I would say both. The MERS[0] registry could not be set up because the banks thought it is sort-of-gray legally, and they would be able to work it. Then, it tur

I would say both. The MERS[0] registry could not be set up because the banks thought it is sort-of-gray legally, and they would be able to work it. Then, it turned out that it is actually against black letter law, so we had the robosigning scandal, which they somehow managed to weather unscathed. Banks have foreclosed on wrong houses etc, and didn't suffer (enough) for it from either the hand of the law or the hands of customers, so they don't care (enough) to make sure they're doing it properly. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mortgage_Electronic_Registration_Systems https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mortgage_Electronic_Registrati...