HSBC Finance Corporation has begun notifying an undisclosed number of consumers whose mortgage account information was inadvertently exposed on the Internet. The firm believes the exposure began sometime towards the end of 2014 and continued until March 27, 2015, when they learned of the breach.
The breach affected customers of the firm’s subsidiaries, including Beneficial Financial I, Inc., Beneficial Homeowner Service Corporation, Beneficial Maine, Inc., Beneficial Massachusetts, Inc., Beneficial New Hampshire, Inc., Household Finance Corporation II, Household Finance Corporation of Alabama, Household Financial Center, Inc., and Household Realty Corporation.
The exposed information included customers’ name, account number, Social Security number, and old account information, including some telephone numbers.
HSBC Financial Corporation notified law enforcement and credit reporting agencies, and has offered those affected one year of complimentary services with Identity Guard. The Identity Guard service also monitors chat rooms and other sites to detect if any Social Security number, credit card number or bank account number is being posted.
Among those affected are 685 residents of New Hampshire.
Neither the notification to the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office nor to the consumers indicates how the bank learned of the breach nor how it occurred. The letter is also silent as to whether HSBC was able to determine how many times the data may have been accessed and/or if there’s any indication of misuse of the information.