 |
|
 |
| Your Privacy |
|
| The opportunities you deserve, the privacy you expect |
|
| For more than 30 years, Countrywide has been a trusted leader in home loans.
The Countrywide family of companies is now part of the Bank of America family of companies. |
|
| Our primary focus is on empowering you to meet your homeownership goals by offering a
wide range of financial products and services. This notice explains how we protect and
use your information in a safe, secure and responsible manner. When used in this policy,
"we," "our," and "us" refer only to the Countrywide family of companies specifically identified
in the section titled "Benefits to sharing within our family of companies and the other Bank of America companies"
below and do not refer to the other Bank of America companies. This policy does not explain how the other Bank of
America companies manage customer information and what actions you can take regarding how the other Bank of America
companies use and share your information. Please visit bankofamerica.com/privacy for more information on the policy
of the other Bank of America companies. |
|
| We offer you products and services at a lower cost or with greater convenience by sharing
limited information within our family of companies, within the other Bank of America companies,
and with carefully selected business partners. |
|
| Your protection is our priority |
|
| We strive to safeguard your data. We do this by: |
|
-
setting policies and procedures for carefully handling your information;
-
limiting employee access to sensitive information;
-
protecting against unauthorized access to customer data using data encryption,
authentication, and virus detection technology;
-
requiring service providers who do business with Countrywide to comply with
privacy laws;
-
auditing company security practices;
-
monitoring our websites through recognized online privacy and security
organizations such as Cybertrust Corporation; and
-
conducting background checks on all employees and providing privacy training.
|
|
|
|
| About our websites |
|
| Our systems automatically switch to "secure" mode when you are asked to enter
personal information on a Countrywide website (such as your loan number,
account number or Social Security Number). To keep your data safe, we use: |
|
-
Encryption and authentication technology
-
Website design that blocks or limits online display of customer information
when not necessary for the transaction
-
IDs and passwords to protect customer information
|
| For more details on Internet security, please see our
"About Internet Security" section. |
|
| Use of cookies, Web beacons and similar files |
|
| We design many features of our website so new visitors may anonymously learn
about our products and services, view today’s rates and use our educational
tools without revealing their identity. For new visitors, we use
"cookies" and Web beacons to collect limited data (such as the date,
time and areas of our website visited and the website the new visitor came
from). When you select one of our products or services, review your accounts
online or respond to marketing materials sent to you directly, we will try to
identify your browser and may combine information from "cookies," Web beacons
and other information collected online with any other data we maintain about
you. By improving the marketing and content of our website and making your
online experience more convenient, we are able to better serve our customers’
financial needs. |
|
| Cookies are required to access your online accounts |
|
| You can have your web browser disable "cookies", but if you turn off "cookies,"
it is not possible to access your online accounts. Cookies are used for
security purposes when you log into your account so that we can recognize your
computer. Cookies used to access your online account are encrypted and used
solely to support your online account activity. |
|
| Similar files |
|
| Countrywide sometimes uses technologies similar to cookies to store
information. For example, we also use files called Flash objects to help assure
security as part of the online account log-in process. Flash object files are
also encrypted and used solely to support your online account activity. |
|
| How we obtain and use information |
|
| To fund and service your loan, comply with government regulations, improve our
products and services, and better understand your financial needs, we collect and
maintain customer and former customer data. We collect information: |
|
-
you provide us on applications and other forms (such as your name, address,
phone, Social Security and account numbers, assets, income and employment history);
-
about your transactions with us (such as your loan balance, payment
history and other account information);
-
about your credit history from a credit reporting agency; and
-
about you or your property from business partners and service providers (such as a
property appraisal, purchase contract or membership number).
|
| We disclose some of this data to third parties (such as credit reporting agencies,
regulators and loan investors). We may share some of this information with companies
performing services on our behalf (such as the vendor who prepares our monthly statements).
