Banks to issue new Visa cards by the thousands

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Debit card data apparently stolen

Banks to issue new Visa cards by the thousands

By CAROLINE E. MAYER

Washington Post

Thousands of debit cards' account numbers are being replaced after Visa USA discovered that account information may have been compromised.

Visa USA director Rosetta Jones issued a brief statement Tuesday saying the company was "recently notified by a U.S. merchant that it may have experienced a data security breach resulting in the compromise of Visa card information." Visa declined to say how widespread the problem was — or how and when it occurred. Customers will not be held responsible for unauthorized purchases, Visa said.

At least two financial institutions have already told customers that new cards and account numbers are on the way.

SunTrust Banks has sent letters to some of its debit card customers, saying Visa had notified several banks that the account numbers "may have been compromised."

SunTrust spokesman Mike McCoy said a "small fraction" of the bank's 1.8 million debit card customers were affected but declined to give an exact number.

Capitol Federal Savings Bank in Kansas said it was issuing 8,000 new cards, about 2.5 percent of its total cardholders.

Frank Wright, the bank's senior vice president for electronic banking, said his bank was notified by Visa on Thursday. He said Visa declined to say when the breach occurred, although his bank's own data indicated it was in the last "months, not years."