Reston, VA (PRWEB) March 17, 2008 -- The Mortgage Asset Research Institute (MARI (sm)), a ChoicePoint® (NYSE: CPS) company, today announced the release of its new MARI Loan Fraud Alert Service (LFAS). MARI LFAS (http://www.mari-inc.com/lfas.asp) is a mortgage industry-contributed loan process database that enables lenders and investors to identify potential application risk, patterns of fraud and hidden relationships among transaction parties.

MARI's LFAS, when used in tandem with ChoicePoint's Identity Risk Management (http://www.choicepoint.com/irm/identity_risk_management.html) and Mortgage Fraud Solutions (http://www.mari-inc.com/), is an integral tool in stopping mortgage fraud before it impacts a lender's loan portfolio.

"Fraudsters are taking advantage of the fact that some lenders do not have the capability to compare the details of all pending transactions" said Tom Chmielewski, ChoicePoint vice president of product marketing. "By incorporating LFAS into their business solutions, lenders will now have the ability to compare that data against other contributing lenders' loan data."

MARI's LFAS can help reduce mortgage fraud (http://www.mari-inc.com/) by comparing a lender's loan-level data, which includes borrower, collateral and professional information, against industry-contributed loan application data during the origination process. The sophisticated match logic identifies patterns such as multiple closings for a single borrower, undisclosed second escrows or mortgages for the same property, inflated appraisals for the same property within a short period of time and multiple loan applications for the same property.

The comparison helps recognize application inconsistencies and common patterns that may be indicative of fraudulent activity. By helping identify risk at the earliest stages, lenders can also improve their quality control processes and reduce redundant application reviews.

"MARI Loan Fraud Alert Service (http://www.mari-inc.com/lfas.asp) gives lenders the ability to better know who they are doing business with, and now they can use this information to identify potentially fraudulent relationships between vendors and customers," said Merle Sharick, vice president and national manager of business development for MARI.

About MARI Identity Risk Management Services:

ChoicePoint and the Mortgage Asset Research Institute (MARI) provide Identity Risk Management services that help organizations in the mortgage industry know their customers, employees and vendors. These services aid in preventing several types of fraud unique to the mortgage industry, including fraud-for-profit, fraud-for-housing and identity fraud. ChoicePoint and MARI also provide tools to help conduct due diligence, credential vendors and even perform loss mitigation efforts. Learn more at www.MARISolutions.com.

About ChoicePoint:

ChoicePoint (NYSE: CPS) provides businesses, government agencies and non-profit organizations with technology, software, information and marketing services to help manage economic risks as well as identify business opportunities. Consumers have free access to the reports we create at ChoiceTrust.com. Learn what we do to protect consumer privacy by visiting PrivacyatChoicePoint.com and, for more information on our company, go to www.ChoicePoint.com.

ChoicePoint is a registered trademark, and MARI is a service mark of ChoicePoint Asset Company LLC.