ARLINGTON, Va. – Yesterday, a group of leading merchant associations, including NACS, sent a letter to the Credit Union National Association (CUNA) and the National Association of Federal Credit Unions (NAFCU), setting the record straight on the state of cybersecurity in our country and how the payments system works.

The letter dispels many misconceptions the credit unions have been perpetuating regarding recent cyber-attacks and the response by retailers and financial institutions. The letter was sent by the CEOs of NACS, the Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA), the National Retail Federation (NRF), the National Grocers Association (NGA), the Food Marketing Institute (FMI) and the Merchant Advisory Group (MAG).

“Trade groups representing credit unions have been aggressively trying to shift additional costs and blame for data breaches on retailers,” said NACS Senior Vice President of Government relations Lyle Beckwith. “This letter debunks their rhetoric, as the facts do indeed speak for themselves.”

Among the misconceptions the letter seeks to dispel:

• Data breaches only – or disproportionately – affect retail merchants.
• Retailers do not share the costs incurred by card fraud.
• Retailers do not contribute to the costs of issuing new cards to consumers after a data breach.
• Retail merchants leave the burden of customer security exclusively up to credit unions and banks.

The full letter is available here.