HOUSTON — The KHOU 11 VERIFY Team received a question from viewer, William, about a data breach involving loanDepot.
THE QUESTION
Is the letter notifying customers of a loanDepot data breach real?
THE SOURCES
THE ANSWER
Yes, the letter notifying customers of a loanDepot data breach is real.
WHAT WE FOUND
The loanDepot data breach affected more than 1.4 million Texans.
According to the company, social security, financial account info and addresses were a part of the exposed customer data.
California-based loanDepot believes between January 3 and January 5, 2024, an "unauthorized" third party got into the company's system, taking the data.
LoanDepot operates in all 50 states, operating as an online mortgage lender.
The Federal Trade Commission offers consumers a "step-by-step" guide on what to do if their personal information is exposed in a data breach.
If bank account info is exposed, like what happened in the loanDepot breach, the FTC recommends contacting your bank to close the account and open a new one. You are also going to want to regularly check your transactions to ensure no one misused your account.
It is also recommended you sign up to get credit monitoring anytime a data breach occurs.
In 2024, the AT&T data breach was the single most impactful breach across Texas. According to records from the attorney general's office, more than 7.6 million Texans had their information exposed online. Since mid-April notices have been sent to the Texans affected, as required by the state attorney general's office.
AT&T said more than 65 million former customers were impacted compared to 7.6 million current accounts.
In Texas, the attorney general's office requires companies and organizations to notify the state if a data breach has impacted 250 or more Texans.
Companies are also expected to send customers notice of the information impacted within 30 days of the discovery of the breach.