A large breach of mortgage data that has exposed the personal financial information of tens of thousands of borrowers raises key consumer questions: What happens to all those disclosures we make after we apply for and obtain a home loan — our tax returns, Social Security numbers, credit card accounts, bank-account numbers and detailed summaries of our assets?
Where does it all go after the closing? If your mortgage or servicing rights subsequently are sold and resold to other companies, what happens to all that intimate information? Does it stay securely padlocked away somewhere, far out of the reach of criminals?
You would hope so, but consider this: 54,000 mortgage borrowers recently had their financial data exposed to identity thieves trolling around on the internet. Borrowers had no hint that they were vulnerable, and many may still not know that a breach occurred.
There was no lock on the online files that contained their private data. Stunningly, their information was not protected by even a simple password. It’s not known at this point whether, or how much, personal data was accessed, but the files reportedly were exposed for two weeks or more. Some borrowers could find that criminals already have used their information to establish new credit card accounts, purchase merchandise, even apply for new mortgages — creating havoc for the victims.