Mortgage fraud is one of the fastest growing crimes in the United States. (Freddie Mac, 2015) There are three categories of mortgage fraud, fraud for housing, fraud for profit and fraud for criminal enterprise. Fraud for profit schemes are conducted by a group of people who play multiple roles in the fraud. The masterminds or initiators receive the largest percentage of the profit while others in the scheme may receive a few thousand dollars for their part in the misrepresentation. Mortgage brokers and loan processors create fictitious credit profiles and conspire with real estate appraisers to inflate property values. For-profit schemes often involve multiple industry professionals/insiders and multiple transactions. The …show more content…
Measuring these fluctuations is difficult and often leads to risk underestimated with growth and overestimated in recessions. In an economic boom, this contributes to rapid credit growth, to inflated collateral values. In recessions, when risk and loan defaults are accessed to be high the reverse tends to be the case. Many banks will take on more risks knowing that they could always transfer a large part of them. This may lead to ‘Collusion Fraud’ or ‘Fraud-or profit’ which is the most costly type of fraud.
Background Established in 1825, Liberty Bank is Connecticut’s oldest mutual bank, with more than $3.5 billion in assets and over $500 million in capital. Throughout the central, eastern, and shoreline areas of the Connecticut, Liberty Bank has grown to 49 banking offices. Liberty Bank is a full-service financial institution that offers home mortgages, insurance, investment services as well as consumer and commercial banking finance products. Liberty Bank has been rated outstanding for commitment providing superior personal service and unmatched community involvement. For the first time, Liberty Bank also introduced itself in Fairfield County with a brand-new adjustable-rate mortgage product suited to home buyers in this market, generating over $100 million in closed loans. Overall, Liberty Bank picked up a record-breaking 10,926 new households in 2013. Liberty Bank will also be partnering with Fannie Mae’s and their new
21st Mortgage offers financing to people who purchase manufactured homes in all states except Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Jersey, Alaska and Hawaii. The Knoxville-based company offers loans through mortgage brokers, manufactured home sellers and directly to consumers through an online application process.
The bursting of the housing bubble, known more colloquially as the 2008 mortgage crisis, was preceded by a series of ill-fated circumstances that culminated in what has been considered to be the worst financial downfall since the Great Depression. After experiencing a near-unprecedented increase in housing prices from January 2002 until mid-2006, a phenomenon that was steadily fed by unregulated mortgage practices, the market steadily declined and the prior housing boom subsided as well. When housing prices dropped to about 25 percent below the peak level achieved in 2006 toward the close of 2008, liquidity and capital disappeared from the market.
The real estate industry is thriving with approximately sixty-eight percent of all Americans being homeowners. With low interest rates, 1st time home buyer down payment assistance programs, and government funded educational opportunities (i.e. the Home Ownership Center of Greater Cincinnati), the real estate and mortgage lending industries will continue to flourish. However, there are some unethical lending practices that are threatening the housing industry as a whole.
Traditionally, there are three types of mortgage fraud that are the most common and well known. These three types are “fraud for profit”, “fraud for housing” and a third type that deals with overestimating a property’s value or submitting a false appraisal (Schmalleger, 2016). A relatively new fourth type of mortgage fraud that quickly escalated following the economic crash of 2008 involves a series of scams claiming to save property owners from foreclosure.
The real estate industry is thriving with approximately sixty-eight percent of all Americans being homeowners. With low interest rates, 1st time home buyer down payment assistance programs, and government funded educational opportunities (i.e. the Home Ownership Center of Greater Cincinnati), the real estate and mortgage lending industries will continue to flourish. However, there are some unethical lending practices that are threatening the housing industry as a whole.
The people that sell houses, trick people to earn more money. They would inflate the prices to get more money to themselves by this they become rich. The contract sellers formed a League, they lied in every way to get benefit from their clients.
