Loan Defect Index Drops in October

SANTA ANA, CA—First American Financial Corporation, a leading global provider of title insurance, settlement services and risk solutions for real estate transactions, today released the First American Loan Application Defect Index for October 2015, which estimates the frequency of defects, fraudulence and misrepresentation in the information submitted in mortgage loan applications. The Defect Index reflects estimated mortgage loan defect rates over time, by geography and by loan type. It’s available as an interactive tool that can be tailored to showcase trends by category, including amortization type, lien position, loan purpose, property and transaction types, as well as state and market comparisons of mortgage loan defect levels.

The Index fell 2.5% in October as compared with September and decreased by 10.2% as compared with October 2014. The Defect Index, which reflects estimated mortgage loan defect rates over time, by geography and by loan type, is down 22.3% from the high point of risk in October 2013.