These service providers agree to keep the information confidential and not use it for any
other purpose. |
|
| Additionally, to provide you with valuable product and service offerings, we share
this information (such as a list of customers in a certain income range) within our
family of companies and the other Bank of America companies and share limited information
with business partners who are obligated to maintain the confidentiality of your
information. |
|
| Benefits to sharing within our family of companies and the other Bank of America companies |
|
| To offer and recommend valuable products and services, we may share customer and former
customer information within our family of companies and the other Bank of America companies.
The other Bank of America companies include financial service providers, such as a brokerage
company and a credit card company, and nonfinancial companies such as operation and
servicing subsidiaries. |
|
| The Countrywide family of companies are: |
|
-
New Home Loans
– Countrywide Bank, FSB offers new home loans, home equity loans and lines of
credit, and many refinancing options.
-
Home Loan Servicing
– Countrywide Home Loan Servicing LP provides industry-leading customer
service and easy access to your home loan account information.
-
Insurance
– The Countrywide Insurance Group of companies* offer homeowners, life, auto,
disability, home warranty and other insurance products.
-
Loan Closing Services
– The LandSafe family of companies offers title and escrow services, title
insurance, credit reporting, property appraisals and flood zone determinations
and Countrywide Tax Services Corporation offers tax services.
-
Investments
– Countrywide Investment Services, Inc. ± offers investment planning, mutual
funds, IRAs, Roth IRAs, IRA and 401(k) rollovers, stocks, bonds, and fixed and
variable annuities.
-
Banking
– Countrywide Bank, FSB offers savings, CDs, money market accounts, new home
loans, home equity loans and lines of credit, and many refinancing options.
|
| All of the companies in the Countrywide family follow the same policies and procedures
described in this notice. |
|
| As Countrywide Financial continues to expand its Global Operations, we also look for ways
to enhance customer satisfaction in the United States by using our resources overseas.
Our mission is to quickly respond to your homeownership and financial needs. |
|
| Benefits to sharing outside our family of companies |
|
| To make products and services available, often at a savings to you, we may
prudently share some customer and former customer non-public personal information
with business partners under an agreement requiring the partner to keep the
information confidential and only use it for those offers. |
|
| You have choices |
|
| You may limit how we share your personal information. This is called a right to
"opt out." You have three options to consider. |
| 1) |
Continue receiving valuable and convenient product and service offers
You can enjoy the benefits of valuable product and service offerings without
taking any action. |
| 2) |
Opt out of information sharing to third parties outside the Countrywide family of companies
This choice would stop us from sharing certain non-public personal information with our
carefully screened business partners. This may limit our ability to inform you of
valuable and convenient products and services from partner companies. This choice will
not apply to the other Bank of America companies sharing with third parties. With respect
to how the other Bank of America companies share nonpublic personal information with third
parties, you will need to express your preferences separately as described in the policy
of the other Bank of America companies at bankofamerica.com/privacy. |
| 3) |
Opt out of information sharing within the Countrywide family of companies and the other Bank of America companies
This choice would stop us from sharing non-public personal information across all
of the Countrywide family of companies and the other Bank of America companies.
