Individuals should not be tempted to commit mortgage fraud and are “mad” if they are willing to try something similar.
This is according to Catherine Hearnden, director at MyMortgageDirect – an organisation run by a team of independent financial advisers – who explained improvements in the checking process are resulting in more instances of such behaviour being flagged up.
Ms Hearnden said: “It is not necessary because it will be discovered these days as mortgages are more closely underwritten and checked. Brokers are better qualified to be able to check.”
The comments come in response to new findings from Experian, which revealed fraudulent applications for home loans escalated by eight per cent last year – with 34 in every 10,000 applications found to be fake – representing the fifth successive year of such hikes.
Ms Hearnden noted actions of this type will never be fully eradicated because there are always individuals who believe they can get away it, but she said the increase in mortgage fraud instances is likely to be down to better policing of the issue rather than it being committed on a wider scale.
