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Finance houses winning battle against fraudsters
publication date: Sep 1, 2010
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author/source: Robin Roberts
Lenders and dealers are getting on top of motor finance fraud.
The Finance & Leasing Association’s statistics show that only
8.7% of attempted motor finance frauds succeed. And of those that do
succeed, 44% of the cars involved are recovered by lenders.
The FLA statistics reveal that in Q2 2010, there were 2,361 cases of
attempted or suspected motor finance fraud. Rigorous checks by dealers
and finance companies kept the actual number of cases where the fraud
was not spotted down to 224.
| This figure is also down 5% on cases of
actual fraud recorded in the first quarter of last year.
Lenders’ investigating agents work with the police to recover cars in
fraudulent cases.
The FLA has also sponsored the ACPO Vehicle Crime
Intelligence Service’s vehicle fraud unit since its inception in 2007 to
recover cars and prosecute fraudsters.
In the past 12 months, more than
300 cars (44% of all fraud cases) have been recovered through a
combination of AVCIS, finance company investigators and local police
forces.
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| The FLA also works in partnership with the police on a Vehicle Recovery
Scheme (VRS), which allows finance companies to recover cars they own
that have been driven illegally by a finance customer and have
ultimately been seized by the police. The VRS has led to £4 million
worth of illegal vehicles being taken off the UK’s roads in 12 months.
| “Anyone having trouble making repayments should immediately contact
their lender to discuss their situation. Lenders are keen to work with
customers to agree alternative payment plans whenever possible” - FLA
| Paul Harrison (above), Head of Motor Finance at the FLA, said, “A third of motor
fraud cases involved customers selling their car without settling their
finance agreement in full. This is known as conversion fraud and it has
become a bigger problem during the recession.
"In some cases, customers
are not aware that they are not the legal owners of their car and do not
realise that selling it is fraud. The finance company remains the owner
of a car until all outstanding finance has been paid. At this point, a
lender will generally transfer legal ownership to the customer and
he/she can then do what they want with the car.
“Anyone having trouble making repayments should immediately contact
their lender to discuss their situation. Lenders are keen to work with
customers to agree alternative payment plans whenever possible.” |
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