Credit history fraud is on the rise, says CIFAS

1 August 2011 | By Natalie Thomas

Borrowers are masking their credit history on a daily basis to get a mortgage, says Alan Cleary, managing director of Precise Mortgages.

Last week fraud prevention service CIFAS released its latest fraud bulletin revealing that it saw a 1% rise in mortgage fraud in the first six months of the year, compared with the second half of 2010.

Out of the 1,667 mortgage frauds reported, those trying to conceal a previous address because it was linked to an adverse credit history represented 24% of all frauds.

The next most common reason for fraud was the presentation of documents showing false proof of income, which accounted for 24% of all cases compared with 14% in the last half of 2010. This was followed by false employment details which accounts for 20% of all mortgage frauds, up from 10% in the last six months of 2010.

But Cleary says this is nothing new as these ploys were going on during the credit crunch and are still being used.

He says: “This happens every day of the week but we have detection systems that can trace fraud.”

James Harries, sales and marketing director at Manor Mortgages, says: “The issue of non-disclosure of key facts is still a challenge for the industry but as more of those who hide information are exposed, this will hopefully become less of a problem.”

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