TRENTON, N.J.-Three credit unions and two banks became the first financial institutions to seek recompense through the courts against Heartland Payment Systems for one of the biggest credit card breaches ever.
In a civil suit filed late last month, Matadors Community CU, GECU and MidFlorida FCU, and two banks, asked the federal court here to order Heartland to compensate the for millions of dollars already spent to notify customers, replace credit/debit cards and compensate customers for fraud as a result of the breach.
The two banks are Amalgamated Bank of New York and Farmers State Bank of Iowa.
The suit comes as thousands of credit unions are cancelling and replacing cards and reporting increasing incidents of fraud on compromised cards. In addition, Visa reported that the rapidly increasing number of reports of cancelled cards is from the Heartland breach and not a new case, as reported in some media.
The suit alleges members' personal information was exposed by the breach and seeks reimbursement for out-of-pocket expenses accrued to stem the breach, as well as damages.
