Decrease In The Level Of Car Loan Fraud
The credit crunch and recent economic slow down has created great problems financially for many individuals in the UK and this has encouraged some people to resort to ever more desperate measures, particularly when it comes to obtaining finance, or a personal loan, with a growing number of potential borrowers committing fraud on their loan application forms.
In the majority of fraudulent loan applications, this is simply a case of overstating the applicant’s income, or neglecting to include certain information about their credit history, such as a County Court Judgement, or previous loan arrears, for example. Although this may not seem all that an extreme a crime to many, it is non the less, fraud.
One of the most popular areas for fraud is in car loan applications. The latest figures from the Finance and Leasing Association (FLA) have revealed that over the course of the second three months of this year, loan companies and the motor industry prevented somewhere in the region of 2,500 individual cases of car loan fraud, worth around £30 million.
In total, over the course of 2009 so far, there have been 5,700 cases of car loan fraud prevented, for a value of £66 million. There were still around £3.5 million worth of car loan fraud cases during the second quarter of the year, but this has fallen by 29 per cent on the same period for last year.
Paul Harrison of the FLA commented on the reduced figures, he said “FLA members’ efforts have prevented £66 million worth of motor fraud in the first half of this year. Finance companies continue to work hard to combat financial crime, particularly in the recession, in order to help make our roads safer and keep the cost of finance down for customers.
Fraud is not a victimless crime and our work with the police is also helping to prosecute organised gangs of fraudsters involved in very serious crimes such as drug trafficking and firearms.”
