April 17, 2001

Fleet foe's threat emphasizes privacy

By TOM WALSH

What would Terrence J. Murray, FleetBoston's chief executive, say if people started asking him to let someone else give out his Social Security number, mortgage balance or home phone number?

Bruce Marks, chief executive of the Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America, said yesterday he has gathered all that personal information and more on Murray and the other members of FleetBoston Financial Corp.'s board of directors.

NACA plans to make customer privacy an issue at Fleet's annual meeting today, as well as in a lawsuit the group is planning based on what Marks said are "hundreds" of complaints.

Fleet spokesman James E. Mahoney said the company has one of the best privacy policies in the industry, and that any complaints from customers are handled quickly.

Marks said NACA members will ask people to call Murray's office. "We have Terry Murray's Social Security number, and we are asking him to let us give it out," said Marks, a longtime Fleet antagonist.

If Murray doesn't agree, Marks said he may make the information public anyway. "If he continues to exploit his customers, we would release the information so he could feel the pain his customers feel," Marks said.

Mahoney said Marks' actions hurt NACA's main cause - increasing the availability of mortgages for low-income residents. "The tactics he is using make it more difficult for the company to do business with him," Mahoney said.

NACA is also pursuing a legal tack on the privacy issue, following the lead of the Minnesota attorney general, who last year filed a lawsuit against Fleet's mortgage unit for allegedly selling account information to telemarketers and then billing them for products they never ordered.

Fleet denied the allegations.

Dorchester resident Michael Green, 48, said he contacted NACA about being part of a lawsuit because he was angry at Fleet for allegedly turning his name over to a telemarketer selling accidental-death insurance.

"I never agreed to buy it," Green said yesterday. But, he said, a charge for the product has shown up on his bill for four months, despite numerous calls to Fleet.

NACA plans to ask for, among other things: damages of $ 1,000 for each alleged privacy violation; and assurance by Fleet Mortgage that it will not disclose private information without written consent, Marks said.

This article is reprinted here for non-commercial, educational, fair use purposes only.