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The personal information of 2 million loan applicants may have been stolen. There are likely many victims in Utah. They just don't know about it.
It involves people who applied for mortgages with Countrywide. It's suspected that many people in Utah could be affected because Countrywide does a lot of business here.
Countrywide Financial is sending out warning letters. But it may be too late for a man in West Jordan. Russell Tate says Countrywide employees told him there were only several potential customers whose data was stolen. But the FBI says that number is at least 2 million.
After applying for a car loan this summer, Tate has been getting letters noting excessive inquiries on his credit file and excessive revolving credit use.

He's seen his credit recently go down the tubes.
"When I bought this house, I got my credit score up to almost 700, that's almost perfect. I took out loans, I paid them off, I did what I thought was the right thing. And now it's destroyed," he said.
He couldn't explain it. Another letter denied credit too. "Garnishment: I've never had my wages garnished," he said. "Attachment: I've never had anything attached." Nor has he had anything repossessed.
Then on Monday, Tate got a letter from Countrywide which could explain it all. In June, Tate wanted to refinance his home loan and provided all his personal information.
"They took every piece of information I had, to include any kind of retirements I have," he said.
The letter from Countrywide says his information may have been compromised.
On Aug. 1, the FBI in Los Angeles arrested two men, one of them a former Countrywide employee. Rene Rebollo, who worked in Countrywide's subprime mortgage division, had access to Countrywide computer databases, many of which included client personal information.
Rebollo told agents he gave out customer account information over two years. Another man, Wahid Sidiiqi, was arrested for buying the data.
"Yeah, I'm angry at them," Tate said. "They hurt me, and I'm wondering how many other people out there are going to get hurt."
Tate, who retired from teaching after a stroke several years ago, is trying to sell his home and downsize. Now he doesn't know if that'll happen.
"It's going to be very difficult for me to obtain any kind of credit," he said.
Countrywide e-mailed a statement saying it is closely working with the FBI. The company is notifying customers whose information may have been exposed by the former employee. Those customers can get two years of free credit monitoring from Experian at ConsumerInfo.com. It includes e-mails for any changes. Consumer protection advocates say potential victims also should put a fraud alert on their credit reports.
E-mail: aadams@ksl.com
E-mail: syi@ksl.com
