The Target breach has already cost credit unions nearly $30 million, according to a survey by CUNA.

The trade group said Tuesday afternoon that the 936 respondents to its online survey posted shortly after news of the massive breach was made public are showing an average of about $5.10 per card affected, and that those credit unions represent about a third of all credit and debit cards held by credit union members.

The cost figure is an average across all affected cards, not just those that have been reissued, and the figure doesn't include fraud costs, which are likely to rise in coming weeks, CUNA said.

Read more about the Target breach:

• PCI Standard Losing Ground
• Target Confirms POS Malware
• Target Breach: Credit Union Lesson Learned

The retail giant has said the encrypted PIN data was compromised on 40 million debit and credit cards, and additionally the names, mail and email addresses, and phone numbers of up to 70 million customers were also stolen.

CUNA said almost 18 million debit cards and just under 1.5 million credit cards are represented by the credit unions responding. The data will help inform CUNA conversations with lawmakers, regulators, the media and others,” CUNA said, adding that the survey continues with no deadline set.  

“Contrary to what some may think, these expenses will not be reimbursed to credit unions and their members by Target or other retailers,” President/CEO Bill Cheney said in the trade group's announcement. “Rather, credit unions must solely cover these costs of card program administration, including in these circumstances of reacting to a merchant data breach. And, because of credit unions' cooperative structure, the costs of such breaches are ultimately borne entirely by credit union members,” he said.