OUCH…Maryland Ranks 5th Nationally in Mortgage Fraud

A report put forth by the Mortgage Asset Research Institute showed that mortgage fraud jumped 26% in 2008. While Rhode Island, Florida, Illinois and Georgia ranked first through fourth among the 50 states, Maryland came in at 5th on the list, a black mark against our state that, generally speaking, has weathered the real estate downturn better than most markets.

The data collected for the report came from mortgage lenders, bankers and insurers and indicated that most of the mortgage fraud incidents in Maryland were related to loan applications. Maryland had the highest percentage of tax and return and financial statement fraud incidents in the nation.