Maine lawmakers tighten foreclosure rules in win for consumers

Maine lawmakers tighten foreclosure rules in win for consumers
| Reuters

The focus of the dispute is Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems (MERS), set up by U.S. banks before the housing bubble of the 2000s. MERS was meant to streamline the packaging of loans into mortgage-backed bonds. After the bubble burst, MERS was besieged by litigation.
MERS lists itself as holder of millions of U.S. mortgages, allowing lenders to bypass public records when mortgage loans are bought and sold. During the housing crisis, critics said, MERS helped lenders push out poorly documented mortgages, confused homeowners about the true owner of their loans, and contributed to wrongful foreclosures.
Republican Governor Paul LePage vetoed the Maine legislation, but the state legislature overrode the veto Tuesday night. The law effectively affirms a 2014 Maine Supreme Court ruling that challenged a MERS-related foreclosure, though limiting its impact to future cases