FTC Charges 2 Mortgage Companies

The Federal Trade Commission has charged two mortgage companies with failing to protect consumers' personal and financial information and violating the agency's 2003 information safeguard rules.Sunbelt Lending Services, Clearwater, Fla., has agreed to settle the charges and undergo regular audits by the FTC. A subsidiary of Cendant Mortgage, Sunbelt said the complaint stems from a "seldom-accessed" lead generation program. "To date, neither Sunbelt nor the FTC has any evidence that any customer information was compromised in any way," Sunbelt president Chris Cope said. Nationwide Mortgage Group, a small mortgage broker shop in Fairfax, Va., has not settled because its president, John Eubank, contends that he cannot afford to implement the compliance program the FTC wants. "I am trying to negotiate something with them so that I can just shut the company down and go out of business," Mr. Eubank said.