We live in an era of increased data vulnerability, with data breaches and leaks becoming more prevalent, and incidents of identity theft increasing year after year. Netizens have been wondering what this dangerous environment entails for loan and mortgage information. Continue reading for our thoughts.
Bank Loan and Mortgage Information Leaks
Data-based hacks frequently target bank loan and mortgage information. Several such leaks have occurred in recent years, totaling tens of millions of banking information, including loan and mortgage data. The initial of these was discovered in 2019 and involved the data business Ascension’s systems being accessed. Ascension’s clients included Wells Fargo, Citigroup, and HSBC; 24 million records were exposed for more than two weeks, with the data including:
- Agreements of mortgage
- Documents of tax
- Schedules of repayment
Shortly after, another 23,000-page cache of papers was discovered on an unsecured Amazon server. This information was a jackpot for fraudsters, and it included:
- home addresses
- Social Security numbers
- tax forms
- bank account numbers & balances
- Data and income assets
Fast forward to 2021, and yet another data leak makes headlines. Nations Reliable Lending (NRL), an established home mortgage firm, was implicated. A non-password-secured database containing over 3 million records. While loan and mortgage information remained encrypted, a massive amount of internal and administrative data went public, with the latter possibly allowing access to more sensitive information.
Citywide Home Loans, a lending company with operations in 25 states, has paid a $1.2 million data breach case after it was accused of negligence that resulted in a breach in 2020. In that event, the following data was compromised:
- Name
- Address
- Date of Birth
- Phone Number
- Social Security Numbers
- Driver’s license numbers
- Passport number
- Information on credit card
- Information on Bank account
- Information on medical and insurance
Citywide Home Loans disputed culpability but agreed to settle in the hopes of putting the accusations to rest. Taken together, the aforementioned examples demonstrate how sensitive mortgage and loan data truly is. Even if such data is not directly damaged, other data can operate as a breadcrumb trail leading to a victim’s mortgage and loan information. Cybercriminals can also use mortgages and loans in identity theft attempts. As a result, citizens must stay on top of their data security and be aware of the warning indications.
Seven Indicators of Identity Theft
- Without your permission, a tax return is submitted in your name.
- The mail is addressed to you but to someone else.
- Debt collectors contact you about accounts you do not recognize.
- Your personal information was compromised as a result of a data breach.
- You are being charged for medical treatments that you did not use.
- You discover a new account in your name that you did not create.
- The IRS contacts you to notify you that your Social Security number is being used fraudulently.
Top Tips for Staying Safe
Keep track of your bills: know what you owe and when it’s due. If you cease receiving bills and it wasn’t your fault, this could be a sign that your billing address has been changed. Similarly, if you receive additional bills that you did not request, an identity thief could be utilizing your personally identifiable information (PII).
Bank statements: You should monitor your bank account statements on a regular basis. If you see a transaction that you do not recognize, this could be an indication that your identity has been stolen.
Credit report: You should also check your credit report on a regular basis. To do so, you must request a report from each of the three credit-reporting agencies (Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion). Your credit score alone will not tell you if your identity has been stolen; you’ll need the entire report to look for unknown accounts and activities, as well as any inaccurate information.