Mortgage fraud on the rise
Mortgage fraud, which helped contribute to the housing boom, is still going strong, according to a report out this week. The Mortgage Asset Research Institute says reported fraud in the first three months of the year increased more than 40 percent from a year earlier. (These are mortgages taken out in the first quarter that "have since been classified as fraudulent," the company says.)
Tied for third on the most-fraud list? Maryland.
Florida is first, California second and the other tied-for-third states are Illinois and Michigan.
MARI says that a quarter of the fraud reported in Maryland was in the Baltimore metro area. In Illinois, on the other hand, almost all the reported fraud originated in the Chicago area.
By "fraud," the company means anything from false income information to doctored closing documents -- whether submitted by the borrower or another party. Much of the Maryland fraud was related to tax documents and other financial information, MARI says.
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Comments
Hi Jamie
This makes really interesting reading for me. I am a property investor in the UK, and a big worry for me is unwittingly committing mortgage fraud (- the consequence of years of imprisonment are quite dire). Mortgages, especially buy to let mortgages, are increasingly difficult to get hold of here, and brokers are constantly coming up with more 'imaginative' ways to get a deal done. The worry is, that you naturally think, if a broker suggests it, then it must be legal - he is after all the expert. Yet should the broker lead you into doing something illegal there is no comeback on him - you take full legal responsibility, as it is your signature on the application form. This doesn't seem quite right. Surely the brokers should have some comeback for bad advice.
Posted by: Buy My House | August 29, 2008 5:32 AM
Dear Buy My House -
I never heard of anybody committing mortgage fraud and ending up for years in prison.
Posted by: january 1954 | August 29, 2008 9:12 AM