UK mortgage fraud up 8% last year
By Romesh Navaratnarajah:Fraudulent mortgage applications in the UK rose eight percent year-on-year in 2011, as financially stressed borrowers falsified their employment status and tried to conceal their bad credit.
A new study by Experian shows that 34 in every 10,000 mortgage applications last year were found to be fraudulent, compared to 15 in every 10,000 cases seen in 2006.
It also showed that overall fraud rose four percent across the UK financial services sector to more than 17 cases in every 10,000 applications, driven by growth in insurance and current account fraud.
Around 93 percent of mortgage fraud cases last year were attributed to individuals who misrepresented their personal information on applications.
Furthermore, young and well-educated professionals were prone to attempting first party mortgage fraud, which accounted for 13 percent of cases.
"About 70 percent of financial services application fraud in the UK fraud is down to first parties misrepresenting their circumstances and the products such as mortgages and insurance that have seen fraud soar over the last year have a significant first party fraud element to them," said Nick Mothershaw, UK&I Director of Identity & Fraud at Experian.
"This kind of fraud tends to originate from financially stressed segments of society," he added. Related Stories:Remortgage demand in US may lead to lower rates
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