Minnesota Leads in Q2 Mortgage Fraud Activity

More mortgage brokers, loan officers, and others chose Minnesota over all other states in which to bilk homeowners and lenders, placing the northern state first for mortgage fraud activity and making it the most unlikely hotspot for criminal behavior. An index released by ""MortgageDaily.com"":http://www.mortgagedaily.com/ bore witness to a 27-percent surge in mortgage fraud activity for the North Star State over the second quarter, with other contenders seeing a rise in fraudulent behavior quarter-over-quarter.

[IMAGE]

Releasing the _Second-Quarter 2011 Mortgage Fraud Index_, the mortgage Web site tallied up the total number of criminal and civil cases in which prosecutors alleged that defendants secured their gains from fraudulently obtained loan proceeds.

Minnesota shot up to 1261 for the index, while the _Minnesota Mortgage Fraud Index_ jumped to 15 ├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔé¼┼ô the highest in five years' worth of data compiled by the index.

According to MortgageDaily.com, 194 cases around the North Star State alleged $1,587,573,586 in losses from fraudulent credit and loan applications over the second quarter this year.

[COLUMN_BREAK]

These reflect a spike from the first quarter, during which Minnesotans heard about 150 cases involving $1,247,615,165 in alleged losses to lenders and homeowners.

That said, none of the cases or alleged losses of funds matches evenly with $2,248,657,052 in losses found by MortageDaily.com over the second quarter last year. The losses resulted from 266 cases.

Other unlikely states for highs in mortgage fraud activity: Colorado, Iowa, Oregon, and Utah. The index released by MortgageDaily.com saw cases dip overall by 78 percent in Oregon, while Utah leapt forward.

Dollar volume for these cases rose by more than $340 million than the amounts recorded over the first three months this year, with a large share owned by the caseload in Minnesota. The North Star State laid claim to approximately $161 million more in alleged mortgage fraud.

MortageDaily.com found that dollar volume nonetheless fell by some $661 million over the second quarter nationally. California, Michigan, and Pennsylvania assumed overwhelmingly less as well, with the former seeing $300 million less on a year-over-year basis and mortgage fraud activity by dollar volume falling for the latter two by $218 million and $198 million, respectively.

A statement from the Web site faulted North Carolina and New York for their role in upping overall mortgage fraud activity by dollar volume.

The Empire State accounted for $72 million more in second-quarter cases, while North Carolina observed an increase in mortgage fraud activity to the tune of $67 million.