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Mortgage fraudsters are flooding these 10 markets

Where is loan applicant dishonesty increasing the most?

Mortgage fraud is growing at an alarming rate according to credit verification provider Kroll Factual Data.

It's particularly bad news considering increased compliance requirements from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau related to the Qualified Mortgage regulation this month.

Do borrowers need to fib more on loan applications in order to get through the tightened underwriting process? Maybe, according to the Kroll report.

“Even with indications of the U.S. economy and the housing market gaining strength, we are seeing the threat of misrepresentation in mortgage applications rising,” said Rod Bazzani, President, Kroll Factual Data. “The call for increased vigilance and processes for mitigating this risk is at a pitch not to be discounted or ignored."

Kroll notes the potential for mortgage fraud has increased more than 10% nationally — the third consecutive quarter of increases.

Additionally, there are ten markets were mortgage fraud is likely to increase at a rate much greater than the nation average.

Using its proprietary risk analysis and verification engines, Kroll Factual Data isolated certain files that may contain indicators of potential mortgage origination fraud and examined at least 1,000 loan applications for each market.

They found mortgage fraudsters are more likely to be seen in these 10 markets, ranked in order from 10th to 1st by percentage increase in possible fraudulent activity:

10: Oshkosh, WI  (25.37% increase)

9: Duluth-Superior, MN-WI (26.18%)

8: Portland, OR (26.35%)

7: Wilmington, DE (27.43%)

6: Philadelphia, RA (29.24%)

5: Boulder, CO (32.29%)

4: Santa Fe, NM (37.47%)

3: Manchester, NH (40.95%)

2: Fort Collins-Loveland, CO (51.42%)

1: Huntsville, AL (55.39%)

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