“I think what they’re going to try is more of a watch list,” she said. “HUD has what’s called a neighborhood watch list for lenders that have a high delinquency rate. Fannie and Freddie have a watch list for lenders that are delinquent or have maturity issues. I think they should try to figure out how to best put that forward. I think sharing that information with other lenders is imperative.”
Communication is key
Being able to share fraud and delinquency information between lenders is a crucial step in preventing other lenders from also being victimized. Kaufman noted that Bayport had recently investigated a potential loan with a customer whose file had some issues. Upon discussing with other lenders, they discovered problems.
“Bayport recently had a loan that went to committee, and it was a big borrower, and we saw that they had two loans that were in foreclosure,” she said. “One, they told us, was a maturity issue. And I’m like, ‘If they’ve been paying the whole time, they’re maturing, I don’t really consider that an issue.’ The other one, they said they had something going on with the city. They gave a rational excuse for a portfolio this size that we’re looking at.
“However, when we ran the litigation search, it was not two. It was four of them. I recognized two of the lenders on the list, both from the NPLA. We were able to call each other and say, ‘What’s the real issue?’ Both of those lenders were very clear that it was not a maturity issue. They took a principal loss on both their loans, and that was very helpful, because we would have been next.”
Max Chera of Express Capital Financing says fraud is a top concern holding back private lending. From inflated appraisals to unusual DSCR figures, he urges brokers and lenders to dig deeper into every deal.https://t.co/KusgB8R14i
— Mortgage Professional America Magazine (@MPAMagazineUS) September 30, 2025
Discovering that they could have been the next lender victimized made the sharing of information between lenders so important. All the information shared was public, so Bayport would have likely found it on its own, but it might have been after it closed the loan. It’s why Kaufman said NPLA’s watch list is so critical to reducing both fraud and delinquencies in the space.
