Misrepresentation in mortgage applications is up. That’s the verdict from First American Financial Corp. in Santa Ana California.
The firm’s February report on what it calls defects in the mortgage application process found the likelihood of fraudulence and misrepresentation on mortgage apps nationally up 4 percent from January.
Incidents in the Dallas-area were up 10 percent over the last three months and up 5.5 percent in January.
First American’s chief economist Mark Fleming said increasing interest rates are causing more borrowers to turn to adjustable rate mortgages. ARMs are usually less expensive, but carry more risk of defects.
