First, the electronic mortgage superhighway. Then, the pileup.

Sixteen years down the road, the mortgage business is a mess. The electronic clearinghouse has become a reality; Virginia-based Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, a registry with 67 million mortgages on file, has become part of the industry’s standard operating procedure. Critics say promises to increase transparency and iron out wrinkles in recordkeeping haven’t panned out. The firm, which tracks more than 60 percent of the country’s residential mortgages but whose parent company employs just 45 people in a Reston office building, is now on the firing line.