Nearly Half Of US Credit Card Holders Reluctant To Shop At Data-Hacked Stores: Survey

Nearly half of U.S. credit-card holders are reluctant to shop at stores such as Target and Home Depot that have been hacked, according to a survey by CreditCards.com. Forty-five percent of respondents say they will definitely or probably avoid one of their regular stores over the holidays if the retailer has suffered a data breach.

Sixteen percent say they definitely wouldn't return to a store that had been hacked, and 29 percent say they probably wouldn't shop at stores that had been hacked.

The survey was conducted earlier this month by phone. On behalf of CreditCards.com, Princeton Survey Research Associates International surveyed 865 American adults who have debit or credit cards.

Major data breaches at U.S. retailers -- most recently Kmart, AT&T and Dairy Queen -- may have exposed millions of Americans’ credi-card information.

Fortunately for retailers, high-income households earning more than $75,000 per year are the least likely to avoid affected stores. Only 31 percent say they would avoid a store that had been hacked, compared to 56 percent of households with annual incomes below $30,000. And women are more likely than men to continue shopping at a store that has been hacked, the survey found.

Only 1 in 8 say they are more likely to shop with a credit card this holiday season, and 48 percent say they plan to pay with cash more frequently in response to the data breaches.

“It may sound weird, but the truth is that credit cards offer far greater consumer protections than debit cards, cash or other payment methods,” Matt Schulz, CreditCards.com’s senior industry analyst, said in a statement.