Employee Benefit Plans

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

The RELS Pension Plan offered participants annuity payments based on a number of factors as well as an alternative lump sum distribution to certain participants. In June 2017, we made a payment of $13.5 million for expected contributions to settle the defined benefit pension plan incorporated with the acquisition of RELS. Actual contributions for the year ended December 31, 2017, totaled $12.7 million. We transferred the remaining assets to a highly rated insurance company. For the year ended December 31, 2017, we recorded a loss of $5.1 million within (loss)/gain on investments and other, net in our consolidated statement of operations and cleared the corresponding RELS Pension Plan liability of $9.2 million and corresponding accumulated other comprehensive loss of $1.8 million within our consolidated balance sheets and consolidated statements of comprehensive income.

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, 2017 and 2016:



(in thousands)	2017			2016
Change in projected benefit obligation:
Benefit obligation at beginning of period	$	65,108		$	61,256
Service costs	—			90
Interest costs	1,879			2,587
Actuarial losses	3,579			1,817
Benefits paid	(39,185		)	(2,989		)
Annuity carrier load	—			2,347
Projected benefit obligation at end of period	$	31,381		$	65,108

Change in plan assets:
Plan assets at fair value at beginning of period	$	25,225		$	21,175
Actual return on plan assets	(197		)	(458		)
Company contributions	14,157			7,497
Benefits paid	(39,185		)	(2,989		)
Plan assets at fair value at end of the period	—			25,225
Reconciliation of funded status:
Unfunded status of the plans	$	(31,381	)	$	(39,883	)

Amounts recognized in the consolidated balance sheet consist of:
Accrued salaries and benefits	$	(1,513	)	$	(10,604	)
Other liabilities	(29,868		)	(29,279		)
	$	(31,381	)	$	(39,883	)
Amounts recognized in accumulated other comprehensive loss:
Unrecognized net actuarial loss	$	12,184		$	14,021
Unrecognized prior service credit	(3,341		)	(4,486		)
	$	8,843		$	9,535

The net periodic pension cost for the years ended December 31, 2017, 2016 and 2015, for the RELS Pension Plan, SERPs, and Restoration Plan includes the following components:



(in thousands)	2017			2016			2015
Expenses:
Service costs	$	—		$	90		$	161
Interest costs	1,879			2,587			1,205
Expected return on plan assets	(156		)	(160		)	—
Amortization of net (gain)/loss	(691		)	979			(620		)
Net periodic benefit cost	$	1,032		$	3,496		$	746

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



	2017		2016		2015
RELS Pension Plan	3.97	%	4.44	%	4.09	%
SERPs	4.00	%	4.20	%	3.85	%
Restoration Plan	4.08	%	4.32	%	3.98	%

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



	2017		2016
RELS Pension Plan
Discount rate	N/A		3.97	%
Salary increase rate	N/A		N/A
Expected return on plan assets	N/A		3.50	%
SERPs
Discount rate	3.50	%	4.00	%
Salary increase rate	N/A		N/A
Restoration Plan
Discount rate	3.57	%	4.08	%

The discount rate assumptions utilized reflect 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, 2017, 2016 and 2015:



(in thousands)	2017		2016		2015
Projected benefit obligation	$	31,381	$	65,108	$	61,256
Accumulated benefit obligation	$	31,381	$	65,108	$	61,256
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 2018 are as follows:



(in thousands)
Net actuarial loss	$	487
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)
2018	$	1,539
2019	1,561
2020	1,540
2021	1,758
2022	1,974
2023-2027	9,492
	$	17,864

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, 2017, 2016 and 2015 related to the Savings Plan were $10.9 million, $10.8 million and $10.0 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 662,358 and 741,019 shares of our common stock, representing 0.8% and 0.9% of the total shares outstanding at December 31, 2017 and 2016, 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 (“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 $29.6 million and $28.0 million as of December 31, 2017 and 2016, respectively, and is included in other assets in the accompanying consolidated balance sheets. The unfunded liability for our deferred compensation plan was $35.3 million and $34.5 million as of December 31, 2017 and 2016, respectively, and is included in other liabilities in the accompanying consolidated balance sheets.