January is the designated Crime Stoppers Month.
This month provides an opportunity for both public and private organizations to educate Canadians as well as raise awareness about crimes happening around them.
One such crime is mortgage fraud.
In a recent survey by Equifax, 53% of the respondents surveyed indicated that mortgage fraud was a growing problem.
As house prices continue to climb and the rules for obtaining mortgages become tighter, many individuals resort to fraudulent activities to secure financing for a property.
While sometimes the fraud is intentional, at other times, the customer may not even know that he or she is committing fraud. Some of the common fraudulent activities that borrowers engage in include:
I. Housing Fraud – to acquire or retain the ownership of a house.
II. Occupancy Fraud – not sharing accurate information about who will be living at the subject property.
III. Home Appraisal Fraud – the owner inflates the value of the property beyond its actual worth.
IV. Financial Income Fraud – inaccurately reporting income information to get a better deal.
V. Fraud for Shelter – this is particularly relevant during COVID-19, as buyers may indulge in fraudulent activities to purchase a house to occupy and benefit from low-interest rates.
At Teranet, we understand that mortgage fraud can negatively impact our clients, who are dealing with a large volume of applications on a daily basis.
To prevent crimes related to mortgage fraud, we have developed solutions that can help you detect these issues quickly and at an earlier stage.
The Purview AVM, from Teranet, enables you to get an accurate estimate of the market value of a residential property based on an analysis of public record data, property location, market conditions, and real estate characteristics at a specified date.
The information you receive is accurate and comprehensive because it is retrieved from the province’s online property search and registration system called the Province of Ontario Land Registry Information System (POLARIS).
As a lender, you get access to an additional component – the Fraud Check Report.
This report conducts a real-time fraud check on the subject property. It includes eighteen configurable queries that check for indicators of suspicious activity on the property under review, providing you with a summary for each applied fraud parameter.
By integrating these tools, you can not only identify fraud at an earlier stage but also improve the lender-broker relationship.
Learn more about fraud detection solutions from Teranet. Contact us at https://www.teranet.ca/contact-us/
What has your experience been when it comes to mortgage fraud in Canada? Share your thoughts with us on social media – we are on Twitter and LinkedIn.
