Tim Hull reports:
Countrywide Financial employees stole and sold “tens of thousands, or millions” of customers’ personal financial information, invading their privacy and exposing them to identity theft, a class action claims in Ventura County Court, Calif. The class seeks to know, among other things, whether Countryside merely aided and abetted the theft and illegal dissemination, or whether it was “an architect of the plan”.
Sixteen named plaintiffs sued Countrywide Financial, Countrywide Home Loans, and Bank of America, which bought Countrywide, the poster boy for the subprime mortgage crisis.
The class claims the defendants do not dispute that customers’ private financial information was “disseminated.” It wants to know “whether the dissemination was intended as a plan or scheme, or was intentional; [and] whether any of the defendants was simply aiding and abetting, rather than an architect of the plan to disseminate the personal information.”
Read more on Courthouse News.
Complaint: Jackson v. Bank of America (pdf)
Note that this complaint stems from the same breach which is currently under a settlement review in another class action lawsuit.
I was notified by countrywide when this happened. I notified all three credit bureaus and they still allowed that person to open three credit cards in my name. I had filed bankruptcy and they still let this unknown person open credit cards. They charged quite a bit and they are still showing up on my credit as unpaid. I will not pay them. What can I do about this…. the credit bureaus will not take them off my report…. Is there anything that I can do.
Have you contacted the Identity Theft Resource Center? If not, you might want to call their toll-free number for free victim assistance: 1 (888) 400-5530. They should be able to advise and assist you.
The settlement notice/news also had this:
It seems that claims can not be filed yet, but have you called to ask them if they can assist you in getting your credit reports straightened out? I’d be of the mindset, “You fscked this up, now YOU fix it,” but that’s just me.