Judge Approves Countrywide Financial Settlement

Sacramento, CA — A federal judge has given preliminary approval to a settlement agreement between Countrywide Financial Corporation and millions of customers whose financial information was exposed in a security breach.

According to the Associated Press, under the terms of the settlement, Countrywide, now owned by Bank of America, will give up to 17 million people whose information was exposed during a security breach free credit monitoring.  That group includes anyone who obtained a mortgage and anyone who used Countrywide to service a mortgage prior to July 1, 2008.

The settlement entitles a person up to $50,000 in reimbursements from Countrywide per instance of identity theft, provided they actually lost something of value, were not reimbursed and it is more likely than not the theft stemmed from Countrywide.

The lawsuit stems from an incident in southern California where an analyst used a flash drive to download data from approximately 20,000 customers a week between 2006 and 2008.

Written by bjhansen@mlode.com.