The FTC’s Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act (FACTA) of 2003 require that companies who have access or require the use of our private information, such as Social Security numbers, dispose of the sensitive information in such a way as to protect us from “unauthorized access to or use of the information.”
Well, I suppose that’s one of those phrases that is left up to interpretation. And, it seems that some of the mortgage companies who have recently come under fire and close to bankruptcy chose a very loose interpretation.
According to MSNBCwhen reporting on First Magnus Financial Corporation, now bankrupt:
Most of its borrowers’ records were still on paper, as Floridians learned when thousands of loan documents were discovered in boxes in an unlocked trash Dumpster in Fort Lauderdale.
….
The documents included borrowers’ Social Security and credit card numbers and all the rest of the sensitive personal and financial information that Americans turn over when they seek a home loan.
Don’t think because you don’t live in Fort Lauderdale that you are safe.
That’s what Faye Wenzlick, who directs senior programs for the Better Business Bureau in northwestern Ohio, learned when the records of hundreds of former customers of the defunct Alpha Mortgage Services — including Social Security numbers, wage statements and checking account numbers dating back to 2000 — were left in a recycling bin behind a grocery store in Toledo.
And, it doesn’t stop there.
After Union Mortgage Services of Ohio shut down last month, confidential files on hundreds of people were thrown out in a Dumpster behind a pizza shop in Cleveland.
“That’s appalling,” said Ken Knabe, a lawyer in the Cleveland suburb of Lakewood whose bank accounts, credit reports, tax returns and other personal information — including his Social Security number — were recovered by NBC affiliate WKYC-TV. “This is private information in a Dumpster.”
The FTC suggests that companies burn the documents, but there are no requirements. Wouldn’t we think that there would be a requirement? I guess not.
And, even without a requirement wouldn’t we expect the companies who have taken our information would handle it with more care? I guess not.
My point is that whether it is FEMA with their toxic trailers, FISA with expanded wire-tapping, the FDA who doesn’t inspect the sources of our medications, the FBI who oversteps its powers and now the FTC not seeing the need to require the burning or shredding of personal financial documents, it just seems that not one… not one the F-agencies can get it right. So, really, if they can’t do the job they were created to perform, what’s the need for all the red tape, the enormous staff of personnel, government funding, and wasted time?
When was the last time you heard a report where one… just one of the F-agencies did something right from start to finish?
