Speaking at the Mortgage Solutions’ Ivent on 18 September, he said: “Staggeringly mortgage fraud climbed 12.4 per cent year–on–year in the second quarter of 2018, and about one out of every 109 mortgage applications has been found to contain false or misleading information, with the largest uptick coming in the form of income fraud.”
Quinn then shared some common indicators of potential mortgage fraud. These included:
- The purchase price is different across different documentation
- The applicant’s income seems abnormally high for their profession
- There are incorrect tax codes or incorrect year to date figures on payslips
- They’re reluctant to meet face to face
- Bank accounts that are only three months old
- The value of their buy to let property is abnormally high compared to the rest of the properties in their portfolio
When it came checking whether a mortgage application was fraudulent, Quinn advised brokers to “check income,” as he said: “It’s important to learn the validity of income by checking payslips. If in doubt, ring the employer to check the applicant actually works there.”
Regarding buy-to-let clients he posed the question: “Do they really want a buy-to-let mortgage or are they just trying to beat affordability rules to secure higher levels of borrowing?”
He said: “If in doubt a simple call to the estate agent usually clears up the matter. Meet your clients face to face, it’s important to know them. Try a verification tool, these are low cost and can help validate applicants’ true identity. If in doubt, report it, it’s as simple as that.
“Trust your gut instincts. If something doesn’t feel right, it usually isn’t,” he added.
Ivent took place on Wednesday 18 September and consisted of a number of talks and seminars from those in the mortgage industry.