Dear Rabbi,
Can you please outline the halachic issues with the following request assuming there are problems.
Reuven was pre-approved for a mortgage through an Israeli bank at x% interest rates. He understands that he if shows a higher joint income with his spouse the % interest would be reduced for the duration of the loan.
Reuven requests of Shimon to provide payslips from a company to provide to proof that Reuven’s wife is earning a large income.
It strikes me that the bank would only be willing to lend at the reduced rate due to the reduced risk of lending to someone with a higher income and therefore the misrepresentation would be tantamount to bank fraud.
Thank you in advance.
Answer:
This is certainly a case of “bank fraud” as you call it, and it is not permitted to do this.
A bank takes a person’s income (or a household’s joint income) into account in determining the “risk factor” in a mortgage, and this influences the rate of interest.
I don’t know if this is true for all banks, but if this is the borrower’s understanding for the creditor bank, it follows that by producing a fake payslip he will be swindling the bank into giving him a lower rate of interest, and effectively “under-pricing” the loan.
This is both a case of “theft” from the bank, and probably a criminal offense.
Best wishes.
