Mortgage fraud continues to be a growing problem within the housing industry and title industry executives are ready to take action to prevent this activity from taking place, according to a research survey conducted by Ernst Publishing Company.
About 9,000 title industry insiders participated in the Ernst survey and 40% of respondents felt that fraud in real estate transactions had increased within the last year.
However, among robo-signing, identity theft, integrity of the record, fraud within the loan transaction and foreclosure fraud, the respondents were evenly divided about which types of fraud they were most concerned about.
“It’s clear that lenders are viewing mortgage fraud as a very serious issue and a growing problem,” said Jan Clark, senior vice president of Albany, N.Y.-based Ernst Publishing Company, whose programs process more than 120 million real estate transactions annually so clients can remain compliant to various land recording requirements.
The survey also revealed a lukewarm response to whether or not the CFPB/RESPA changes to the HUD and GFE had helped to mitigate fraud, with only about 20% saying they believed the new rules had a positive impact.
Ernst said survey respondents felt that additional steps to combat fraud would be to improve technology solutions, increase notary responsibility, and further certifications for title agents and loan officers.
“We discussed the results with members of the American Land Title Association and the Property Records Industry Association, and while our survey revealed that about half of respondents don’t believe a national recording system wouldn’t have any impact on fraudulent practices, the idea of a national registry provoked quite a debate,” Clark added.
