Thursday 30 April 2015

Reduce Mortgage Fraud Using Technology!

We blog so much on the topic of fraud because it remains a very common challenge facing the mortgage industry as a whole. There are so many different types of fraud and one reason it is so challenging is because, in many instances, fraud is being committed but the individuals don’t even see it. With so many parties to the transaction and hands in the pot, you can see how easy it is for fraud to occur.



·         Real estate agent – perhaps they know something about their client, they are about to be laid off for a month, for example, but because it’s only a month, they see it as harmless so don’t tell the broker.

·         Mortgage Broker – perhaps the value of the client’s home is $230,000 but if beefed up another $10,000 there would be enough equity to cover all their debts – I mean hey, what is $10,000, right?

·         Client – perhaps the client visits a mortgage broker and tells the broker that their parents are loaning them their down payment but in fact they are borrowing it.

·         Appraiser – perhaps when at the house the appraiser is impressed because the homeowner has similar design taste as the appraiser. The client gives the appraiser a huge sales pitch about the house and so the appraiser decides to beef up the value a little bit to help the client out.

Genworth put out a great release recently outlining common types of mortgage fraud - check it out here: http://genworth.ca/en/lenders/types-of-mortgage-fraud.aspx.

Fraud will always exist, so lenders will have to continually seek out measures to combat fraud – and technology has been a great help in this area. Using technology and some good old fashioned investigation you can ensure that you know all there is to know about your application. Here are some tips that you can use to prevent fraud:

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