MetaSource Warns of 8 Most Common MERS Findings for 2017
SALT LAKE CITY (PRWEB) October 30, 2017 -- MetaSource, a MERS® Patron Member, has compiled its list of the most common MERS reporting deficiencies revealed in its reviews of practices at hundreds of servicer clients throughout the year.
With a lack of written MERS policies and procedures as the most commonly found problem, these findings represent deficiencies that servicers need to correct before submitting their MERS Annual Report to meet the end of year deadline.
MERS Background & Annual Report
In the spring of 2011, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency issued consent orders outlining a quality assurance mission for MERSCORP Holdings, Inc. and the nation's largest servicers. The mission was designed to ensure that data accuracy within the MERS System could effectively support its role in securitization.
As a result, MERS consolidated the Consent Order to reflect new Member requirements. Today, MERS requires an annual scope of review for MERS General Members – more commonly known as the MERS Annual Report (and formerly known as the "MERS independent attestation”).
As part of the MERS Annual Report, Members are required to certify that their internal team or an Independent Review Organization (IRO), such as MetaSource, has monitored their MERS QA performance against their QA Plan based on the six “conditions” (requirements) of the MERS Annual Report. The core objective of the six conditions is to identify how Members support MERS data integrity requirements and operational procedures.
As an IRO, MetaSource performs MERS Annual Report reviews. MetaSource thoroughly reviews Member data integrity and operational policies and procedures for the production and execution of a MERS Annual Report.
With the end of year deadline for the MERS Annual Report looming, MetaSource has identified the top eight MERS quality assurance (QA) issues based on working with hundreds of mortgage servicer clients this year.
Top Finding: Lack of Written MERS Policies & Procedures
A large part of a MERS audit consists of reviewing written policies and procedures. MERS requires clear written internal procedures in place that can be easily followed by subsequent employees. For example, can your department easily explain and demonstrate your foreclosure policy?
The lack of documentation for such policies and procedures is the most common MERS finding cited by MetaSource. According to Tonya Martinez, Manager of MERS Quality Assurance of MetaSource, the best way to resolve this finding is: “Document! Document! Document!”
Other Common MERS Findings
Mortgage services were frequently cited by MetaSource as having data integrity issues and often not having the right contact information in MERS.
Internal reporting, sub-servicer oversight, and reviews of both internal documents and electronic quality assurance (eQA) plans were also frequently cited.
Lastly, confusion over whether a third-party MERS review is required before the end of the year was also commonly cited by MetaSource.
What Mortgage Servicers Should Do
If you are a MERS General member and do not know if you are required to have a third-party review, you need to contact the MERS compliance help desk or MetaSource to ensure that you have a clear understanding of annual reporting requirements. MERS Annual Reports are due December 31st and can take up to 90 days or more to complete.
“If diagnosed with enough time before the end of the year, MERS findings can be promptly addressed and your MERS annual report submitted on time,” said Mary Kladde, Senior Vice President of Mortgage Services for MetaSource. “Once addressed, particularly with the help of an experienced IRO like MetaSource, common MERS findings are far less likely to recur as issues in 2018 and beyond.”
“If you wait much longer for your MERS Annual Report third-party review, no IRO will be able to help you this year, which exposes you to corrective action by MERSCORP,” added Kladde.
The full list of MERS findings appears on the MetaSource Mortgage Blog here.
About MetaSource, LLC
MetaSource is a technology-focused provider of Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) / Business Process Management (BPM) services integrated with Enterprise Content Management (ECM), workflow solutions, compliance services and customer experience processes. MetaSource helps its clients manage risk, improve quality, increase efficiency, and to realize their most important goals – with special expertise serving the mortgage industry. MetaSource’s mortgage services include quality control (QC) audits (pre-fund, post-close, servicing, MERS), lien release, whole loan purchase reviews, and more. All MetaSource solutions enable its clients to focus on their core business while MetaSource does the rest. More: http://mortgage.metasource.com
CONTACT
Colin Graf
Director of Marketing
(267) 552-6379
cgraf(at)metasource.com
Colin Graf, MetaSource, http://www.metasource.com, +1 (267) 552-6379, [email protected]
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