FRAMINGHAM, Mass. – TJX Cos., which paid $40.9 million in December to settle claims with credit union and bank Visa issuers over last year’s massive data breach, yesterday said it has agreed to provide $24 million to MasterCard issuers to settle their claims.
The MasterCard agreement is contingent on the agreement of 90% of the affected issuers.
As was the case in the Visa deal, the MasterCard settlement hinges on the credit unions and banks agreeing not to sue TJX separately.
While most affected credit union Visa issuers agreed to the December offer, some of the larger issuers balked because the payout only covered a small portion of the costs related to notification to members and reissuance of cards.
TJX, the parent of national retail stores TJ Maxx, Marshalls and several others, said as many as 45 million customer accounts were stolen by hackers from its database, exposing thousands of shoppers to fraudulent transactions.
The settlement offer comes as hundreds of credit unions and banks are working to resolve a new breach at Maine-based Hannaford Bros. supermarket chain, which has exposed as many as 4.2 million accounts to hackers.