It is important to first gain an understanding of the various types of fraud, in order to aid understanding in regards to the prevention of fraudulent activity. This paper begins with a review of the definition of financial fraud, and identification of the different fraud types. Further, included is an examination of what motivates individuals to commit fraud, including an identification of some of the method in which people commit fraud. A discussion of the importance of the fraud triangle, and how rationalization contributes to fraud is a key area of focus. Finally, there is an examination of some controls that prevent and detect fraudulent behavior, including the value and importance of understanding the nature of fraud for
It is no secret that tens of millions of homeowners got into trouble with predatory home mortgages. Tens of millions of them have MERS-originated Mortgages. If you asked the average mortgagor on the street if they knew what a “MERS-originated Mortgage” was, they couldn’t tell you. They don’t know because they weren’t told at closing that the “funds” they were receiving to buy their (generally over-appraised) home may NOT have come from the source named on their Mortgage or Deed of Trust. Instead, the MERS® System was used because the borrowers’ loans were securitized. This “system” was created specifically for that purpose (to track the sale and transfer of loans electronically, in a MERSCORP-owned database, with no regulatory oversight). You can’t believe everything you read either. Due diligence is required here.
Logically speaking, most people who are in greater need of additional funds are more likely to be the ones requesting bank loans. Unfortunately, the bank does not have all the information on every borrower needed to choose who is the least risk. With the assumption that many are seeking a loan for assistance in tough times are most probable to be ones who are to be considered a high-risk borrower the banks are now provoked to be more conservative and become more restrictive on the loans they allow, regardless if a few of the borrowers could be low-risk. For instance, I am approached by two different people, one is known to go to work everyday, pay their bills on time, and is very responsible with their money, the other is the exact opposite, cannot hold a job, is always broke, and basically owes everyone. Now the first person tells me that they need to use the money because they want to take a well-deserved vacation and the other just was offered a new job, but needs to purchase a vehicle. The first person, although most deserving of a vacation, is requesting a loan for personal pleasure; the other has a very justified reason, yet cannot be trusted due to previous recorded. As the lender, I choose not to loan my money to either person, due to the uncertainty of use and ability to pay back my money.
Since the housing market bust, there has been an explosion in the number of federal investigation of mortgage fraud scheme across the country. Mortgage Fraud is a violation of state and
Clinical Programs strives to reduce unnecessary medical expenses and help improve quality of care by implementing innovative solutions to reduce Fraud, Waste and Abuse. Success is based on collaboration with key business partners and targeted initiatives that reduce pProvider abrasion and promotes evidence based medicine.
In 2003, Coleen Colombo joined the California branch of BNC, where she worked as a senior underwriter. The BNC office in which Colombo worked was part of the regional group that offered a considerable amount of loan to its customers. The performance of Colombo in her work was outstanding. This is according to a wrongful termination and harassment suit filed in California Superior Court on her behalf and on behalf of five other BNC employees. The suit states that the work environment began to become hostile for Colombo in 2005 after one of her fellow employees, a male wholesaler,
Mortgage fraud - Misrepresentation of loan application data and mortgage fraud are other contributing factors. US Department
The perfect fraud storm occurred between the years 2000 and 2002 involving two of the largest energy and telecom corporations in the United States: Enron and WorldCom. It was determined that both organizations fraudulently overstated assets, created assets from expenses or overstated revenues, costing investors billions of dollars and resulting in both organizations declaring bankruptcy (Albrecht, Albrecht, Albrecht & Zimbelman, 2012). Nine factors contributed to fraud triangle creating this perfect fraud storm, and assisting management in concealing the fraud until exposed and rectified.
The major risk associated with excessive growth of credit and asset prices is the buildup of economic bubbles in which any asset trades at much higher value as compared to its intrinsic values leading to a rapid boom-bust cycles. Because of excessive credit in the financial system, many commercial banks and financial institutions have an incentive to invest in risky asset to obtain higher yields. This leads to an increase in asset prices such as housing prices or financial assets, which are inconsistent or implausible with the view of the future causing buildup of systemic risks. The increase in asset prices can also have an effect on spending as the market participants holding overpriced asset tends to spend more than they can afford. The excessive credit growth can have a negative spillover impact on other economies if the excessive credit is leading to