[richlevy]

In the early days of debit cards one of my coworkers got nailed and it took her about two weeks to get the charges reinstated.

I will never get a debit card that doesn't require a PIN. Credit cards are bad enough, but the laws on them are very clear. The rules on debit cards are mostly voluntary, and with the rise in banking fees the potential for overdraft charges, etc piling onto the initial loss lead me to wonder how anyone can consider using them.

I hope everything works out for you Cloud. Have you ever bought anything at TJ. Maxx, Marshalls, Bob's Stores, HomeGoods, or A.J. Wright?

So far, the TJ Maxx credit card mess (and here) appears to have broken the record both in terms of affected cards (45 million) and length of time before discovery (about 18 months).

"Based on our investigation to date," the company wrote, "we believe that our computer systems were first accessed by an unauthorized Intruder in July 2005, on subsequent dates in 2005 and from mid-May 2006 to mid-January 2007, but that no customer data were stolen after December 18, 2006."

In filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission yesterday, the company said 45.6 million credit and debit card numbers were stolen from one of its systems over a period of more than 18 months by an unknown number of intruders. That number eclipses the 40 million records compromised in the mid-2005 breach at CardSystems Solutions and makes the TJX compromise the worst ever involving the loss of personal data.
In addition, personal data provided in connection with the return of merchandise without receipts by about 451,000 individuals in 2003 was also stolen. The company is in the process of contacting individuals affected by the breach, TJX said in its filings.

TJX runs TJ. Maxx, Marshalls, Bob's Stores, HomeGoods, and A.J. Wright chains in the United States

HomeSense and Winners in Canada

T.K. Maxx in the United Kingdom and Ireland