ECMC Notifying Borrowers of Data Loss

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Mar 26, 2010, 06:23 ET

ST. PAUL, Minn., March 26 /PRNewswire/ -- ECMC, a guarantor of federal student loans, said today that a theft has occurred from its headquarters involving portable media with personally identifiable information. The stolen data contained information on approximately 3.3 million individuals and included names, addresses, dates of birth and social security numbers. No bank account or other financial account information was included in the data. ECMC is releasing this information today after receiving approval from law enforcement authorities.

The theft involved data of ECMC guaranteed borrowers and occurred sometime during the weekend of March 20-21. ECMC discovered the theft on the afternoon of Sunday, March 21 and immediately contacted law enforcement officials. ECMC is cooperating fully with local, state and federal law enforcement agencies conducting the investigation.

ECMC has arranged with Experian, a leading national credit protection agency, to provide affected individuals with a full suite of credit monitoring and protection services at no charge. Affected individuals will be receiving a written notification from ECMC as soon as possible. This letter will provide information about how they can sign up for free credit monitoring and notification, gain access to a dedicated team of fraud resolution representatives and be provided identity theft insurance coverage.

"We deeply regret that this incident occurred and the stress it has caused our borrowers and our partners and are doing everything we can to help protect our borrowers' identity and personal information," said Richard Boyle, president and CEO, ECMC Group, Inc.

Further information is posted at www.ecmc.org where there are links to help those with questions about whether or not they were affected by this data theft. Or they may call ECMC at 1-877-449-3568 beginning March 27. The call center is open weekdays from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. ET; Saturday 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. ET and Sunday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. ET.

About ECMC

ECMC is a nonprofit company that provides services to students, schools and lenders in support of higher education finance. We are the designated guaranty agency in Virginia, Oregon and Connecticut. Through the ECMC Foundation, we help low-income, first-generation college-bound students further their education goals, developing and distributing programs that focus on college access, retention and success. ECMC Foundation has contributed more than $11.2 million in scholarships and programs.

SOURCE ECMC