Mortgage Fraud Risk on the Rise
Back in the period between 2005 and 2008, instances of mortgage fraud were at a peak. Fortunately, increases in regulation and lending standards led to a strong reversal of this trend, and we have seen very little in the way of fraud in the past few years. However, according to Bret Fortenberry of CoreLogic’s Insights blog, there is reason to believe that mortgage fraud is once again on the rise.
CoreLogic has been tracking mortgage fraud risk since 2010. Risk has moved up and down significantly, dipping into a deep valley early this year, but the overall trend still seems to be moving gradually upward. Low interest rates and rising home prices, which give unscrupulous individuals an opportunity to misrepresent down payments, can be attributed to much of this risk. Moving forward, the group expects these trends to continue, placing us at the bottom of a peak that should reach its highest level at some point in the second quarter. According to projections, this could be the highest level of fraud risk since CoreLogic first started tracking.
