Identity Theft in the Mortgage Industry

The American Collectors Association reports a rising problem of identity theft in the mortgage industry. According to Bruce Morris, senior vice president of risk management at Saxon Mortgage Inc. Glen Allen, VA, the problem is growing, but data are not available to provide a nationwide figure. Among some of the current scams are operators who use the names and social security numbers of deceased individuals to fill out applications for loans in another city. "There was another scam where in the city of Chicago, these people would find through public records the names of older people who had little or no debt on their homes. They would then create an identity of that individual and apply for a loan, take the cash and run with it." As one means of preventing identity theft, his firm enters a loan applicant's name and social security number on the web to the Social Security Administration to confirm the applicant's current address.