Student loan company: Data on 3.3M people stolen

A Minnesota company that guarantees federal student loans says someone stole personal data on about 3.3 million people from its St. Paul headquarters.

Educational Credit Management Corp. said Friday the data includes names, addresses, dates of birth and social security numbers, but no bank account or other financial account information. The company discovered the theft last Sunday.

Police believe the suspects broke into the company's facility and stole a portable data storage device.

Educational Credit Management Corp spokesman Paul Kelash says the company deeply regrets the theft.

"We are doing everything we can to protect the borrowers in this case. We feel that we want to do everything we can to support them and we know that this has caused an impact and stress on them but right now we don't know of any misuse of this data," Kelash said. "We are trying to do everything we can just to protect the people whose information was on that portable media."

The company has arranged for affected borrowers to receive one-year's free credit monitoring and protection services. They'll also be provided with identity theft insurance coverage through Experian.

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