Abstract
This article addresses current law governing mortgage satisfaction, the need for effective reform, and the extent to which URMSA provides (or fails to provide) that reform. Part II briefly describes the transformation of the modem mortgage transaction - from its traditional "local" character to the modem development of the "national" mortgage market - and the implications of this transformation for the way in which satisfaction of mortgages occurs. Part III discusses the current patchwork of state law mortgage satisfaction provisions, emphasizing how these provisions have not kept pace with the transformation of the mortgage market, how the lack of uniformity has accentuated problems in obtaining mortgage satisfactions, and how URMSA addresses (or fails to address) these problems. Part IV briefly describes the Mortgage Electronic Recording System (MERS) and explains why the MERS system (as it currently functions) does not provide a satisfactory potential solution for mortgage satisfaction problems. Part V introduces a promising model for law reform - the "one-touch" model - under which a responsible closing agent might deliver a closing-table satisfaction document on the mortgagee's behalf once the agent has disbursed full payment to the mortgagee pursuant to the mortgagee's payoff statement. Part V reviews the mechanics of one-touch, and then discusses the political problems and systemic barriers that have as yet prevented one-touch from achieving widespread influence as a law reform measure. Part VI finishes with some concluding thoughts.
Recommended Citation
R. Wilson Freyermuth,
Why Mortgagors Can't Get No Satisfaction,
72 Mo. L. Rev.
(2007)
Available at: https://scholarship.law.missouri.edu/mlr/vol72/iss4/7