Getting personal with a Customer Relationship Management program

FTC enforces privacy provisions of Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act MortgagePress.comFTC, Gramm-Leach-Bliley, Sunbelt Lending Services Inc., Cendant Corporation On Nov. 16, the Federal Trade Commission announced enforcement actions against two mortgage companies for violating the FTCs Gramm-Leach-Bliley (GLB) Safeguards Rule by not creating sufficient protections for mortgage customers personal and financial information. Sunbelt Lending Services Inc., a subsidiary of Cendant Corporation, has agreed to settle an FTC charge that it failed to implement safeguards to protect its customers names, Social Security numbers, credit histories, bank account numbers, income tax returns and other financial information. Nationwide Mortgage Group Inc., an independent Fairfax, Va. mortgage broker, and its president, John D. Eubank, have been charged with similar violations. FTC announced that it targeted Sunbelt and Nationwide as part of its random nationwide examination of automobile dealers and mortgage companies. The complaints indicated that Nationwide and Sunbelt did not provide the necessary privacy notices to consumers required of financial institutions under GLB. According to the complaints, Nationwide did not provide the notices to its local customers; Sunbelt did not provide the notices to its online customers. The FTC actions appear designed, in part, to remind mortgage bankers and mortgage brokers that they are financial institutions covered by GLB. For more information, visit www.ftc.gov.