Data Facts Lending Solutions Blog

If you're in mortgage lending, you probably already know that undisclosed debt is the number one cause of mortgage fraud. Unfortunately, borrowers often take out new loans or make other significant changes to their debt situation within days of closing and that puts lenders in a precarious situation. Under the terms of the Fannie Mae Loan Quality Initiative, lenders are responsible for disclosing any new debt prior to closing, and to ensure you can meet that stipulation, you need to have a undisclosed debt monitoring process as part of your mortgage lending services solutions in place.

Bankruptcies, Liens, and Judgments Are Important Data!

Lenders have historically put significant weight on the presence of public records on an applicant's credit report. And with good reason. A recent study showed that consumers with liens or judgments as part of their credit history are twice as likely to default on a loan as those with no outstanding liens or judgments. 

In 2016, the bureaus were sued multiple times because of incorrect public record data being included on their credit reports. This happens because there are 10,000-20,000 "jurisdictions" of municipal authorities. Some of these records are sealed and the parties involved are not disclosed until it goes unpaid. The defendant then must file an action in the civil courts. Even in 2018, smaller courts still don't electronically publish information. In addition, public records are frequently logged with only one identifier, so it's not hard to get them "mixed up" with people who have the same name. 

Mortgage triggering is the process that some lenders use to gain customers.

If you are a mortgage lender and haven’t experienced it yet, lucky you.

Basically, lenders purchase these ‘trigger leads’ from the bureaus or other companies.

Here is some important information Fannie Mae shared recently about mortgage fraud. These statistics are based on results of 2016 and 2017 mortgage fraud numbers.

Third Party Vendor Management is a hot topic within the mortgage industry these days. 

One of the first (and most effective) steps you can take to limit potential third-party risk, is to properly vet and reduce the vendors of your mortgage lending services to only the ones that adhere to the most stringent of compliance standards.

Wire transfer fraud is one of the most serious trends in the mortgage industry. Recent Fannie Mae and FBI fraud alerts on wire transfer fraud identify more than 14,000 instances of this fraud scheme over the last year. Under this fraud scheme “hackers” use social engineering or computer intrusion techniques to send out a change of wire transfer instructions with the “new” account information.

Is it what you hope is the last Halloween before you move into a new home? Are you dreaming of passing out candy to hungry zombies and beautiful princesses?

 In light of the Equifax security breach, consumers are concerned about their credit report. Advice is everywhere on how to handle this issue. Regardless of whether or not you decide to freeze your credit, you need to CHECK YOUR CREDIT REPORT!

So, what do we mean by that? What are you supposed to be checking?

As a leading mortgage lending services provider, here are our suggestions:

While pulling your credit report at least once a year is very good advice, a person needs to know what to look for when reviewing their information.

You can actually check your credit 3 times a year at no charge.

Goto www.annualcreditreport.com which is a website sponsored by the three credit bureaus. You can pull one bureau once a year for free. Simply enter your information and order a one-bureau credit file.

Then what? 

Start with these tips to make certain you understand the information on your credit report:

The three credit bureaus, Equifax, Experian, and Transunion, will be making changes to two types of information currently reported on credit reports. These alterations could show credit score increases for an estimated 1 in 12 consumers. 

Tax liens and civil judgments are the two pieces of information on the hotseat. The change is scheduled for July 1, 2017. It's estimated that up to half of civil judgment information and most of tax lien data will be removed. 

Several components play into the fact there's no easy sailing for mortgage professionals.

 2017 poses especially unique challenges. Being prepared with the right tools and education is key to being successful in today's mortgage industry.