This may limit our ability to offer conveniences such as a tailored savings quote
on homeowners insurance, a custom financial investment plan, and other financial
service offers. |
|
|
| For loans to multiple borrowers, we will apply an opt out by any borrower to all
borrowers on the loan. If you opt out, we will continue to share non-public personal
information with our service providers (such as the vendor who prepares our monthly
statements), with third parties as required or permitted by law (such as credit
reporting agencies or regulators), and share transaction and experience information
(such as your loan balance or payment history) within the Countrywide family of
companies and the other Bank of America companies. |
|
| During the application process, you will receive a privacy notice that includes
a toll-free telephone number to call if you want to opt-out. Please have your account
and billing information available when you call. If you have any questions about our
privacy policy, please send an e-mail message to
privacypolicy@countrywide.com. |
|
| In today’s dynamic market, opting out may mean missing timely information about
products and services that help you accomplish your homeownership and other financial
goals. It’s something to think about carefully. We don’t want you to miss out on any
opportunities. |
|
| You may have other privacy protections under state law. For example,
we have different information sharing practices in the following states: |
|
| Notice to CA Residents: We will provide a separate short form notice describing
the rights of California residents to opt out under California law, including rights to opt
out of affiliate sharing. We will only share non-public personal information as required
or permitted by law. |
|
| Notice to ND Residents: We will share information within the Countrywide family
of companies and the other Bank of America companies unless you opt out by calling the number
provided in the privacy notice you receive during the loan application process. If you opt
out, we will continue to share only transaction and experience information (such as your loan
balance and payment history) within the Countrywide family of companies and the other Bank of America companies. In addition, we
will only share information with our service providers and with third parties as required or
permitted by law. We may also disclose your non-public personal information with your
written consent. |
|
| Notice to VT Residents: We will not share non-public personal information with anyone
except our service providers and third parties as required or permitted by law. We will share
transaction and experience information (such as your loan balance and payment history) within
the Countrywide family of companies and the other Bank of America companies. We may also share
information with your consent or at your direction. |
|
| Please review the website privacy notices of the companies listed below for state-specific
information of other members of the Countrywide family: |
|
| Countrywide Insurance Services |
| Balboa Insurance Group |
| Countrywide Investment Services |
| Countrywide Bank |
|
| Countrywide websites may contain links to other companies not in the
Countrywide family for your convenience and information. If you access those
links, you will leave the Countrywide website. We encourage you to review the
privacy policy of any company before submitting your personal information.
|
|
| How to confirm accuracy of your information |
|
| We commit to maintain accurate and up-to-date information on all of our customers.
We provide access to account information in many ways – over the phone, in online and
paper statements, and other communications. If you believe any of your information is
incorrect, please notify us immediately using the customer service number provided on
your account statement. We will respond timely to your request to correct inaccurate
account or transaction information. However, in order to protect your information, we
may ask to verify your identity and for other details to respond to your request. |
|
| Notification of changes |
|
| The policies and practices in this section replace all previous notices or statements
about your privacy rights at Countrywide. If we make any significant changes, we will
notify you and only apply those new changes to future use of your information. If we make
such changes, we will also revise the policy effective date, so that you can keep track of
when those changes occur. |
|
| Policy Effective Date: July 1, 2008 |
|
* Countrywide Insurance Group consists of Balboa Insurance Company,
Meritplan Insurance Company, Newport Insurance Company, Newport E & S Insurance Company,
Balboa Life Insurance Company, Balboa Life Insurance Company of New York and Balboa
Warranty Services Corporation.
± Securities products offered through Countrywide Investment Services, Inc. Member SIPC.
Insurance products offered through Countrywide Insurance Services, Inc. (CW Insurance
Agency in New York), an insurance agency affiliate. Not available in all states.
|
|
| NOT FDIC INSURED |
NOT GUARANTEED BY ANY BANK |
NOT A DEPOSIT |
| MAY LOSE VALUE |
NOT INSURED BY ANY FEDERAL GOVERNMENT AGENCY |
|
|
 |
|
| How Does Browser Security Work? |
|
Recent versions of most internet browsers support the encrypted transmission of
on-line documents and the data you enter on a web page. This means that instead of
sending readable text, both your browser and the website's secure server encode all
text using a security key. That way, personal data sent to your browser or data you
send back would be extremely difficult to decode in the unlikely event it was intercepted
by an unauthorized party. The key used for encoding is a random number that is unique
to your session at the secure website.
There are two grades of internet security: International-grade encryption uses a
40-bit random number negotiated between your browser and the web server. This means
that only one out of about 1,000,000,000,000 possible decoding keys can be used to
decipher your data. Domestic-grade encryption uses a 128-bit key, so that the number
of possible keys is vastly larger. The Countrywide site uses the highest grade of
encryption supported by your browser and your internet connection.
|
|
| How Do I Know If Security Is Operating? |
|
Your internet session is encrypted if your security-enabled browser is connected
to a web site using the Secure Hypertext Transport Protocol. URL strings beginning with
"HTTPS://" instead of the usual "HTTP://" indicate that the secure protocol is in effect.
