Which Credit Cards?

The incompetence of CardSystems Solutions will have an impact on every major credit card group. Estimated numbers range from about 20 million Visa cards exposed to 14 million MasterCard credit cards. As many as 4 million American Express and Discover accounts were also put on sacrificial altar by CardSystems.

What You Should Do

You should review all charges on credit card statements over next 12 months. Contrary to popular belief, hackers typically will not go out and charge up thousands of dollars on card. Instead, you should look for small charges of $10 to $20 from companies with bland names. Hackers know that many people will not call to reverse a small charge. Don’t be lazy! Closely inspect your statement and contest any charges that aren’t familiar.

Closing

How big is this hack? There are approximately 300 million people in United States. 40 million accounts equates to 1 in every 7.5 people. Yes, people carry multiple credit cards, but it is still a huge number. CardSystems Solutions should pay a heavy price for its incompetence. Frankly, it should be liquidated. There is little doubt major credit card companies will take action.

The case will be returned to Judge Morrison in next 60 days. He will then determine whether any other provisions dealing with sale of personal financial information are still enforceable. Given appellate ruling, it is difficult to imagine a ruling upholding this section of California law.

Notwithstanding these developments, approximately seventy percent of California privacy law is still enforceable. Financial institution still must get permission from customers prior to selling or sharing your information with third parties.

You should be concerned about financial institutions selling your private information to others. With all incidents of identity theft in news, chances are you will eventually become a target. Banks should be focusing on protecting their customers, not making a buck off private information.