Compliance Blog

May 02, 2008
Categories: BSA Consumer Lending

FinCEN Updates its Mortgage Fraud Report

NCUA has issued Letter to Credit Union 08-CU-10, which alerts credit unions to FinCEN's updated mortgage fraud assessment.  You can access the letter to credit unions here.   Here's a snippet:

In 2006, there were 37,313 mortgage fraud SARs filed. The total for mortgage fraud SARs filed in 2007 was 52,868, an increase of 42 percent. Analysis of the more recent data indicates continued trends and marked increases in certain suspicious activities. For example, reports of identity theft in conjunction with mortgage fraud SARs increased 96 percent from the previous study. According to FinCEN, the suspicious activity characterization of Mortgage Loan Fraud was the third most prevalent type of suspicious activity reported.

If your credit union does mortgage lending, this is a must read.  NCUA provides a link to the FinCEN report through the letter to credit union. And as I've stated before: NCUA doesn't issue these letters because it has nothing else to do.  They expect your credit union to digest the information.

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The photo contest is off and running.  Go here to see the entries so far.

Have a great weekend, everyone.  (Eight days to go.  But who's counting?)