Data stolen from 628,000 Virginians recovered, Minn. agency says

More than 628,000 current or former Virginians had their personal information stolen from a student loan guarantee agency in Minnesota.

Educational Credit Management Corp. first announced the theft late last month but released an update Friday, saying all the data was recovered.

Minnesota investigators found two stolen safes containing computer discs with the personal information - including names, Social Security numbers, birth dates and addresses - of about 3.3 million borrowers, and the data appears uncompromised, according to a statement from law enforcement.

Teresa Land, a Virginia Beach resident, said she received a letter this week from ECMC telling her of the theft. Her son, 21, has a student loan that helps pay for his tuition at Tidewater Community College.

ECMC, which insures federal student loans against default and reimburses lenders when borrowers are unable to pay off their loans, offered free credit-monitoring services for a year to consumers affected by the theft. It said Friday it would continue to honor that pledge.

Land said she also intended to request a freeze on her son's credit report, which blocks any credit check sought to open a new account in that consumer's name. Credit reporting agencies can charge a fee for the freeze, but state law prohibits the fee if a consumer provides a police report showing he or she is a victim of identity theft. ECMC, based in Oakdale, Minn., told Land she would receive a copy of the police report on the theft there.

ECMC notified the Virginia attorney general's office of the breach as required by law, said Brian Gottstein, spokesman for Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli. The office has no reason or plan to seek legal action against the company, he said.

Land said she thinks ECMC should be held accountable for the breach if the federal government is going to continue to authorize the agency to back student loans. "In my opinion, they should not be able to be loan guarantors anymore," she said. "Obviously, they're not secure."

Carolyn Shapiro, (757) 446-2270, carolyn.shapiro@pilotonline.com