Employee Benefit Plans

We currently offer a variety of employee benefit plans, including the CoreLogic, Inc. 401(k) Savings Plan (the "Savings Plan"), a defined benefit pension plan incorporated with the acquisition of RELS (the "RELS Pension Plan"), non-qualified plans and a deferred compensation plan. RELS voted to terminate the RELS Pension Plan effective October 31, 2016.

The RELS Pension Plan offers participants annuity payments based on a number of factors and will offer an alternative lump sum distribution to certain participants. After certain regulatory approvals are obtained (i) we will provide additional cash contributions to the RELS Pension Plan to ensure that sufficient assets are available to make lump sum distribution payments, (ii) purchase group annuity contracts from one or more highly rated insurance companies to pay and administer future benefit payments, and (iii) complete other transactions required to terminate the RELS Pension Plan in a manner that fully meets its obligations to all participants. The total amount of additional cash contributions required to be provided by us will depend upon changes in interest rates, RELS Pension Plan asset returns, the lump sum election rate, and other factors. To sufficiently fund the RELS Pension Plan, we made a $4.0 million cash contribution in December 2016 and expect to make an additional cash contribution of approximately $9.9 million in 2017.

The non-qualified plans are comprised of our frozen unfunded supplemental management and executive benefit plans (collectively, “SERPs”) and a frozen pension restoration plan (the “Restoration Plan”).

The non-qualified plans are exempt from most provisions of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act because they are only available to a select group of management and highly compensated employees and are therefore not qualified employee benefit plans. To preserve the tax-deferred savings advantages of a non-qualified plan, federal law requires that it be an unfunded or informally funded future promise to pay.

The following table summarizes the balance sheet impact, including benefit obligations, assets and funded status associated with the RELS Pension Plan, SERPs and Restoration Plan as of December 31, 2016 and 2015:



(in thousands)	2016			2015
Change in projected benefit obligation:
Benefit obligation at beginning of period	$	61,256		$	32,259
Addition of RELS	—			31,308
Service costs	90			161
Interest costs	2,587			1,205
Actuarial losses/(gains)	1,817			(1,797		)
Benefits paid	(2,989		)	(1,880		)
Annuity carrier load	2,347			—
Projected benefit obligation at end of period	$	65,108		$	61,256

Change in plan assets:
Plan assets at fair value at beginning of period	$	21,175		$	—
Addition of RELS	—			21,175
Actual return on plan assets	(458		)	—
Company contributions	7,497			1,880
Benefits paid	(2,989		)	(1,880		)
Plan assets at fair value at end of the period	25,225			21,175
Reconciliation of funded status:
Unfunded status of the plans	$	(39,883	)	$	(40,081	)

Amounts recognized in the consolidated balance sheet consist of:
Accrued benefit liability	$	(65,108	)	$	(61,256	)
Pension plan asset	$	25,225		$	21,175
	$	(39,883	)	$	(40,081	)
Amounts recognized in accumulated other comprehensive loss:
Unrecognized net actuarial loss	$	14,021		$	11,363
Unrecognized prior service credit	(4,486		)	(5,631		)
	$	9,535		$	5,732

The net periodic pension cost for the years ended December 31, 2016, 2015 and 2014, for the RELS Pension Plan, SERPs, and Restoration Plan includes the following components:



(in thousands)	2016			2015			2014
Expenses:
Service costs	$	90		$	161		$	282
Interest costs	2,587			1,205			1,231
Expected return on plan assets	(160		)	—			—
Amortization of net loss/(gain)	979			(620		)	(424		)
Net periodic benefit cost	$	3,496		$	746		$	1,089

Weighted-average discount rate used to determine costs for the plans were as follows:



	2016		2015		2014
RELS Pension Plan	4.44	%	4.09	%	N/A
SERPs	4.20	%	3.85	%	4.72	%
Restoration Plan	4.32	%	3.98	%	4.82	%

Weighted-average actuarial assumptions used to determine benefit obligations for the plans were as follows:



	2016		2015
RELS Pension Plan
Discount rate	3.97	%	4.44	%
Salary increase rate	N/A		N/A
Expected return on plan assets	3.50	%	3.70	%
SERPs
Discount rate	4.00	%	4.20	%
Salary increase rate	N/A		N/A
Restoration Plan
Discount rate	4.08	%	4.32	%

The discount-rate assumption used for pension plan accounting reflects the yield available on high-quality, fixed-income debt securities that match the expected timing of the benefit obligation payments.

The following table provides the funded status in the defined RELS Pension Plan, Restoration Plan and SERPs as of December 31, 2016, 2015 and 2014:



(in thousands)	2016		2015		2014
Projected benefit obligation	$	65,108	$	61,256	$	32,259
Accumulated benefit obligation	$	65,108	$	61,256	$	32,259
Plan assets at fair value at end of year	$	25,225	$	21,175	$	—

The estimated amounts of net actuarial loss and prior service benefits in accumulated other comprehensive loss to be amortized and recognized as a component of net periodic benefit cost in 2017 are as follows:



(in thousands)
Net actuarial loss	$	2,555
Prior service benefit	$	1,145

The following benefit payments for all plans for the next ten years, which reflect expected future turnover, as appropriate, are expected to be paid as follows:



(in thousands)
2017	$	36,409
2018	1,391
2019	1,372
2020	1,353
2021	1,333
2022-2026	9,816
	$	51,674

The Savings Plan allows for employee-elective contributions up to the maximum deductible amount as determined by the Internal Revenue Code. We make discretionary matching contributions to the Savings Plan based on participant contributions as well as discretionary contributions based on profitability. The expense within continuing operations for the years ended December 31, 2016, 2015 and 2014 related to the Savings Plan were $10.8 million, $10.0 million and $5.7 million, respectively. The Savings Plan allows the participants to purchase shares of our common stock as one of the investment options, subject to certain limitations. The Savings Plan held 741,019 and 820,101 shares of our common stock, representing 0.9% of the total shares outstanding at December 31, 2016 and 2015.

We have a deferred compensation plan that allows participants to defer up to 80% of their salary, commissions and bonus. Participants allocate their deferrals among a variety of investment crediting options (“deemed investments”). Deemed investments mean that the participant has no ownership interest in the funds they select; the funds are only used to measure the gains or losses that will be attributed to their deferral account over time. Participants can elect to have their deferral balance paid out in a future year while they are still employed or after their employment ends. The participants’ deferrals and any earnings on those deferrals are our general unsecured obligation. We informally fund the deferred compensation plan through a tax-advantaged investment known as variable universal life insurance. Deferred compensation plan assets are held as an asset within a special trust.

The value of the assets underlying our deferred compensation plan was $28.0 million and $27.4 million as of December 31, 2016 and 2015, respectively, and is included in other assets in the accompanying consolidated balance sheets. The unfunded liability for our deferred compensation plan was $34.5 million and $32.2 million as of December 31, 2016 and 2015, respectively, and is included in other liabilities in the accompanying consolidated balance sheets.