Monday, Aug 09, 2010
No sign of tighter lending standards
Independent: Mortgage fraud cases soar to a 22-year high
Mortgage fraud has nearly quadrupled in the first six months of 2010, KPMG's "fraud barometer" has found, with incidents of deception involving home loans reaching a 22-year high. And the company has warned that the picture is set to deteriorate over the coming months as the aftermath of the house-price boom, followed by the credit crunch, results in more incidents being unearthed. The Financial Services Authority is aware of the problem, and cited the potential for fraudulent applications as one of the reasons for its decision to ban "self-certification" home loans, where applicants don't have to prove their income to obtain a mortgage.
Posted by drewster @ 12:41 AM (710 views) Add Comment
8 Comments
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2. hpwatcher said...
It's only at a 22 year high, because it was never really regarded as a crime before. My landlord, who is a police solicitor, is now getting many more cases of people being caught for this - i.e. mortgage fraud - he maintains that it is only happening because it is now quite easy for the Police to find and convict those who have lied.
Not telling the truth about ones earnings used to be regarded as ''just one of those things'' you had to do, to get the place that you wanted. But mortgage fraud is still fraud, and should be delt with harshly.
RECAPTCHA - Can we get rid of this please?
The words are now impossible to read - some are even being shown upside down - moreover, it's only intended for open forums - NOT ones that are password protected.
3. paul said...
fraudulent applications as one of the reasons for its decision to ban "self-certification" home loans
Any chance of charging the lenders with fraud too then?
No? Oh well I suppose that by offering these products in the first place, they were completely innocent of any wrongdoing.
4. Crunchy said...
This means that house prices are a in fact a fraud.
Triple standards? Every aspect of the housing market has been fraudulent, our whole economy is based on it now.
What a complete farce.
5. quiet guy said...
I have heard of three different ways that people have lied about their earnings to banks to get a mortgage; all unprompted and all without any shame or ambarrassment. As Hpwatcher says, it's just "just one of those things." As long as the 'economy' keeps rising, it must be OK, right?
6. powerofnow said...
I nearly bought a 5 story town house in 1986 but would have had to have lied about my earnings.
I felt very uncomfortable about making a fraudulent application; I would have needed to have shown just 3K more than I was on at the time....
I feel like a tw@t now
RECAPTCHA: I support hpwatchers comment on this
7. Jan said...
What is this recaptcha malarky anyway? Is there any point to it?
Ibid afrats
8. tenyearstogetmymoneyback said...
powerofnow that is a perfect example of why this isn't a victimless crime.
I have really strong views on this and believe that anyone who lied on a mortgage application should be immediately repossessed and fined all profit made on the property. After lieing about their incomes these people will probably go on to claim that they are Qualified Doctors or something like that.
It has to be said that the banks must have been complicit in this. It made me think back to my first day as an apprentice when the
training officer said there was no need to bring in in any exam certificates, "Not because we trust you but because we trust you so little
we have made our own checks"