Lenders Fighting Back Against Fraud?

Lenders are increasingly willing to fight back against fraud, whether committed by consumers, loan officers, or other parties to a mortgage transaction, according to a moderator at the Western Secondary Market Conference in San Francisco."I think that the perception [of fraud] is changing," said Lawrence C. Ward of CMG Mortgage in San Ramon, Calif., who moderated a July 9 panel on dealing with fraud. "Lenders are getting tired of just accepting fraud as being part of their business. Companies are getting tired of that -- there is too much money involved." Mr. Ward said there are now "all these wonderful systems" to discover fraud and identify the perpetrators, and he predicted that companies will put such systems in place. "Lenders are tired of saying fraud is part of the cost of doing business because, no, it is not," he said. "The same way bank robberies are considered criminal acts, lenders will not accept fraud, either." The 32nd Annual Western Secondary Market & Mortgage Banker Conference was sponsored by the California Mortgage Bankers Association.