A mortgage broker who discarded consumers’ personal financial records in a publicly- accessible dumpster paid a $35,000 civil penalty to settle Federal Trade Commission charges.

According to an FTC complaint filed in December 2008, the defendant improperly disposed of about 40 boxes of sensitive consumer records collected by companies he had owned, including tax returns, mortgage applications, bank statements, photocopies of credit cards and drivers’ licenses, and at least 230 credit reports. In addition, two mortgage brokerage companies he previously owned failed to provide reasonable and appropriate security for sensitive consumer information, despite promising they would do so.

In addition to the $35,000 penalty, the settlement order also provides that the defendant is barred from misrepresenting measures taken to protect sensitive consumer information and failing to take reasonable measures to protect credit report information during its disposal. The order also requires the defendant to employ a comprehensive information security program for sensitive consumer information, and to hire an independent, third-party security professional to review the program every year for 10 years to ensure that it meets or exceeds the order’s requirements.

To read the compete FTC Press Release on the settlement, click here.

This entry was posted on Thursday, January 21st, 2010 at 1:50 am by Nancy Cremins and is filed under Breach. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.