MERS to require assignments out of its name before foreclosure even where state law does not require assignments (as in Virginia)

See MERS Announcement Re: Foreclosure Processing and CRMS Scheduling

This is a tacit admission that MERS loans do not comply with centuries-old property recording law.

That is why I (and others) have been saying that one of the best ways to deal with a MERS loan is to challenge the fact that your loan's current owner has not recorded its interest in the county land records and to knock them out of your chain of title before they ever get to fixing the situation themselves. For more on this, see my posts here and here.