The presidents of credit union leagues from Alabama, Florida, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Rhode Island have echoed concerns of the Credit Union National Association in calling for retailers to take responsibility for the costs of data breaches.

Speaking to The New Hampshire Union Leader , Paul Gentile, president/CEO of the Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Rhode Island Credit Union Leagues, called for retailers to take responsibility for the costs borne by financial institutions when such breaches occur.

“They should lose money. They lost their customer data. They’re losing money [in sales] because of bad business, not protecting their systems,” Gentile told the publication. “Credit unions are impacted for nothing that they did. Their systems are not breached.”

The same article in The New Hampshire Union Leader estimated that the Target breach alone caused New Hampshire credit unions to reissue 25,493 debit cards and 2,911 credit cards, at a cost of $5.10 per card, a total of $144,862. That number does not take into account the cost of fraudulent charges.

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