Fintech FundingShield will provide comprehensive title fraud solutions via an advanced programming interface (API) integration to CoreLogic‘s digital mortgage platform.
The partnership comes amid wire and title fraud risk reaching an all-time high in fourth-quarter 2023. About 52% of transactions had issues that led to a risk of wire and title fraud, according to FundingShield.
With the integration, CoreLogic’s digital mortgage platform clients can now access FundingShield’s “cost-saving and risk-reducing ecosystem of applications” and work toward protecting borrowers and financial institutions from the rapid increase in wire and title fraud, the companies stated in a release.
“As cyber-based threats hit the mortgage, title and real estate segments and payment-related fraud increases, our integration with FundingShield will allow our clients easy access to risk management solutions to address these concerns,” said Bob Jennings, CoreLogic’s executive of collateral and risk solutions.
Mortgage and title firms have been the target of a series of cyber incidents in recent months, raising alarm bells about growing cybersecurity challenges.
“Big Four” title firm Fidelity National Financial was hit with a ransomware attack late last year in which data belonging to 1.3 million customers was stolen. Another title insurance giant, First American Financial Corp., was the victim of a pre-Christmas cyberattack that caused its network to shut down.
Top 15 U.S. mortgage lender loanDepot also suffered a cyberattack earlier this year as hackers gained access to the data of 16.6 million customers.
In Q4 2023, problematic loans had an average of 2.2 issues per loan, FundingShield pointed out in its recent quarterly report, indicating a lack of appropriate controls by closing agents to identify and fix issues.
Closing protection letter (CPL) issues were found on 49% of transactions, CPL validation issues on 8% of transactions and wire risks on 9% of transactions in Q4 2023.
“As clients seek automated solutions to drive ROI, we are excited to deliver FundingShield’s cutting-edge financial technology to CoreLogic clients to help combat wire fraud. Our expertise is in providing automated, real-time, source-data verifications for compliance and risk management,” Ike Suri, CEO of FundingShield, said in a statement.
