Employee Benefit Plans

We currently offer a variety of employee benefit plans, including a 401(k) savings plan, a defined benefit pension plan incorporated with the acquisition of RELS ("RELS Pension"), non-qualified plans and a deferred compensation plan. The non-qualified plans are comprised of our frozen unfunded supplemental management and executive benefit plans (collectively, the “SERPs”) and a frozen pension restoration plan (“Restoration”).

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, SERPs and Restoration plans as of December 31, 2015 and 2014:



(in thousands)	2015			2014
Change in projected benefit obligation:
Benefit obligation at beginning of period	$	32,259		$	27,059
Addition of RELS	31,308			—
Service costs	161			282
Interest costs	1,205			1,233
Actuarial (gains)/losses	(1,797		)	5,564
Benefits paid	(1,880		)	(1,879		)
Projected benefit obligation at end of period	$	61,256		$	32,259

Change in plan assets:
Plan assets at fair value at beginning of period	$	—		$	—
Addition of RELS	21,175			—
Company contributions	1,880			1,879
Benefits paid	(1,880		)	(1,879		)
Plan assets at fair value at end of the period	21,175			—
Reconciliation of funded status:
Unfunded status of the plans	$	(40,081	)	$	(32,259	)

Amounts recognized in the consolidated balance sheet consist of:
Accrued benefit liability	$	(61,256	)	$	(32,259	)
Pension plan asset	$	21,175		$	—
	$	(40,081	)	$	(32,259	)
Amounts recognized in accumulated other comprehensive income/(loss):
Unrecognized net actuarial loss	$	11,363		$	13,685
Unrecognized prior service credit	(5,631		)	(6,775		)
	$	5,732		$	6,910

The net periodic pension cost for the years ended December 31, 2015, 2014 and 2013, for the RELS Pension plan, SERPs, and Restoration plan includes the following components:



(in thousands)	2015			2014			2013
Expenses:
Service costs	$	161		$	282		$	637
Interest costs	1,205			1,231			1,293
Expected return on plan assets	—			—			(57		)
Amortization of net (gain)/loss	(620		)	(424		)	179
Net periodic benefit cost	$	746		$	1,089		$	2,052

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



	2015		2014		2013
RELS Pension Plan	4.09	%	N/A		N/A
SERP Plans	3.85	%	4.72	%	3.89	%
Restoration Plan	3.98	%	4.82	%	4.02	%

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



	2015		2014
RELS Pension Plan
Discount rate	4.44	%	N/A
Salary increase rate	N/A		N/A
SERP Plans
Discount rate	4.20	%	3.85	%
Salary increase rate	N/A		N/A
Restoration Plan
Discount rate	4.32	%	3.98	%

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, Restoration and SERPs as of December 31, 2015, 2014 and 2013:



(in thousands)	2015		2014		2013
Projected benefit obligation	$	61,256	$	32,259	$	27,059
Accumulated benefit obligation	$	61,256	$	32,259	$	27,059
Plan assets at fair value at end of year	$	21,175	$	—	$	—

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



(in thousands)
2016	$	2,051
2017	2,089
2018	2,120
2019	2,135
2020	2,162
2021-2025	13,816
	$	24,373

The CoreLogic, Inc. 401(k) Savings Plan (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, 2015, 2014 and 2013 related to the Savings Plan were $10.0 million, $5.7 million and $7.6 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 820,101 and 866,559 shares of our common stock, representing 0.9% and 1.0% of the total shares outstanding at December 31, 2015 and 2014, respectively.

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 (known as “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 general unsecured obligations of the Company. The Company is informally funding the deferred compensation plan through a tax-advantaged investment known as variable universal life insurance. Deferred compensation plan assets are held as a Company asset within a special trust, called a “rabbi trust.”

The value of the assets underlying our deferred compensation plan was $27.4 million and $30.3 million as of December 31, 2015 and 2014, respectively, and is included in other assets in the consolidated balance sheets. The unfunded liability for our deferred compensation plan was $32.2 million and $34.2 million as of December 31, 2015 and 2014, respectively, and is included in other liabilities in the accompanying consolidated balance sheets.