F&I Management & Training

Attempts up 7 per cent

The FLA estimates that attempts at fraud have risen by over 7 per cent in the first half.

The FLA said however that its members have beefed up their security and cut cases of motor finance fraud by 29 per cent in the second quarter of 2009, despite the increase in attempted fraud.

Almost 2,500 cases of attempted motor finance fraud were prevented in Q2 2009.

Acording to the FLA, if these applications had not been detected, over £30m of credit would have been obtained by fraudsters.

£66m worth of fraud prevented

In the first half, motor lenders have prevented over 5,700 fraudulent deals worth £66m.

The most common car acquired through fraud was the BMW 3 Series and according to the FLA figures, London is the fraud crime capital of Britain.

The most common fraud offence was application fraud - where customers give false information on their application, such as overstating their income or failing to disclose an address linked to poor credit history.

Application fraud accounted for 37 per cent of all cases and 30 per cent of FLA fraud cases were the result of ‘conversion' where customers sold cars on finance before settling the outstanding debt.

Paul Harrison, Head of Motor Finance at the FLA, said its members were fighting fraud to keep the cost of finance down for customers.

DATED: 08.09.09

FEED: MT