The Mortgage Electronic Registration System (MERS) has been at the center of various foreclosure/robo-signing lawsuits over the past several months. MERS is an electronic system that was designed to allow mortgage originators to more easily securitize mortgages and package them into mortgage backed securities. It also enabled those using the system to avoid many of the transfer fees charged by county offices under the system of transferring real estate that has existed for hundreds of years in this country. There are many ongoing lawsuits that seek to determine whether or not this system is legal, with some courts ruling that transfers and foreclosures through MERS are legal, and others ruling that they are not.http://ping.fm/Wqr2c