The tape was being moved from a data center run by a subsidiary of LaSalle Bank Corp. in Chicago to an Experian credit bureau facility in Allen, Texas. The tape contained the names, account information, payment histories and Social Security numbers for residential mortgage customers, the letter said.

'We have no reason at this time to believe this information has been misused,' ABN Amro Mortgage Group CEO Thomas Goldstein said in the letter.

The loss of the tape, which occurred Nov. 18, is being investigated by ABN Amro, which is now reviewing its tape handling procedures to ensure tape losses won't happen again. The company also said it is enrolling its residential mortgage customers in a credit monitoring service for 90 days at no cost.

'We and other lenders routinely provide this information to credit reporting companies to endusre your credit record is up-to-date,' the company said in its letter.

One IT manager whose mortgage information was lost and who received a letter notifying him of the missing tape, said that while it may have been a shipping slip up, he is frustrated that no matter how careful he is about identify theft, he's 'at the mercy of other entities out there.'