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Showing posts from August 18, 2010

Mortgage Fraudsters - if we could only harness their powers for good and not evil

I am continually amazed by the creativity and effort that goes into mortgage fraud. Ask anyone who has been through the process of trying to use a mortgage loan to buy a home or condo in the last two years. Dollars to donuts you are going to see an eye roll, hear a clucking noise, or a heavy sigh before that person describes an ordeal of verifications, re-verifications, and cross-verifications. The majority of transactions I have worked on this year have been delayed as loan originators and underwriters try to parse every bit of data presented in a loan application. Lest your toil be for naught dear borrower, check out this story reported on Crib Chatter today that picks up on a r eport from Reuters about the scam running over by Back of the Yards. How big is the problem? In its first-quarter report, Interthinx said its Mortgage Fraud Risk Index rose 4 percent to 151, the first time it had passed 150 since 2004. A figure of 100 on the index would indicate virtually no risk of f