US retail chain Home Depot has proposed a settlement where it agrees to pay a $25 million in relation to a point of sale data breach suffered in 2014.
The incident reportedly saw the credit and debit cards of around 56 million people compromised, and may have resulted in your bank/payment card being re-issued.
According to the Credit Union National Association, the data breach cost credit unions around $60 million in losses or fees associated with card re-issue, customer care etc.
The proposed settlement in relation to the incident was submitted earlier in the week, and includes a number of terms.
Any financial institution that files a valid claim will be eligible to receive a fixed payment, which is estimated to be around $2 per compromised card, and claims will not require documentation of losses.
Claims will also not be affected if compensation has already been received from another source.
Then again, financial institutions that do submit proof of their losses will be eligible for up to 60% of uncompensated losses.
The company has also agreed to pay up to $2.25 million to any organization that made a claim through a sponsor, while it has also pledged to strengthen its data security practices.
CUNA Response
“Credit unions and their members have unfortunately borne the brunt of lax merchant data security standards,” said CUNA president and CEO Jim Nussle.
“This settlement would be a step toward making them whole again. We believe this settlement represents one of the better outcomes in data breach litigation.
“We’re hopeful credit unions will see more victories in data breach suits going forward.”