Your browser may also tell you if security is operating. For example, Mozilla’s Firefox
will display the 
icon in the lower right corner of your screen in secure mode. Microsoft Internet
Explorer shows a 
icon. Note that security may be operating without any visible indication if the web
page you are viewing employs frames (see below).
If secure transmission is not in effect or only part of a frame-based page is secure,
Firefox shows the "red-slashed lock" 
icon, and Explorer does not show the "lock" icon.
Most browsers can be set to give you a pop-up announcement when you enter or
leave a secure web page. In Firefox, these settings are on the Security section
when you select "Options" on the Tools menu. In IE, the setting is on the
"Advanced" tab when you select "Options" on the View menu.
|
|
| Secure Mode and Frame-Based Web Pages |
|
| Security may be operating without displaying any security icons (or Firefox
may show the "red-slashed lock" icon) if only part of a frame-based page is
employing security. You can verify the security of a page within a frame by
opening it in a new browser window. Both IE and Firefox allow you to open a link
in a new window by right-clicking on the link and selecting that option from the
pop-up context menu. When a secure page is open in its own window, instead of being
viewed within a frame, you can then see the security icons provided by your browser
as well as the "https://" secure protocol prefix in the URL string. |
|
 |
|
| Cookies |
|
| When you visit a website, a small file called a "cookie" may be saved to your
computer’s hard drive during your visit. When you revisit the site, the
website’s server may open the cookie file and access the stored information.
You can usually set your browser to limit or let you know about cookies that a
website places on your computer.
|
|
| Web Beacons |
|
| A Web beacon is a graphic image (such as a pixel tag or clear GIF) that is
placed on a web page or in an e-mail message to monitor user activity (such as
whether the web page or e-mail message is read or clicked). They are often
invisible because they are very small in size. They are also used on many web
pages for alignment purposes. We sometimes use Web beacons to provide an
independent accounting of how many people visit our websites or to gather
statistics about browser usage at our websites. Some of our web pages and
HTML-formatted e-mail newsletters use Web beacons in conjunction with cookies.
It is difficult for you to limit the use of Web beacons because there is no
easy way to distinguish their use from alignment and other purposes. They may
be loaded from a different web server than the rest of the page.
|
|
| Third Party Advertising |
|
| We sometimes use third party advertising companies to serve our internet ad
banners on our site and other sites on which we advertise. If you click on one
of those ads, you will be directed to one of the Countrywide Financial sites
offering that particular product or service. If you view a web page where our
ads appear, the advertising company may place a cookie on your computer or use
a Web beacon to access a cookie they previously placed on your computer. These
companies do not collect information that can identify you personally, but may
use information about your visits to our sites and other sites to measure the
effectiveness of ads. We do not give any personally identifiable information to
these companies. Unless you are first notified, these advertising companies do
not link any online actions or cookie to any information that can be used to
personally identify you (such as your name, address or e-mail address). The
companies that distribute our ads are prohibited by contract from using
information other than for the agreed upon purpose – to help us market our
products and services and to measure response rates.
|
|
Third party advertisers are subject to their own privacy policies. Currently,
we use web beacons provided by Doubleclick, Yahoo!, Google, and MSN. If you
prefer that Doubleclick does not record your information by means of these web
beacons on our website, please click
here.
If you prefer that Yahoo! not record information by means of these Beacons on
our web site, visit Yahoo! at
http://info.yahoo.com/privacy/us/yahoo/webbeacons/details.html to opt out. To
view Google’s privacy policy, visit http://www.google.com/privacy.html.
To view MSN’s privacy policy, visit
http://advertising.microsoft.com/microsoft-adcenter/privacy-policy.
