Ethical Decisions in the Mortgage Industry

Ethics and trust is huge in an organization. I agree that is would be deceitful to allow the Mortgage company the clients information without their consent. In fact, that could open them up for lawsuits that would in the end cost much more than the $10 million on the table. I believe there would be a way to offer the products and have clients opt in like you said and that way it's done ethically. Most companies have a code of ethics and by allowing the mortgage company the clients information wouldn't follow that code. You are correct in suggesting in the long run nobody would come to the company because they were found to be unethical.

The question comes down to did you create this data or did you acquire it from someone else?

If you created the data, you can sell it to whomever you want. If that data includes information about people (names, contact information, etc), you need to have their permission to sell it. In the US, all you have to do is stipulate in your Terms & Conditions that you have the right to sell information about them. When they check “Agree,” you are legally OK to sell their information.

By agreeing to the Mortgage Company you are setting yourself up for lawsuits for selling personal information without their consent. It could end up costing more than the $10 million offered. 

It would be very tempting but still unethical. Perhaps renegotiating the contract could prove legal and beneficial.

In this scenario the client has not agreed to disclose personal information except anonymously. The company could not ethically or legally accept this offer unless they renegotiated the contract and contacted every client and asked them to re-sign a new disclosure giving the Mortgage Company permission to sell their information. They would need to educate the client so they understood their personal information could be used by other companies to sell them products they may not understand and probably don't need. Unless they went back to all existing clients and all new clients and re-disclosed, ethically the company can not sell their information unless its on an anonymous basis. .