Countrywide is notifying customers that their personal information may have been sold to a third party by a former employee. The mortgage lender, recently acquired by Bank of America, learned of the breach in early August.
Rene Rebollo Jr., a former senior financial analyst for Countrywide Home Loan’s subprime mortgage division, has been accused of allegedly selling clients’ personal information, including name, address, Social Security number and mortgage loan number, to other mortgage brokers outside the company. Countrywide is using direct mail to reach out to all 2 million customers that may have been affected.
“We deeply regret this incident and apologize for any inconvenience or concern it may cause you,” reads a portion of the letter sent earlier this month. “We take our responsibility to safeguard your information very seriously and will not tolerate any actions that compromise the privacy or security of our customers’ information.”
So far, none of the information seems to have been used for identity theft or fraud, but to ease client concerns, Countrywide is offering free credit-monitoring to any customer that would like it. The lender has signed Experian’s ConsumerInfo.com Inc. to provide a two-year membership in Triple Advantage Credit Monitoring.
“We have no evidence to date to indicate that any customer has been the victim of identity theft or fraud,” read a statement from the company. “To ensure the protection of all involved, we are notifying customers whose information may have been exposed by this employee of the steps we are taking and what they can do to protect themselves.”
