Chase Card Services says it's notifying more than two and a-half (m) million Circuit City credit card holders that computer tapes containing their personal information were mistakenly thrown in the trash.
The company says it thinks the tapes -- which were stored in a locked box and contained some card holders' Social Security numbers -- were compacted, destroyed and buried in a dump.
Chase says it's been monitoring the affected accounts, including current and former card holders, and has not found any misuse of personal information.
Card holders whose Social Security numbers were on the tapes will be contacted in the next two to three weeks and offered a one-year free credit monitoring service.