On October 12, the named plaintiff in a Fair Credit Reporting Act class action asked the Northern District of Illinois to certify her putative class against Costco Wholesale Corporation. 

According to the Complaint, the plaintiff used her credit card to make a purchase at one of Costco’s stores in January 2016.  By the time she reached the Costco employee who checks the customer’s receipts to ensure they are leaving the store with only the goods they have purchased, the plaintiff was unable to locate her receipt.  In accordance with Costco’s policy, the plaintiff was directed to a store supervisor for a replacement receipt.  The replacement receipt allegedly displayed the first six digits of her credit card account number in addition to the last four digits of that account number. 

Plaintiff filed suit alleging that Costco violated the FCRA by printing a receipt that contained more digits of the payment card’s account number than is permitted by 15 U.S.C. § 1681c(g)(1), which states that a business shall not print more than the last five digits of the card number or the expiration date upon any receipt.  Costco allegedly was sued in 2007 for violating the same provision of the FCRA.  Plaintiff seeks to certify the following class: “All persons whom within a Costco Warehouse store located in the United States were provided an electronically printed receipt that contained more than the last five digits of their payment card’s account number, from a time period beginning two years prior to the filing of this lawsuit, January 6, 2014, until Costco stopped printing such receipts.”   

Costco’s opposition brief to plaintiff’s motion is due by November 15.  We will continue to monitor the developments in this case.