According to the St. Louis Journal, Heartland Bank and Bank of America said Friday they are issuing new credit and debit cards to their customers in response to the security breach at Heartland Payment Systems of New Jersey.The Journal reports that "Heartland Payment Systems is not related to Heartland Bank." ... "confusion over the similar names has prompted 100's of calls to Heartland Bank in St. Louis this week."
Clarification: While this story makes it sound like the similarity of the Heartland names are purely coincidental, they are not. The two entities may be unrelated today, but they are both involved in the formation what is now the nation's sixth largest processor.
When Heartland was formed, it was formed in union with Heartland Bank. I remember going down to St. Louis and meeting with Bob Carr and Heartland's bank president back then. (I think it was in early '97) If I remember correctly Heartland Bank and Bob Carr were the co-founders.I think Bob Carr broke free from Heartland Bank in 2000. So the confusion has merit. To this day, even their logos share an iconic common denominator.
Anyway, getting back to the story, from SLBJ: "The security breach did get information on our cardholders," David Minton, Heartland Bank president and chief executive, told the Business Journal. "Like other banks all over the country, we got notices from MasterCard and Visa saying that our customers' cards have been compromised."
The two largest banks in St. Louis, U.S. Bank and Bank of America, as well as other banks nationwide received similar notices because the breach, revealed by the New Jersey payment processor on Tuesday, potentially impacts millions of credit and debit card accounts.
Bank of America is in the process of reissuing new credit and debit cards to customers, said Betty Riess, a spokeswoman. She declined to specify how many of Bank of America's customers were impacted.
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