American General Finance, which has one branch in Bend, was fined $75,000 by the state of Oregon for an incident in Salem that could have led to identity theft of its customers, the Department of Consumer and Business Services announced Wednesday in a news release.

The department is requiring heightened supervision of employees to ensure the protection of customers’ personal information.

The incident that caused the fine happened in the Salem branch office in April 2007. An American General branch manager threw away 773 checks made to the firm by Oregonians, according to the department. But the manager did not shred the checks, and instead merely placed them in a trash can on a commercial thoroughfare. The checks had names, addresses, bank account numbers and, in one instance, a Social Security number, the news release said.

American General has taken corrective action since and the fine included a $25,000 contribution to the Department of Consumer and Business Services consumer education fund, the release said.