March 19, 2008 - Information for Credit and Debit Card Holders
According to Hannaford Bros., if you used your debit or credit card at a Hannaford store between December 7, 2007 and March 10, 2008, your card number may have been compromised during an intrusion of Hannaford’s computer system.  Hannaford has reported that only card numbers were potentially compromised and NO personal data (such as SS# or DOB) has been compromised.

• Consumers do not have to worry about losing any money due to this breach because they have zero liability for unauthorized transactions confirmed as part of this breach provided the unauthorized transactions are reported within the timeframe required by individual institutions.
• Financial institutions are reviewing alerts from MC and VISA.  The alerts indicate that certain cards numbers were present at the time of Hannaford’s computer intrusion incident, but that does not necessarily mean the card numbers were stolen. 
• Banks are asking consumers to monitor their accounts for fraudulent transactions and report any unauthorized transactions to their bank immediately.
• Each bank that received an alert from the card companies will make its own decision, based on individual banking operational systems, whether to issue or not issue new cards. 
• Fraudulent e-mails (phishing) and phone calls have been made to several Maine consumers.  The fraudulent phone calls and phishing incidents have been crafted so it looks like the consumer is communicating with their bank.  It is important to know that NO FINANCIAL INSTITUTION WILL EVER ASK a customer to verify their account information over the phone or thru the Internet.

March 17, 2008 - Massive Data Breach
MACB has issued the following Press Release regarding the confirmation of a massive data breach. Read the Press Release: http://www.mecb.com/pdf/2008/pressreleases/March17-DataBreach-PR.pdf

February 28, 2008 - Regulators Do Allow Loan Numbers on Mortgage Deeds
There has been some debate recently regarding the disclosure of loan numbers on mortgage deeds filed publicly.  MACB has done some research and consulted with several Maine attorneys and we have been advised that it is not a violation of GLBA or Maine’s Confidential Financial Records Law to disclose a loan number on a mortgage deed filed publicly,  due to an Interpretive Letter #918 issued by the Federal Regulators on September 4, 2001. Read Interpretive Letter #918: http://www.mecb.com/pdf/2008/RegulatorRuling.pdf

February 22, 2008  - Maine Consumer Credit Laws Including New Predatory Lending Laws in Paperback
The latest edition of Maine’s consumer credit laws is now available. This paperback volume contains all of Title 9-A, many laws enforced by the Bureau (including mortgage broker laws, mortgage discharge and funding laws, the Fair Debt Collections Act, non-bank owned ATMs rules and the Fair Credit Reporting Act). PLUS, all of the predatory laws have been incorporated in this special volume INCLUDING THE RECENTLY PASSED LAWS (chapter 471) that are retroactively effective to January 1, 2008. The entire volume is only $35 (plus sales tax to Maine addresses). Order at: http://www.mecb.com/publications.asp#consumer.