I don't think that it is Coutrywide that is not filing the mortgages - I'm sure they believe that their mortgages are filed.  It is more likely the title company that closed the loan. 

There have been several articles I recall over the past year where a title company has gone into defalcation and when the auditors go in they find boxes of unrecorded mortgages.  I'm just speculating, but with all of the problems in St. Louis, it wouldn't surprise me if that had something to do with it. When these companies raid their escrow accounts there isn't any money for the recording fees - so the mortgages just sit there.

I have also noticed that I am encountering a lot more problems with documents that I receive to be recorded.  They aren't suitable for recording and we have to return them, or hold them for a check, and they don't always get it taken care of in a timely manner.  I remember one, in particular, that I received for the third time more than a year after it was signed.  It apparently got lost in the shuffle after being returned twice.  I suspect that this might have something to with a high turn-over of title personnel and there just aren't enough people that know what they are doing anymore.

Just a few thoughts,
Robert A. Franco
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