To prevent other advertising companies from placing cookies on your computer, you
may adjust the privacy settings for your browser to block or filter cookies, or
visit each website individually and opt-out.
|
|
| Similar Devices |
|
| For example, we include URLs in e-mail marketing materials sent directly to you
(such as special offers) so that we can identify that it is you responding to
the campaign and provide details on the offer available to you. |
|
 |
|
What are Shared Secrets?
Shared secrets are the most common security method for accessing confidential
information. A shared secret is something known to both the user and the holder
of the confidential information. The most common shared secrets are a user ID
and password. These shared secrets allow the user to log into the site of the
holder of confidential information such as a financial institution or online merchant. Shared
secrets form an integral part of user authentication in today's online
environment.
|
|
Protecting Your Shared Secrets
Protecting your shared secrets ensures that information accessed via those
shared secrets is protected. You should never record your shared secrets
electronically such as in documents or spreadsheets. In the event of a
compromise of your computer hard drive, your shared secrets can be compromised
as well placing all the data protected by those shared secrets at banks and
merchants at risk. Likewise you should never store credit card numbers,
expiration dates, bank account number, social security numbers, driver’s
license number or other personal identifying information electronically on your
computer for the same reason.
|
|
| Your shared secrets should never be revealed in response to unsolicited
e-mails. Criminals attempt to obtain individual’s personal identifying
information and use that information illegally such as to open and/or use
credit cards, obtain phone or utility accounts, obtain loans, work, open bank
accounts and/or pass fraudulent checks using a technique called
"phishing".
Criminals may also attempt to obtain that information over the phone posing
as a survey taker, telemarketer or other unsolicited caller
("pretexting"). |
|
Common Shared Secrets
To minimize the potential compromise of your shared secrets, you should avoid
commonly used secrets such as names (yours, your spouse's, your
children's, parents), common terms that appear in the dictionary (brute force
attacks to crack passwords often use dictionaries in an attempt to randomly
match the password), exclusively numbers (numbers range from 0 to 9 for each
character where letters range from a to z creating 26 potential variations or
52 if case sensitive). The best passwords are a combination of both letters and
numbers where the letters do not spell words that could be found in a
dictionary and the password is of sufficient length, 6 characters or preferably
more, to make brute force attacks harder.
|
|
| We suggest you do not use shared secrets across multiple domains (e.g.
websites). If you use the same logon and password while shopping or surfing
online as you use for your bank, if one of the online merchant sites is
compromised, your user ID and password could then be used to access your bank
information. Not all websites apply the same level of security to their
database. The use of a single logon ID and password across multiple sites is
only as secure as the least secure site.
|
|
What Do I Do If My Shared Secrets are Compromised?
Immediately change your shared secrets with all sites on which you have used
the same shared secrets. Follow the instructions What
Should I Do if I Become a Victim of Identity Theft?
|
|
 |
|
| Tips to Protect Your Social Security Number |
-
Carry only necessary identification with you. Don't carry your Social Security card.
-
Never provide your Social Security Number unless you have initiated the contact and have confirmed the business or person's identity
-
Do not use your full or partial Social Security Number as a Personal Identification Number (PIN) or as a password
-
If you must send your Social Security Number in an email ensure that the email is encrypted
-
Only enter your Social Security Number into internet web sites when the site is secure and you know how the recipient will protect it
-
Be cautious of your surroundings when disclosing your Social Security number, e.g. if a retail store requests your Social Security Number to look up your store credit card number
-
Do not transmit your Social Security Number over the Internet unless you know that the connection is secure or you have encrypted the Social Security Number
-
Be cautious when faxing your Social Security number, double check the fax number to ensure it is the correct number
-
Do not record your Social Security Number on a check, traveler’s check, gift certificate, money order or other negotiable instrument unless required by law
|
Countrywide Safeguards Your Social Security Number
Countrywide’s Privacy Protection Policy (1) protects the confidentiality of Social Security numbers,
(2) prohibits unlawful disclosure of Social Security Numbers, and (3) limits access to Social Security Numbers.
