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Working Paper
\"Cream-skimming\" in subprime mortgage securitizations : which subprime mortgage loans were sold by depository institutions prior to the crisis of 2007?
Depository institutions may use information advantages along dimensions not observed or considered by outside parties to "cream-skim," meaning to transfer risk to naive, uninformed, or unconcerned investors through the sale or securitization process. This paper examines whether "cream-skimming" behavior was common practice in the subprime mortgage securitization market prior to its collapse in 2007. Using Home Mortgage Disclosure Act data merged with data on subprime loan delinquency by ZIP code, the authors examine the bank decision to sell (securitize) subprime mortgages originated in ...
Journal Article
Payments fraud: perception versus reality - a conference summary
The authors highlight key issues from the presentations, keynote addresses, and open floor discussions at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago's eighth annual Payments Conference. The conference's agenda appears at the end of this article.
Briefing
Remote Card Payment Fraud: Trends and Measures Taken in Australia, France, and the United Kingdom
Australia, France, and the United Kingdom have successfully reduced remote card payment fraud rates in recent years. In each of these countries, a self-regulated body, central bank, or trade association has led coordinated efforts to mitigate remote fraud.
Working Paper
Debtor Fraud in Consumer Debt Renegotiation
We study how forcing financially distressed consumer debtors to repay a larger fraction of debt can lead them to misreport data fraudulently. Using a plausibly exogenous policy change that required debtors to increase repayment to creditors, we document that debtors manipulated data to avoid higher repayment. Consistent with deliberate fraud, data manipulators traveled farther to find more lenient insolvency professionals who, historically, approved more potentially fraudulent filings. Finally, we find that those debtors who misreported income had a lower probability of default on their debt ...
Working Paper
The economics of the mutual fund trading scandal
I examine the economic incentives behind the mutual fund trading scandal, which made headlines in late 2003 with news that several asset management companies had arranged to allow abusive--and, in some cases, illegal--trades in their mutual funds. Most of the gains from these trades went to the traders who pursued market-timing and late-trading strategies. The costs were largely borne by buy-and-hold investors, and, eventually, by the management companies themselves. ; A puzzle emerges when one examines the scandal from the perspective of those management companies. In the short run, they ...
Journal Article
Features: Fighting Payments Fraud
For many people, TikTok has become their go-to source for information on everything from fashion to food to home maintenance. Gone are the days of having to figure it out yourself or "Google it"; influencers now post short videos detailing how to perform any number of supposed "life hacks" meant to make life a little easier or, at the very least, more entertaining. In the past year, one more hack joined the list: check fraud. The hack went viral in the fall of 2024, and it was surprisingly easy: Chase Bank customers wrote checks of significant amounts to themselves, deposited those checks ...
Working Paper
Owner-Occupancy Fraud and Mortgage Performance
We identify occupancy fraud — borrowers who misrepresent their occupancy status as owner-occupants rather than investors — in residential mortgage originations. Unlike previous work, we show that fraud was prevalent in originations not just during the housing bubble, but also persists through more recent times. We also demonstrate that fraud is broad-based and appears in government-sponsored enterprise and bank portfolio loans, not just in private securitization; these fraudulent borrowers make up one-third of the effective investor population. Occupancy fraud allows riskier borrowers to ...
Discussion Paper
Maintaining a safe environment for payment cards: Examining evolving threats posed by fraud
On April 23 and 24, 2008, the Payment Cards Center of the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia and the Electronic Funds Transfer Association jointly hosted "Maintaining a Safe Environment for Payment Cards: Examining Evolving Threats Posed by Fraud." The conference included panels representing four key constituencies: issuers, consumers, merchants/acquirers, and networks. The panelists addressed the nature of payment card fraud in the 21st century. This paper summarizes the highlights from the presentations and the discussions that ensued.
Journal Article
Divided we fall: Fighting payments fraud together
Journal Article
The perils of identity fraud
Among the fastest growing crimes in the country, identity fraud involves the acquisition of credit in someone else's name. What can you do to protect yourself? Julia Stewart of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston explains.