NEW YORK – Citigroup Inc. and Bank of America Corp. yesterday reported they had closed some of their card customers’ accounts as the result of data breaches at unidentified retailers.
It was not immediately clear if both banks’ customers were affected by a security failure at the same merchant.
Citigroup deactivated some credit cards and told the affected customers that it had been informed of a security breach at a retailer, according to one person whose credit card was deactivated. Citigroup’s customer service representative would not identify the merchant, the affected customer told American Banker, an affiliate of Credit Union Journal.
Citigroup spokesman Sean Kevelighan said in an e-mail to American Banker there was “no specific incident causing the re-issues,” but said Citigroup often reissues credit or debit cards “due to a security concern reported at a merchant or merchants where the customer used the card.”
Earlier, Bloomberg reported that Bank of America sent some customers new debit cards this week, “after accounts may have been compromised at a merchant.”