Our consumer customers can obtain more information by reviewing the Countrywide privacy policy for consumers
|
|
 |
|
What is Identity Theft?
Identity theft is when someone takes and uses your personal information (such
as your name, social security or credit card number) without your permission to
commit fraud or other crimes. These criminals take the identities of others to
open new credit cards; obtain phone or utility accounts, loans, or employment;
open bank accounts; and/or pass fraudulent checks. According to the FBI,
identity theft is the fastest growing crime in America.
|
|
How Does Identity Theft Occur?
Criminals gain access to personal information in many ways, but the most common
method is to take it from the victim themselves. They steal mail (such as
account statements, new checks and offers of credit) left in a mailbox,
discarded in the trash or stored in an easy to get to location in your home or
office. They take credit card and personal identification from your purse or
wallet. Without knowing it, you may give the information directly to the
criminal when you enter data at an unsecured or unknown website, or in response
to a fraudulent request for account information through an unverified e-mail
("phishing").
Imposters also ask for information from you in unsolicited phone calls,
tricking you into thinking it is someone you know, such as your bank
("pretexting").
|
|
What Happens to the Victim?
Identity thieves can damage the credit reputations and lives of victims.
Studies have shown that victims spend an average of $808 and 205 hours
resolving the identity theft. Time and money is spent clearing credit reports,
reporting the theft to lenders and merchants, and filing complaints with law
enforcement and governmental agencies. One of the menacing problems of identity
theft is that it can happen more than once. Once the initial incident is
resolved, the thief may begin using the victim’s identity again after waiting 6
months to a year and the cycle begins all over again. |
|
How Can I Prevent Becoming a Victim?
Identity theft requires someone to gain access to your personal information.
You can take steps to decrease the risk of someone stealing your information.
|
|
-
Destroy papers you throw out.
Shred or completely destroy any documents that contain personal information
before discarding them in the trash. This includes information about you, your
family, your home, or your accounts such as credit card solicitations,
pre-approved credit offers, convenience checks contained in your statements,
bills, cancelled checks, loan offerings, ATM or credit card receipts, insurance
or tax information. Just as important are receipts from ATM’s or self-service
devices such as gasoline pumps. Don’t just leave them behind or throw them in
the trash. Criminals only need a few pieces of information about you to get
credit in your name and access your existing accounts.
-
Be careful who you give your information to over the telephone.
Do not give out personal information such as your social security number,
credit card or bank account numbers, or loan numbers over the phone to anyone
who has called you without first confirming who you are speaking to, why they
need the information and that they are who they claim to be.
-
Guard your PINs.
Never give out your Personal Identification Number (PIN). Memorize your PINs
and never write them on your cards or carry them in your wallet.
-
Report lost or stolen credit cards, checks or identification immediately.
-
Store your personal information securely.
Keep it where it is not easily available in the event of a burglary or other
unauthorized access.
-
Be cautious online. Be cautious when providing information at websites
or with online merchants, you do not have an existing relationship with. Always
confirm that you are in a secure session before entering personal information
online (see How Do I Know if Security is Operating?).
-
Check your credit reports.
Review your credit report regularly to identify any inquiries or accounts that
you are not aware of and did not apply for.
-
Protect your mailbox.
If your residential mailbox is not secure, don’t put outgoing mail in the box
and promptly pick up incoming mail or obtain a secure postal mailbox.
-
Safeguard your checks. Never print your personal information such as a
Social Security Number or driver’s license number on your checks.
|
| What Should I Do if I Become a Victim of Identity Theft? |
|
- Contact the three major credit bureaus
- Ask them to send you a copy of your credit report and instruct them to place a
fraud alert on your record. Once you receive the report, review it carefully.
Contact any creditors listed that you did not apply for credit with and inform
them that you have been a victim of identity theft. Instruct them to close the
account, send you copies of the application and any transactions, and to
promptly clear your credit record.
- Contact your local police or sheriff’s department and file an identity theft
complaint.
