Class Action Settlement from Heartland Data Breach Approved

Remember the Heartland data breach two years ago? Well a proposed class action settlement against the payment-processing company has recently been approved.

In case you don’t remember, Heartland Payment Systems, the fifth-largest payments processor in the U.S., experienced the largest-ever criminal breach of card data in 2008. Heartland is responsible for handling the transfer of funds and information between retailers and cardholders’ financial institutions. Sometime in early 2008, hackers infiltrated their system and stole personal financial information from as many as 130 million credit/debit cards. The proposed $4 million settlement will settle a class action lawsuit that alleges the payment-processing company was negligent and failed to adequately protect consumers’ personal financial information in the infamous data breach.

Under the settlement, consumers can claim up to $175 for out-of-pocket expenses such as telephone usage and postage costs related to card cancellations or replacements. It will also provide up to $10,000 to consumers who actually had their identity stolen as a result of the data breach.