First American Credco touts \'Fast Alert\'
By SAM GARCIA
4/26/2005

Borrowers can opt to receive a fraud alert when suspicious activity occurs with their credit files. The service, along with others catering to lenders, aims to curb losses caused by mortgage criminals.

First American CREDCO announced today it will offer its Fast Alert screening report, a service the company says provides fraud and identity theft protection, free to new and existing mortgage customers during May.

Citing recent mortgage fraud news stories, First American, which claims it "is the leading provider of specialty credit reports to the mortgage" industry, said fraud has left consumers and businesses feeling vulnerable. The company estimates between 10% and 15% of all mortgage applications involve fraud.

The Poway, Calif.-based company said the Fast Alert gathers fraud data from the three national bureaus, Experian, TransUnion and Equifax, and supplements it with data from more sources than any other fraud tool. After crosschecking information provided by the borrower, a consolidated report is issued indicating if further verification is required.

While the fraud alert focuses on notifying the borrower, companies like MortgageDaily.com advertiser ISO Mortgage Analytics help the lender avoid making fraudulent loans. The company, which provides onsite fraud training and performs onsite fraud audits, says its system is able to leverage hundreds of thousands of transactions each month.

"Our systems actually learn each and every time we receive data, therefore the power of our system cannot be easily replicated," said ISO Mortgage Analytics President Kevin Coop in an e-mailed statement. "With over 1,100 customers processing hundreds of thousands of transactions each month, the combination of our application data, findings and corresponding analysis provides our customers with the most complete end-to-end loan quality decision support tools available today."

Jerome Mayne, a former mortgage broker convicted of mortgage fraud, uses fear to scare originators out of committing crimes. Mayne, who spent time in prison and touts his services at www.FraudCon.com, travels the country warning loan officers what can happen when you participate in -- or turn a blind eye to -- real estate finance schemes.

Hansen Quality and ComplianceEase announced today they have formed a strategic alliance and created a comprehensive package of due diligence services including credit, data integrity and appraisal quality. The announcement noted identity fraud can be incorporated into the review

First American said it has dubbed May "Fraud Awareness Month."

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