Many believe mortgage fraud is partly to blame for the wave of foreclosures that are swamping many housing markets. And a quick scan at national headlines speaks to the depth of the issue.
In early January alone, there were several high profile convictions:
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Six people in Boston were arraigned in a $2 million mortgage fraud scheme.
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A Naples, Fla. man was sentenced to seven years in prison and ordered to pay more than $11 million in restitution for setting up straw deals to obtain inflated mortgages.
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A Colorado man was sentenced to 31 years in prison after a mortgage fraud scheme.
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Two North Carolina men were sentenced for their part in a $6 million mortgage fraud scam.
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Two New Jersey men were convicted in a multimillion-dollar mortgage fraud and property flipping scheme.
Those are just a few of the many early January mortgage fraud headlines from coast to coast. Indeed, prosecution of mortgage fraud is on the rise as the U.S. Justice Department makes the issue a priority. U.S. Attorney A. Brian Albritton has publicly declared that “Mortgage fraud will not be tolerated.”
The Cost of Mortgage Fraud
When you examine the cost of mortgage fraud, it’s easy to see why the federal government is cracking down on the crime. Again, many believe mortgage fraud added to the financial crisis in the subprime mortgage industry and the fall of banks. Consider the latest statistics compiled by the Mortgage Asset Research Institute on the pervasiveness of mortgage fraud:
- As of March 2008, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) was investigating more than 1,200 mortgage fraud cases – that’s a 50 percent increase from 2006.
- The FBI also reports that about half of the mortgage fraud cases it is investigating report losses exceeding $1 million and some exceed $10 million.
- According to the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, the number of suspicious activity reports (SARs) submitted relating to mortgage loan fraud increased 1,411 percent from 1996 to 2005.
- According to the TowerGroup, losses from mortgage fraud were about $2.5 billion in 2008 – and the firm expects comparable losses to continue for the next few years.
Although there is a level of fraud that exists where home buyers and/or their mortgage brokers falsify documents in order to get a loan approval, the FBI estimates fraud for profit accounts for up to 80 percent of the problem. That leaves 20 percent – or more – of the issue in the hands of consumers and mortgage brokers.
Keep Client Safe with the SAFE Act
As a real estate broker, you can help protect your clients. Relying on inflated appraisals, disguising purchase loans as refinances, or working with an exclusive appraiser are red flags and could be signs of potential fraud. The federal government has put measures in place, such as the Secure and Fair Enforcement of Mortgage Licensing, or SAFE Act, to discourage mortgage brokers from these practices. A key component of The Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008, the SAFE Act aims to better protect consumers and curb fraud by encouraging states to establish minimum standards for licensing and registration of state-licensed mortgage loan originators and has also established a nationwide mortgage licensing system and registry for the residential mortgage industry to increase the accountability and tracking of loan originators. If a broker is convicted, that conviction would be listed in the registry.
The bad news is the registry is not yet publicly available. The good news is systems are actively being put in place to protect homebuyers from dishonest mortgage brokers so the housing market will be less prone to negative impacts from mortgage fraud in the future.