-
File a
complaint
with the
Federal Trade Commission
or call their hotline at 1-877-IDTHEFT (438-4338).
|
|
| Identity Theft Resources |
Federal Trade Commission (FTC)
1-877-438-4338
Social Security Administration Fraud Hotline
1-800-269-0271
Department of Justice
US Postal Inspection Service
1-800-372-8347
Privacy Rights Clearinghouse
1-619-298-3396
Identity Theft Resource Center
1-858-693-7935
Identity Theft Statistics
Identity Theft Laws (by state)
|
|
| What is Countrywide Doing to Assist in the Battle Against Identity Theft? |
| Protecting the confidentiality and security of our customers’ personal
information is a priority for Countrywide and its family of companies. You can
find more information in our Privacy and Security Policy. We
understand the implications identity theft can have and take very specific
steps to reduce the chance that identity thieves can damage the credit
reputations of our customers. As a result, Countrywide has put multiple safety
measures in place to combat identity theft.
|
|
|
Training
Countrywide trains key employees in customer identification and authentication.
Our training is designed to reduce the chance of an account or loan being
opened in your name without your permission. We regularly update training to
educate our employees on changing trends in identity theft.
Fraud Hotline
For many years, Countrywide has maintained a Fraud Hotline for consumers,
employees and the public to report crimes, including identity theft. Fraud
Hotline staff work with departments across the Countrywide family of companies
to block credit reporting based on claims of identity theft, conduct
investigations including reviews of the account or loan documentation, and, if
identity theft is confirmed, notify the credit bureaus and correct credit
reporting history on affected Countrywide relationships. The Fraud Hotline
serves as a single point of contact for consumers to report identity theft
complaints to Countrywide. You can reach the Fraud Hotline by any method
described under the Reporting Identity Theft on a
Countrywide Relationship section below.
CreditGuardTM
Countrywide also offers a variety of services to help customers protect
themselves against identity theft including
CreditGuard. Offered through Countrywide’s Landsafe subsidiary,
CreditGuard provides round-the-clock monitoring of your credit report and
notification if any critical information changes.
Education
Consumer awareness is a critical component in reducing the incidence of
identity theft. Countrywide provides consumer education and training on
identity theft through featured articles in our quarterly newsletters,
statement messaging and our websites.
Industry Associations
Countrywide works in concert with industry groups in developing legislation,
policies and practices to fight identity theft and other crimes in the
businesses we operate in. Countrywide also works with these industry groups in
the establishment and adherence to security and customer authentication
programs to ensure that we remain an industry leader in protecting your
identity and assets held with us.
Law Enforcement
Countrywide coordinates with local, state and federal law enforcement when
identity theft cases arise.
|
|
|
| Reporting Identity Theft on a Countrywide Relationship |
| If you think your identity has been stolen, affecting any of your loans or
accounts with any of the companies in the Countrywide family, or resulting in
the establishment of a fraudulent relationship with us, please contact us
immediately. The Identity Theft Complaint provided below should be completed
and then faxed or mailed back to us at the address shown below. The Complaint,
which requires Adobe Acrobat Reader, can be obtained by clicking the link
below:
|
|
| e-mail |
fraud_hotline@countrywide.com |
| phone |
1-877-CUFRAUD (283-7283)
|
| fax |
1-805-306-7158 |
| mail |
Countrywide Financial Corporation
Fraud Investigation
30930 Russell Ranch Road, WLRR-469
Westlake Village, CA 91362
|
|
ID Theft Complaint
|
Requires
Adobe Acrobat Reader
Click to download free
 |
| Due to the insecure nature of e-mail, the ID Theft
Complaint should be faxed or mailed to Countrywide as shown to the left. |
|
|
|
Equal Housing Lender. © 2009 Countrywide Bank, FSB. Member FDIC. Trade/service marks are the property of Countrywide Financial Corporation, Countrywide Bank, FSB, or their respective affiliates and/or subsidiaries. Some products may not be available in all states. This is not a commitment to lend. Restrictions apply. All rights reserved.