Ginnie Mae Plays Leadership Role in MERS Initiative.

Ginnie Mae has announced the eligibility of multifamily mortgages that are registered with MERS Commercial effective immediately, becoming the first secondary market agency to take this step in promoting the use of the electronic registry for tracking ownership of loans.

Pools may contain both MERS registered and non-registered loans.

"MERS is delighted that Ginnie Mae has taken a leadership position in adopting MERS Commercial in the multifamily industry," said Dan McLaughlin, executive vice president at MERS. "As a result, it will be less costly for mortgage companies to originate multifamily loans, which will contribute to making multifamily housing more affordable."

Registration of multifamily loans with MERS Commercial is voluntary and offers benefits including increased security of the Ginnie Mae collateral position, reduced letter of credit (LOC) costs for uncertified pools and lower costs in origination and servicing.

Because registration with MERS eliminates assignments, it will reduce trailing assignments that sometimes require lenders to expend capital on LOCs until a pool can be certified, Mr. McLaughlin said.

He said MERS has a good relationship with Ginnie Mae and wanted to recognize the leadership Ginnie Mae officials have demonstrated in supporting MERS Commercial.

Membership in MERS Commercial is required for registering loans. MERS Commercial is an electronic registry designed to eliminate the repurchase risk and costs associated with preparing, recording and tracking assignments. Borrowers name MERS as mortgagee on the security instrument and other documents that are recorded in the county land records. MERS Commercial is an extension of the use of MERS in the residential mortgage industry, where over 19 million loans have been registered on the MERS system.