voted today to approve Senate Bill 519 without an amendment sought last week by loan servicers, title companies and credit unions. The amendment would have relieved lenders of ensuring a property’s ownership history is properly recorded in public records before foreclosing outside a courtroom.

The committee voted with no debate to send the bill to a floor vote without the amendment. Afterward, co-chair Jeff Barker cited a public outcry over the amendment as reason for its failure and described an intense back-room negotiations to do so.”There was a lot of opposition,” said Barker, D-Aloha.

“I probably got more emails about this than anything all session.”

Document recording and signing issues have hung up foreclosures across the nation, and many of them have involved the Mortgage Electronic Registration System, or MERS. Federal judges in Oregon have blocked such foreclosures, saying MERS failed to record underlying documents properly as required by Oregon law in out-of-court foreclosures.


An attorney representing servicers said the amendment’s death could prompt lenders to take foreclosure actions into the courtroom, which would take longer and cost more. Oregon law allows so-called non-judicial foreclosures to take place outside of a court.

“There are literally thousands of foreclosures in Oregon that are presently on hold as servicers contemplate the meaning and impact of some of the decisions that have been handed down of late,” said Lance Olsen, an attorney with Routh Crabtree Olsen who represents trustee companies, lenders and servicers throughout the Northwest.

Other actions, he said, are being held up as lenders try to work with borrowers to arrange loan workouts or complete trial modifications.

The financial industry pushed hard for the amendment, prompting Barker to postpone its scheduled hearing Tuesday. The lobbying effort jeopardized Senate Bill 519, already passed by a 28-1 vote by the Senate in April. The bill preserves affordable housing incentives in foreclosures involving subsidized housing.

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