With budgetary constraints in place within most mortgage lending institutions, the investigative units of lenders are facing ever-challenging methods for documenting and verifying the existence of misrepresentations and fraud within their loan files. Most mortgage lenders have a Quality Control / Investigation Unit in place within their corporate structure, however, these units are normally restricted to desk investigation duties. In some situations, a desk investigation is sufficient to prove the existence of misrepresentations and/or fraudulent activities. The problems begin when the desk investigation has been conducted as completely as possible and factual information necessary to answer lingering questions is still lacking. Additionally, mortgage lenders must be aware of the liability issues involved in fraud investigations and take these issues under consideration when performing fraud investigations in the field. This is when the use of an experienced outside investigative service can be contracted to conduct a field investigation for the purpose…