Bank Info Stolen

[mhenley]

New Jersey:
A bank that I have an account with recently was in the news for some of its employees selling bank account information to a "broker" who then sold it to collection agencies.
My question: Would it be illegal for a collection agency to purchase this data from the broker?
Thanks

 

[Veronica1228]

New Jersey:
A bank that I have an account with recently was in the news for some of its employees selling bank account information to a "broker" who then sold it to collection agencies.
My question: Would it be illegal for a collection agency to purchase this data from the broker?
Thanks

In my opinion, it would be illegal for the bank to sell customer information of any kind to an outside entity. If the broker was an affiliate of the bank then that would be different. Otherwise, it's a violation of Bank Privacy Laws.

However, that would depend on if there is more to this story. If they sold bad debts then that is allowed.

 

[mhenley]

Veronica:
Here are the specifics. A man paid employees of several large banks for information about the accounts that people had with these banks. He was not affliliated with the banks in any way. The man Orzario Lembo, then allegedly, according to the police, sold this information to lawyers and collection agencies. My question is, would it be illegal for the lawyer or the collection agency to get the bank data this way?
(the link to the CNN story)
http://money.cnn.com/2005/05/23/news/fortune500/bank_info/index.htm

 

[Ladynred]

YES ! The whole setup was totally illegal !

 

[Veronica1228]

YES ! The whole setup was totally illegal !

WOW! Agreed. I just read the article and I am speechless. Those people are going to do some hard time!

 

[Ladynred]

Veronica, you hadn't heard about that crime ring ??? Its been all over the news. Some big banks have loads of egg on their faces for that mess !!

 

[Veronica1228]

Veronica, you hadn't heard about that crime ring ??? Its been all over the news. Some big banks have loads of egg on their faces for that mess !!

Honestly, I stay away from the news. Too depressing. However, I'm surprised that I didn't hear about it at work. My bank wasn't one of the culprit banks, but you're right. This is big banking news. I don't know why no one at work isn't at least talking about it!