Credit union won’t allow members to use credit at Wendy’s

A Michigan-based credit union has told its 50,000 members it can’t use their debit or credit cards to buy a Baconator at Wendy’s, the Columbus Dispatch reported.

Concerned about data security, America 1 Credit Union in Jackson, Mich., isn’t allowing its members to use their cards at the burger chain’s restaurants.

America 1 said in a blog post on its website that it recorded losses related to Wendy’s recent data breach, which began about a year ago and continued through June. It involved 18,000 of its 47,000 issued debit and credit cards. Even some reissued cards became compromised., the Dispatch reported.

The credit union asserts that its losses equal those that grew out of the 2014 data breach at Home Depot. The Home Depot losses were mostly paid out of pocket, with its insurance picking up 11 percent of the tab.

“Not only are the cardholders’ assets put at risk, but the financial institutions that issued the cards are left to foot the bill of any resulting theft — not wanting their members to suffer from an unfortunate event that was neither party’s fault,” said David Puckett, CEO of American 1, in the blog post. “It’s a no-win situation.”

America 1 might be the first credit union in the country to take such a position, according to Dispatch. It is the only one in Michigan to do so, according to the Michigan Credit Union League.