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Bank of America Loses Customer Data Again

By Martin H. Bosworth
ConsumerAffairs.com

October 12, 2005
For the third time this year, Bank of America has lost confidential customer information. This time it's a laptop containing information about "Visa Buxx" users, missing since August 29. "Visa Buxx" is a prepaid debit card with adjustable spending limits, designed for teenagers.

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Users of the "Buxx" card were notified by Bank of America that their names, credit card numbers, and other banking information may have been compromised. Bank of America was discontinuing the "Visa Buxx" program at the time of the theft.

The laptop was first stolen from a third-party "service provider" on August 29th, according to Bank of America spokesperson Diane Wagner. The bank was first notified of the theft on Sept. 9th, and sent warnings out to affected customers on the 23rd.

Wagner could not be reached for comment.

In previous interviews, she had declined to identify the number of users affected by the theft, whether the theft occurred in the United States, or who the "service provider" was.

The story was first reported by the San Francisco Chronicle.

Bank of America previously lost data tapes containing records of 145,000 cardholders, most of whom were government or military clients. It was also hit by a scam in which bank employees conspired to steal and later sell 60,000 customer records to collection agencies.

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