Fraud Came With Housing Bubble

The housing bubble has brought many negatives with it. Mortgage fraud is so prevalent that it now threatens the nations' economy. David Callahan with Demos "This is just another area in American life where a boom, with all its money to be made, brought out the worst in us. The carrots for cheating are getting bigger and even though the sticks are hitting harder, our watchdogs are asleep so it's easy to get away with things."

"Too bad the mortgage industry has no single federal agency monitoring its affairs. Government regulation is splintered and in some cases, notably mortgage brokers, almost nonexistent.'You can be driving a truck or selling cars today, and tomorrow be a mortgage broker dealing with large sums of money.'"

"Housing is a more important part of our economy than it's ever been, and people's fortunes are tied to mortgaged properties. We could never nail down the connection between fraud and high real estate prices, but it seems intuitive. All you need is for that bubble to pop. If interest rates go up and maybe the economy takes a wrong turn, we could have economic catastrophe."