Mortgage fraud

A recent pyramid scheme highlights why mortgage lenders should keep an eye out for misrepresentation when reviewing electronic documents and signatures.

Income-related mortgage application fraud risk has the potential to increase as competition rises among buyers during the peak spring season, First American said.

With a second defendant pleading guilty to conspiracy, it was learned that a Watertown, N.Y., apartment complex is among dozens of rental properties in that state and several others that allegedly received $500 million in fraudulent bank loans.

Just minutes after his federal prison sentence was raised, Paul Manafort was charged by New York state prosecutors with residential mortgage fraud, conspiracy and falsifying business records.

David Plunkett, a 53-year-old accountant in Lynn, Mass., pleaded guilty to bank fraud this week for his part in a scheme to defraud mortgage lenders between 2006 and 2015.

A strong spring home purchase season is likely to further increase mortgage loan application defect risk, which already spiked in the past two months, according to First American.

Mortgage application defect risk was at its highest level in four years because of higher interest rates as well as natural disasters during the latter part of 2018, according to First American.

The government shutdown could affect mortgage origination credit quality as lenders miss some red flags normally found using data that is not currently available, according to Moody's.

Mortgage application fraud risk continued growing for the fifth consecutive month, and the recent California wildfires are partly to blame, according to First American Financial Corp.

A Wilmington Township, Pa., man accused of illegally purchasing properties he formerly owned through a tax sale has pleaded guilty to a felony charge of deceptive business practices.