Yesterday afternoon in the mail was a letter addressed to my husband from Countrywide. The envelope stamped important information about your account. I typically just shred this because its advertisement to refinance or take a home equity loan. But I opened it this time and the letter reads:
"We are writing to inform you that we recently became aware that a Countrywide employee (now former) may have sold unauthorized personal information about you to a third party. Based on a joint investigation conducted by Countrywide and law enforcement authorities, it was determined that the customer information involved in this incident included your name, address, Social Security number, mortgage loan number, and various other loan and application information."
The letter goes on to talk about the necessary precautions that should be taken and the termination of this individual to access customer information. (I would hope so)
An offer of 2 years credit monitoring has been offered free of charge to my husband! Hold the phone, I'm on that loan too.
At the bottom of this letter is a hot line. I called the hot line number and John answers asking me my name and reference number. I tell John that I would like to discuss the fact that I am a co-borrower on this mortgage loan information that has been sold to a third party.
John takes a moment and says let me read you the script I have been given. He reads the script to me that basically says as a co-borrower on the account my information has not been compromised and therefore I have nothing to worry about. I explain to John that as a co-borrower on the account my information is included on the account. Just as if I was to default on this loan or miss a payment, they would not ignore the fact that I am on this loan and only go after my husband.
After asking to speak with a manger as I was put on hold and assured many times by John that my information is safe. A manager never made it to the phone as they were very busy with other individuals calling, probably about the same thing I called about.
Knowing that your information has been compromised is frustrating. Talking to the Company that hired an employee that compromised your information and having them read from a script as a blanket statement is even more frustrating.
Countrywide, if you are going to take responsibility for this as you should, you should also take responsibility for all parties involved not just the primary on the account.
;)
;)
Kim,
Are you sure this wasn't a marketing ploy to get more business. Some Lenders are getting very creative. My friends and I are getting "important" notices that can save us money. All it is is a servicing plan that they want to charge me for each month. Are you sure they aren't just selling a credit protection plan?