People in debt “lie” to get credit, expert says

Rising debt levels are increasing instances of loan application fraud as people become “desperate” to get credit, according to an expert.

Commenting on the latest figures from Cifas, Equifax external affairs director Neil Munroe said that people were withholding crucial information on credit applications to give them a better chance of obtaining credit.

This is “probably to be expected” in the current economic climate, he said. Cifas is the UK’s Fraud Prevention Service.

The latest report from Cifas shows that people’s attempts to commit fraud by lying on application forms – such as for loans, credit cards or insurance products – increased by more than 12 per cent in the first half of the year.

Not disclosing a previous address to prevent a company from tracing a bad debt history is the most common lie told.

“When credit gets more difficult people will be tempted to make changes to their applications to either avoid disclosing information which might be detrimental,” Mr Monroe said.

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