Mortgage Fraud Investigator

Who we are:

Cornerstone Capital Bancorp, Inc., headquartered in Houston, is a Texas-based financial services company dedicated to helping families, businesses, and communities thrive. Through its primary subsidiary, Cornerstone Capital Bank, the organization operates a community and business banking franchise alongside a premier national home lending, servicing, and home insurance platform-based financial services company dedicated to helping families, businesses, and communities thrive.

Guided by a core Mission, Vision and Convictions statement, Cornerstone operates 17 full-service banking locations across major Texas markets and more than 150 mortgage offices nationwide.  The company has served nearly 700,000 customers through its family of brands, including Cornerstone Home Lending, Roscoe Bank, Peoples Bank, Cornerstone Servicing, and Cornerstone Insurance. Supported by 1,600 team members, Cornerstone is consistently recognized as a Fortune-certified Great Place to Work® and a Top Workplace. 

Formed through the combination of Cornerstone Home Lending and The Roscoe State Bank, Cornerstone brings more than a century of experience and is the highest-capitalized new bank in Texas history.

The Mortgage Fraud Investigator is responsible for detecting, investigating, and preventing fraudulent activities related to mortgage lending. This includes examining loan applications, reviewing financial documentation, conducting interviews, collaborating with law enforcement, and preparing investigative reports.

Preferred locations - Denver or Houston metro areas, position is remote, but must be able to travel to the office on occasion.

What you’ll do:

• Conduct interviews with borrowers, lenders, appraisers, and other parties involved to validate facts and gather additional information.
• Develop and implement internal controls and fraud prevention measures. Educate colleagues and stakeholders on best practices.
• Monitor emerging trends in mortgage fraud and adapt investigative strategies accordingly.
• Collaborate with law enforcement or regulatory agencies when criminal activity is suspected.
• Prepare comprehensive investigative reports with findings, recommendations, and possibly statistical analysis.

• Investigate fraud across origination, underwriting, processing, servicing of loans, and REO (Real Estate Owned) properties.
• Resolve discrepancies between allegations and facts, reassess investigative leads and direction.
• Research using public records, credit reporting agencies, social media, and other databases.

Additional duties (Lead SAR Investigator responsibilities and daily collaboration):

• Perform comprehensive searches on potential matches in the Excluded Parties Lists (SAM, LDP, FHFA, SCP and OFAC) for parties related to the mortgage transaction.
• Daily communication with the mortgage division to resolve red flags, place conditions in the loan origination system (LOS), and escalate potential fraud issues.
• Track investigations; complete investigation write-ups; file and report required Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs); deliver SAR reporting to the business and regulators.
• Conduct complete loan analyses for mortgage investigations, including correct income calculations, rental income assessments, debt-to-income (DTI) ratio computations, and re-verification of income and assets.
• Review files to identify red flags and utilize tools to investigate business ownership, occupancy, tax returns, paystubs, bank statements, and identity fraud indicators.

What you’ll need to be successful:

Success in this job relies on your time management skills, organization, and positive attitude.  In addition, you’ll need the following qualifications:

• Extensive mortgage origination investigations experience is a must, preference for 5+ years
• Solid understanding of mortgage underwriting and GSE selling guide requirements, preference of 5+ years.
• Strong analytical skills to identify complex fraud patterns, review financials, and assess mortgage documents.
• Attention to detail is essential for detecting subtle discrepancies in applications and documents.
• Ability to conduct interviews and draft clear, impactful investigative reports.
• Ability to follow instructions and attention to detail is essential for detecting subtle discrepancies in applications and documents.
• Experience using mortgage processing software and fraud detection tools, plus public records databases.
• Strong understanding of mortgage lending laws and regulations.
• Proven ability to prioritize and manage a pipeline of work with accuracy and timeliness.
• Ability to problem-solve and research to uncover hidden fraud and develop countermeasures.
• Ability to maintain high integrity and confidentiality due to handling sensitive financial information.
• Recommends loss mitigation actions
• Maintains quality control and production standards
• Manage case management/ticket queues
• Continuously improve knowledge base and skillset
• Exceptional organization and time management a must
• Ability to work through stressful situations professionally and respectfully
• Perform other job-duty-related duties as assigned

Education & Certifications

• Education: A bachelor’s degree in criminal justice, finance, accounting, or related fields is often preferred.
• Certifications:
• Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE)
• Additional relevant certifications include: Certified Mortgage Fraud Investigator (CMFI), forensic accounting or investigative credentials.

What we offer: 

Because we recognize and reward hard work, we offer a competitive salary, Medical, Dental, Vision, Accidental Death, Long-Term Disability, Short-Term Disability, FSA, HSA, 401K, Basic Life, Voluntary Life, and Paid Parental Leave benefits, as well as the opportunity for a performance based bonus based on position and department.

 What to do next:

If Cornerstone sounds like the place for you (and if you have the qualifications, drive, and passion to match), we invite you to become a member of our winning team! And remember, once you're part of our Cornerstone family, we'll continue to invest in you as a valuable asset in our company. As many of our team members can tell you, there's something special about working at Cornerstone.