Chase Punishes Victims of Target Card Hack With Ridiculous Limits

Chase is celebrating the season of giving by rewarding their customers who used their credit or debit cards at Target between November 27 and December 15 with draconian, onerous limits:

JPMorgan Chase & Co. on Saturday notified customers who used its debit cards at Target stores during the retailer’s recent security breach that it was limiting the use of its cards to $100 of cash withdrawals from ATMs per day and purchases totaling $300 a day.

The new limit affects roughly 2 million accounts, or about 10 percent of Chase debit-card holders, according to a bank spokeswoman. It does not apply to credit cards.

The bank detailed the limits in an email sent to customers with the subject line: “Unfortunately, your debit card is at risk by the breach at Target stores.”

The bank said it was taking the action as a precaution and recognized that the move “could not have happened at a more inconvenient time.”

Target, The U.S.’ second-largest retailer, which made $72 billion in sales in 2012, acknowledged Thursday that data connected to about 40 million credit- and debit-card accounts was stolen as part of a breach that began over the Thanksgiving weekend.

The Minneapolis-based retailer has offered customers a 10 percent discount on all purchases made in Target stores on Dec. 21 and Dec. 22., as well as free credit-monitoring services for those affected by the breach. In a statement, the company said that while “very few” customers had reported fraud, it was reaching out to everyone at risk. The company also said it is continuing its investigation into the matter.

By: dave-dr-gonzo

David Hirsch, a.k.a. Dave "Doctor" Gonzo*, is a renegade record producer, video producer, writer, reformed corporate shill, and still-registered lobbyist for non-one-percenter performing artists and musicians. He lives in a heavily fortified compound in one of Manhattan's less trendy neighborhoods.

* Hirsch is the third person to use the pseudonym, a not-so-veiled tribute to journalist and author Hunter S. Thompson, with the permission of his predecessors Gene Gaudette of American Politics Journal (currently webmaster and chief bottlewasher at Liberaland) and Stephen Meese at Smashmouth Politics.