Mortgage fraud rates have remained fairly steady at 20 frauds in every 10,000 applications since early 2008, rising in line with new applications.
However, Experian believes fraud rates will increase in 2010 as consumers hit hardest by the recession attempt to obtain financial services from providers which they are not entitled to.
A continued shortage of sub-prime and self-certification mortgages combined with increasing demands to remortgage emanating from the last batch of pre-crunch mortgage holders coming off three-year fixed-term interest deals will be the main target, it believes.
Nick Mothershaw, director of fraud and identity solutions at Experian, said firms must prepare themselves for the increase in fraud.
He added: “Organisations must be prepared to ensure that they can most effectively manage the risk this exposes them too. Consumers can help protect themselves against the devastating effects of identity fraud by monitoring their credit reports.
“Financial institutions need to take a more holistic approach to fraud, including sharing fraud data with other firms and ensuring that robust controls are in place across the business.”
