On September 27, 2023, PHH Mortgage Corporation (“PHH”) filed a notice of data breach with the Attorney General of Texas after discovering that an unauthorized party was able to access information that had been provided to the company. In this notice, PHH explains that the incident resulted in an unauthorized party being able to access consumers’ sensitive information, which includes their names, Social Security numbers, dates of birth and addresses. Upon completing its investigation, PHH began sending out data breach notification letters to all individuals whose information was affected by the recent data security incident.

If you received a data breach notification from PHH Mortgage, it is essential you understand what is at risk and what you can do about it. As we’ve discussed in previous posts, Social Security numbers can be extremely profitable for hackers, as they can either use this information to commit identity theft or sell SSNs to other criminals on the Dark Web. As a result, anyone whose SSN was leaked in a data breach is at a much higher risk of fraud, including identity theft. A data breach lawyer can help you learn more about how to protect yourself from becoming a victim of fraud or identity theft, as well as discuss your legal options following the PHH Mortgage data breach. For more information, please see our recent piece on the topic here.

What Caused the Data Breach Affecting PHH Mortgage?

PHH Mortgage only recently filed notice of the data breach, and more information is expected in the near future. Additionally, PHH’s filing with the Attorney General of Texas provides little information on what led up to the breach. For example, it’s possible that the incident occurred at a third-party vendor and didn’t directly involve a breach of PHH’s computer network.

However, we know that after learning that sensitive consumer data was accessible to an unauthorized party, a review of the leaked data confirmed that some information belonging to PHH customers was compromised. While the breached information varies depending on the individual, it may include your name, Social Security number, address and date of birth. According to the PHH notice on the TX AG’s website, there were 8,073 people affected in Texas alone. It remains to be seen how many victims there were nationwide.

On September 27, 2023, PHH Mortgage filed its notice with the Texas Attorney General. Typically, this is around the time that companies send out data breach letters to affected individuals. Indeed, PHH indicated that notice of the breach had already been sent out. However, keep in mind that if the breach originated at one of PHH’s vendors, the letter may be on another company’s letterhead. Regardless, these letters should provide victims with a list of what information belonging to them was compromised.

More Information About PHH Mortgage Corp.

Founded in 1946, PHH Mortgage is a mortgage company based in Mount Laurel, New Jersey. The company offers consumers a range of mortgage and refinance options, as well as other related products, such as accidental death insurance, flood insurance and auto insurance. PHH Mortgage employs more than 2,727 people and generates approximately $1.4 billion in annual revenue.