February 17, 2001
In an $81 million class-action lawsuit, Bank of America Corp. is accused of illegally obtaining and distributing thousands of confidential consumer credit reports. Attorney Robert Sweetland III of Arlington, Va., said the bank sold the data to third-party companies for "black market" purposes.
The suit was filed in U.S. District Court in Greenbelt, Md., and claims the bank used the confidential reports "without a permissible purpose" under the Fair Credit Reporting Act. A Bank of America spokesman said the suit had no merit and called it "an attempt to get money out of us."
Sweetland said 27 of his clients were among 3,000 to 5,000 consumers whose credit reports were wrongfully made available to third parties. Some of his clients did not even have a banking relationships with BofA, he said.
The suit claims the plaintiffs suffered damages because of the dissemination of their personal financial information. They also claim an invasion of privacy and impairment of their ability to obtain credit.
"People's most private finiancial information should not be available to the general public. Congress has said credit reports should only be used for narrowly defined purposes, such as applying for a loan or a job," Sweetland said, according to the Baltimore Sun.
In an $81 million class-action lawsuit, Bank of America Corp. is accused of illegally obtaining and distributing thousands of confidential consumer credit reports. Attorney Robert Sweetland III of Arlington, Va., said the bank sold the data to third-party companies for "black market" purposes.
The suit was filed in U.S. District Court in Greenbelt, Md., and claims the bank used the confidential reports "without a permissible purpose" under the Fair Credit Reporting Act. A Bank of America spokesman said the suit had no merit and called it "an attempt to get money out of us."
Sweetland said 27 of his clients were among 3,000 to 5,000 consumers whose credit reports were wrongfully made available to third parties. Some of his clients did not even have a banking relationships with BofA, he said.
The suit claims the plaintiffs suffered damages because of the dissemination of their personal financial information. They also claim an invasion of privacy and impairment of their ability to obtain credit.
"People's most private finiancial information should not be available to the general public. Congress has said credit reports should only be used for narrowly defined purposes, such as applying for a loan or a job," Sweetland said, according to the Baltimore Sun.
