First-time buyers advised not to "manipulate" figures

20-Jul-2009

First-time buyers should not "manipulate" the figures they put down on mortgage applications, it has been warned.

Neil Munroe is external affairs director at Equifax and was asked whether mortgage fraud was a growing problem.

He said in a financial climate such as the current one, there is generally an increase in deception when it comes to money.

But people may not realise the potential severity of exaggerating on an application form.

"It will get reported [and] the information does get shared," Mr Munroe explained. "It could be a downward spiral for getting credit ... the best policy is to be honest and to see where you go from there."

He also noted that lenders were undertaking more checks and are prepared to "dig deeper" to find out information they would not have bothered with five years ago.

In February of this year, KPMG stated that the value of mortgage fraud had increased by more than £30 million since 2007.

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