QandAs: Home

What is Mortgage Fraud?

Answer:
Buying a home can be very frightening, but nothing

sends ice water through the veins faster than the idea of Mortgage Fraud. Mortgage Fraud occurs when an individual or group lies, misrepresents, or omits information which an underwriter, loan officer, or insurance officer would need to help secure a mortgage loan.

Any information which is fraudulently provided can be qualified as Mortgage Fraud. For example, falsifying household income to obtain a higher mortgage amount, failing to disclose key credit liabilities or previous foreclosures, and mis-claiming occupancy intent on a property would all fall under Mortgage Fraud.

Mortgage Fraud can also occur if a person steals the identity of a legitimate home buyer and takes out a mortgage in their name, or if an individual takes out multiple mortgages on the same piece of property and then skips out on the debt.

And of course no discussion on Mortgage Fraud would be complete without mentioning Mortgage Fraud rings, which involve entire groups of fraudulent buyers and sellers conspiring together to steal money from lending institutes through faulty mortgage dealings.


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