Minnesota Eyes Bill on Cards Security

ST. PAUL – A bill introduced in the state legislature last week would legalize the payment cards security measures now required by MasterCard and Visa USA. The bill, backed by the credit union lobby, targets the major reason cited by credit unions for the proliferation of cards data breaches–the retention of transaction records that have been stolen in several major breaches. Both MasterCard and Visa require the destruction of customer records after completion of the transaction under their joint Payment Card Industry data security rules, but those rules are not legally binding. Many users of the data save the information for marketing and other purposes. The Minnesota bill, introduced in the House last week, would also allow credit unions and banks to recover costs for reissuing cards, even when there has been no fraud detected. Congress is reviewing similar proposals as part of a national law.