"Your Visa Card may have been compromised" Question

[Drake3287]

So here I go again, another email from my Visa credit card company (BofA) saying that my Visa card "may" have been compromised at a merchant and they'll be sending me new cards with a new account number. This literally happens to me at least once a year if not more often.

I use this card for all my purchases (reward credit) so it's not surprising it would happen from time to time but this occurs on a regular basis. I'm guessing some merchant such as Target or who ever has a credit card security breach so millions of card holders like myself have to go through this.

The biggest pain in the butt is contacting all my recurring monthly Visa charges and changing the account number. Assuming this must cost the bank millions of dollars a year to replace card's/accounts, who pays for it? The bank or the idiot merchant that caused all this? It's almost like they really don't care and it's just the cost of doing business.

I almost feel like they owe me some type of credit for inconvenience they put me through.

[disneysteve]

Who do you think pays for it? We all do. It's part of the cost of doing business today so it gets factored into the fees and interest rates and prices that we all pay.

I will say that the fact that it happened to a card you use regularly is probably irrelevant. I had a card breached that I had never used, not a single time. I didn't even carry it with me. I assume it happened when either the issuing bank or credit bureaus had a breach that included the card data.

This is just a normal occurrence today. It's a pain but it's a fact of life. Our data is never secure.

[msomnipotent]

What really ticks me off is that the Chase rep insinuated that I was to blame for all of the online shopping I do. The third Chase card was compromised before I even got it in the mail, so explain to me how it is my fault.

Welcome to the new normal.

[Drake3287]

Any time I've asked about these credit card compromises they always refuse to disclose where it happened or which store. Your right Steve, we all pay for this in the end.

I'll never understand why credit card purchases don't require a PIN number. Almost seems to easy. Even online purchases require a 3 digit security code even though it's clearly printed on the back.

[disneysteve]

Any time I've asked about these credit card compromises they always refuse to disclose where it happened or which store.

Most breaches don't occur at a physical location. They are electronic breaches of the data. As I said, one of my cards was breached and I had never used it. The card had literally never left my house.

[msomnipotent]

I just received a "Your card may have been compromised" letter yesterday on my new card. They had no idea why I was calling and said it must have been a glitch. I doubt it was, because I heard her say, "I have to reactivate the account" under her breath. If I find out that any of my charges were denied because of this, you will see me on the news. I just put Polar Express tickets for the extended family on the card, and if we lose them my whole family will go nuts on me.

I wonder what is happening because I recently had to have a different account reactivated out of the blue, and it caused me to have my power shut off at our house plus pay a reactivation fee with the city. I have had our Capital One card activated for over a year. It suddenly deactivates without any fraud alert, and the auto pay for electric bill doesn't get paid.