WINTER 2000
|
TITLE TALK |
| A Quarterly
Newsletter Published by Cortes & Hay, Inc. WINTER 2000 |
The Mortgage Electronic Registration System, also known as MERS is a national electronic registry which keeps track of the changes in servicing and ownership of mortgage loans.
The mortgagee of record for these mortgages is Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, Inc. The mortgage is either made directly to them or sold to them by assignment that is recorded in the county recorders office. Each mortgage is assigned an 18 digit MIN number that will either appear on the face of the original mortgage or assignment. When information regarding the mortgage is required MERS is contacted at the phone number shown on either the mortgage or assignment. Once the MIN number is given along with other information specific to that loan you will be able to obtain who the most recent loan servicer is.
The loan servicer is then contacted for the information requested. MERS can then provide releases, cancellations and discharges on the behalf of the current servicer.
Beginning with the first quarter of 2001, Internal Revenue Code Section 6045(f) will require the collection of information about payments delivered to attorneys and law firms.
As of that date before any payment be made to an attorney or law firm (including disbursement of attorneys fees out of closing proceeds), the attorney's or law firm's taxpayer identification number must be obtained using Form W-9 or a substitute W-9.
These forms are available at ww.irs.ustreas.gov.
The following is a list of upcoming County Clerk Holiday Closings:
February 12, 2001 - Lincoln's Birthday February 19, 2001 - Presidents Day April 10, 2001 - Good Friday
As of January 10, 2001 document scanning has become the official media of recording at the Hunterdon County Clerk's Office. From this point forward no longer will documents be micro filmed, compared, and placed in an actual book. The new process should help to speed up the turn around time on receiving recorded documents back in addition to saving valuable space.
All documents recorded up to the end of December 31, 2000 have been scanned, converted to CD Rom and will be reproduced to complete the last actual hard copy deed book. All documents recorded after that date have only been scanned into the imaging system and can be viewed on the computer monitors within the Hunterdon County Record Room. If a copy is needed it can be reproduced from the monitor. No notification has been made as to whether or not a price increase will occur in the future for these copies.
You will now also see a change in volume numbers. As of January 10, 2001 all documents recorded and filed will start with book 2001. Each book will show 950 pages and run consecutively.
Now that the County Clerk's are no longer providing easily accessible hard copies of documents that have been recorded, it is more important than ever for post closing copies to be submitted. Since only computer indexing is being used this will also enable us to determine if all the pages of your documents are recorded and indexed with proper spellings.
We are all always looking for a way to save time during our busy days. Here is one suggestion that we hope you can find useful during the course of your work day.
Whether it be sorting the mail, writing a letter or responding to voice or e-mail, set yourself a deadline of 10 minutes. Reality: By applying the 10-minute rule to only four or five daily tasks you may see a time savings of up to one hour.
Online ordering is now available. We hope that you will find our improved web site easy to navigate and informative. Please feel free to contact us with any feed back. at info@corteshay.com