SAR Guidance; CIICU; NCUA Board Meeting
Posted by Anthony Demangone
FinCEN has issued an advisory to help credit unions protect senior citizens from fraud related to FHA Home Equity Conversion Mortgages.  HECMs are akin to reverse mortgages.
As the popularity of the HECM program has grown, now accounting for nearly 100 percent of the reverse mortgage market, public reports of financial crimes against seniors involving the FHA program have become more prevalent. In this advisory, FinCEN highlights the new trends and schemes that law enforcement and HUD officials have identified involving thefts from seniors by family members, loan officers, and others as well as the use of unsuspecting seniors in property flipping and other HECM-related fraud schemes, and requests that financial institutions use certain key words within the Suspicious Activity Report (SAR) narrative section to assist law enforcement in identifying and prosecuting these crimes.
The guidance gives numerous examples of activities that show signs of HECM fraud. If you come into contact with suspected HECM fraud, the guidance asks you to complete SARs as outlined in the advisory.
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The most recent episode of "Current Issues in Credit Unions" is now available.
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NCUA's monthly board meeting will be held today. Usually, they post the "draft items" the morning of the meeting. You can look at those to see the actual draft proposed or final regulations that the board will discuss.