NEW YORK – Sept. 22, 2016 – According to the second quarter mortgage fraud report from CoreLogic, Florida continues to lead the nation, but the total amount of mortgage fraud in the Sunshine State dropped significantly – 19 percent in a year-to-year comparison. Nationwide, mortgage fraud rose over the same period by 3.9 percent.
Miami ranked first nationwide for mortgage fraud risk, and seven out of the top 10 high-risk cities are in Florida.
The CoreLogic Mortgage Application Fraud Risk Index is standardized to a baseline of 100; each 1-point change in the index represents a 1 percent change in the share of mortgage applications with a high risk of fraud.
Florida cities in the top 25, by rank, for mortgage fraud risk
1. Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach: 278 risk index
2. Lakeland-Winter Haven: 226 risk index
3. Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater: 213 risk index
5. Jacksonville: 198 risk index
6. Deltona-Daytona Beach-Ormond Beach: 193 risk index
7. Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford: 181 risk index
11. Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville: 163 risk index
12. Cape Coral-Fort Myers: 161 risk index
14. North Port-Sarasota-Bradenton: 152 risk index
Increase/decrease of risk by fraud type (nationally)
- Income fraud: Up 12.5%. With income fraud, applicants lie about their income in order to qualify for a mortgage.
- Transaction fraud: Up 3.2%. With transaction fraud, the nature of the deal isn’t fully revealed, such as falsified downpayments or undisclosed agreements.
- Occupancy fraud: Up 2.9%. In this case, applicants lie about their intended use of the property.
- Undisclosed real estate debt fraud: Down 3.4%. Applicants who fail to disclose other real estate debt, such as another mortgage or taxes, commit this type of fraud.
- Identity fraud: Down 10.8%. Considered one of the worst types of fraud, applicants apply under a name other than their own.
- Property fraud: Down 14.2%. In this case, the application contains lies about the property or its value.