Is the Mortgage Burning Party a Thing of the Past?

When I was 25 years old I remember receiving a telephone call from my dad asking me to come home for the weekend. Well, that isn’t entirely right, he more or less demanded I come home. He called it a “command performance”.

When I asked him why, he told me he had finished paying the mortgage, was throwing a mortgage burning party and he wanted me to come. It was a great party with all of his friends in attendance. I still remember the applause from everyone as he put the match to the document which signified so many years of his life’s hard work. It was a great moment, very emotional.

Later, in a quiet moment, he confided to me that there was more to the ceremony of burning the mortgage than just noting the passing of an era. You see, as long as that original document was out there, as long as it wasn’t in his hands or “up in smoke”, there was always the risk it could come back and someone could demand payment all over again. By burning it, he made sure that could never happen. The house was his, no one could take it away. But because of the way the Mortgage Electronic Registration Service (MERS) system works, mortgage burning parties don’t happen anymore. The blue ink copy of the mortgage has vanished. (more)