Credit unions have already incurred costs estimated to be in the range of $25 million to $30 million in costs as a result of the Target stores data security breach, a Credit Union National Association survey has shown.

And, CUNA President/CEO Bill Cheney said, the actual costs could exceed this estimate of $25 million to $30 million in the coming weeks if greater fraud losses are incurred or those that have reported already add additional costs to their reported totals.

The results of the CUNA survey show that, on average, the Target breach has cost credit unions about $5.10 per card affected by the security lapse. These costs most likely do not include any fraud losses, which are likely to occur later. Additionally, the cost/card figure is an average across all affected cards, not just cards that have been reissued.

“Contrary to what some may think, these expenses will not be reimbursed to credit unions and their members by Target or other retailers,” Cheney said. “Rather, credit unions must solely cover these costs of card program administration, including in these circumstances of reacting to a merchant data breach. And, because of credit unions’ cooperative structure, the costs of such breaches are ultimately borne entirely by credit union members,” he added.

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