Mortgage Fraud Edges to Crisis Point

NEW YORK CITY-In its long-range economic forecast, the Mortgage Bankers Association is projecting continued strong economic growth of 3.5% for 2006, with moderate, below-trend growth of 3.3% in 2007. “We’ve seen record climbs for five years and now instead of going into a valley, we’ll go to a plateau. It’s a modest slowdown,” said Doug Duncan, MBA chief economist and senior vice president for research and business development.

Duncan said that the labor market remains strong nationally, however the devastating impacts of the hurricanes in the Gulf areas continue to negatively impact that region. Kurt Pfotenhauer, senior vice president for government affairs at MBA, said “some plan has to be in place to spur investment of private capital” in the Gulf region.

Other issues the MBA is emphasizing this year include the increase of mortgage fraud, pushing Congress to pass GSE Reform legislation and working toward preserving tax incentives to encourage community investment. MBA will seek $6.25 million in dedicated funding for 30 new FBI field investigators, two new dedicated prosecutors at the Department of Justice to coordinate prosecution efforts with the US Attorney’s offices, and $750,000 to support the operations of FBI Interagency Task Forces in the areas with the 15 highest concentrations of mortgage fraud.