Story Created:
Sep 10, 2008 at 3:47 PM EST
Story Updated:
Sep 11, 2008 at 10:50 AM EST
FORT MYERS, Fla. - "I opened it up and was just like 'oh my gosh'!" said Francis Archer. She got a disturbing letter in the mail yesterday from her mortgage company. Archer found out her husband's personal information had been compromised by an employee who breached security at Countrywide Home Loans. The Archer's along with nearly 2 million other customers had their identification data stolen and sold to a third party. Now the company is offering free credit monitoring service to those customers for the next two years.
Last month the FBI arrested a former employee of Countrywide Home Loan for selling names, social security numbers and other confidential information contained in mortgage applications.
The Pasadena, CA man admitted to making between $50,000 and $70,000 on the sale of the data.
The FBI also arrested the man who is believed to have purchased that data.
Countrywide's solution of giving consumers free access to Equifax, Experian and Trans Union does not seem like enough to victims.
"What do we do as a consumer to protect ourselves with this. Do we put freezes on our accounts?" said Cindy Boutwell, who is afraid that as a woman someone could go after more than her identity.
"You just don't know . Because if they'll steal this, who knows what they'll steal in your home!" said Boutwell.
Countrywide is telling its customers to sign up online for the credit reporting services that will allow daily monitoring.
By calling and activating a fraud alert the companies will notify them of suspicious activity with their credit.
If you were a victim of the identity theft, Countrywide will notify you by mail.
They've set up a special hotline number at 1-866-451-8595 and they're referring customers to call 1-877-CU-FRAUD to activate a fraud alert notification with the credit reporting agencies.
Countrywide has told customers they have put a new safeguard system in place that alerts a supervisor is someone does not follow the proper protocol when viewing personal data. If an employee does not follow that protocol they will be fired immediately.
In addition, the company has told customers they are doing more thorough background checks on their employees.
WINK News was not able to get in touch with Countrywide directly for comment.
A link to the FBI's press release regarding the Countrywide employee's arrest is available here.
Sunday, Oct 12 at 12:48 PM Anonymous wrote ...
In regards to this comment "I called Countrywide today and a rep. told me that letters started going out as early as Sept 6th. and that my area (Fla) was not affected (so far). Seems like as soon as they knew there was a breach, we should have been alerted"! I live in Tampa, FL and I received the letter a couple of weeks ago. (Today is Oct 12th)! Florida is now affected.
Wednesday, Sep 17 at 9:32 PM Roger wrote ...
In referance to Michael's comment about everybody being sue happy? This is Countrywide's by not having a system in place to protect information, No I am not sue happy, but for the rest of my life, not two yrs, there is a possibility that someone may fraudulanetly use my identity. If corporations can continue to have security failures that allow these things to occur without penalty, they will continue to happen. Huge financial penalties are the only thing that will bring about change.
Monday, Sep 15 at 12:52 PM Hileng7 wrote ...
0ne of my acquaintances emailed me said that someone charged a big amt to his credit card and is now disputing those charges. I've got that letter too but didn't want to use the 3 credit bureaus. I asked myself how do I know if it's safe to use these credit bureaus online. I just put the letter inside my bible because I know that no weapon that is formed against us shall prosper & every tongue that shall rise up in judgment Thou shall condemn. Thanks and God bless.
Saturday, Sep 13 at 5:47 PM Michael wrote ...
Class action lawsuit? Are you kidding me???? My gosh is everyone in the world sue happy? This isn't anyone's fault except the person who stole the information. Unfortunately, ID theft is everywhere-not everyone is honest. BTW, A lot of home owners policies have added identity theft coverage-check with yours. I personally wouldn't close my accounts-chances are you will be fine just watch your accounts closely-and take advantage of the monitoring Countrywide is offering....
Saturday, Sep 13 at 11:30 AM Pamela wrote ...
Be careful of the wording in the terms and conditions that comes with signing up for free fraud alert through Equifax that Countrywide has arranged for everyone. Read it carefully. I copied and pasted it to MS Word and found it is 10 pages in length. There is wording there about waiving any rights to class-action suits or jury trials. I believe this pertains just to Equifax, though, not Countrywide. I am still reading it over before signing up for the free offer.
Saturday, Sep 13 at 1:23 AM Wink, too wrote ...
So what do we do is the question...do we close all accounts? put a freeze on credit? I'm in NoCal, got a letter Wed, my husband's data was involved. They (CW) told me today that it was only the primary account person involved. How do we know that the buyer didn't sell our info before he was arrested? IS ANYONE GOING TO FILE A CLASS ACTION AGAINST COUNTRYWIDE FOR THIS TIME_CONSUMING MESS??!!
Friday, Sep 12 at 12:45 PM Jimbob wrote ...
So how do you go about putting a freeze on all your accounts? Do you have to contact each one individually?
Thursday, Sep 11 at 3:27 PM Bob Badges wrote ...
I called Countrywide today and a rep. told me that letters started going out as early as Sept 6th. and that my area (Fla) was not affected (so far). Seems like as soon as they knew there was a breach, we should have been alerted!
Thursday, Sep 11 at 12:33 PM Janis Scheib wrote ...
My husband and I received a letter Tuesday from Countrywide explaining what had happend and the steps we need to take now to be protected. I feel that countrywide should be the ones to take the steps to protect us since it was there error. They could submit to all the credit bureaus electronically. It should not be up to the customers to fix what countrywide has done.
Thursday, Sep 11 at 7:48 AM Penny Crooks wrote ...
When will we know about if I am one if the people that had my information put out there.
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