MINNEAPOLIS—Target has proposed paying customers affected by its 2013 data breach as much as $10,000 in damages.
The proposal is included as part of a $10-million plan to settle a class action lawsuit. To receive funds, victims would have to prove they were harmed by the breach, which is estimated to have affected as many as 70 million people who had personal information stolen, plus another 40 million who may have had credit/debit card stolen.
The settlement offer, which still requires approval of a federal judge, says that victims will be reimbursed for unauthorized credit card charges, bank fees or costs related to replacement IDs, providing documentation can be provided.
After those claims are paid, any remaining settlement funds will be evenly distributed to class members without documentation.
In the wake of the announcement, CUNA CEO Jim Nussle issued a statement saying, “It shouldn’t take a court-approved settlement for Target to provide basic security measures to protect American consumers from data breaches. For 15 months, credit unions and their members have been pushed to the backburner waiting to be reimbursed for over $30 million lost, at no fault of their own, due to Target’s failure to safeguard the data of its customers. Credit unions continue to protect their members as a result of merchant data breaches – and there’s no end in sight. It’s high time for merchants to be held to the same standards as financial institutions to ensure all consumers’ private information is protected.”