Preferred Parking data breach: card numbers of 72,912 customers, 61,335 of them in North Carolina

What happened in the Preferred Parking breach?

The letter says the company's investigation found that an unauthorized actor accessed its database on June 7 and June 8, 2026, and took certain files; on July 30, 2026 the company determined that those files held people's names and credit card numbers. It does not say how the actor got in. The company says it has added measures to improve the security of its network, without listing them.

Date (2026)	What happened	Source
June 7 and 8	Unauthorized actor accesses the database and takes files	Letter; Indiana report
July 30	Company confirms the files held names and card numbers	Letter
August 14	At least three states notified	Charlotte Observer; Indiana report

From the day the company confirmed card data to the state notices took 15 days.

Was my credit card exposed in the Preferred Parking breach?

If you paid for parking with a card at a Preferred Parking location and got a letter, yes: the letter says your name and credit card number were in the files. The letter does not mention expiration dates or security codes. Its advice is to check card statements and, if a charge looks wrong, call the bank on the number on the back of the card. The letter offers no credit monitoring. The payment card breach notice guide compares this with other card breaches in the log.

How many people were affected, by state?

72,912 in total. The Charlotte Observer reported the breakdown from the states it checked:

State	People affected	Reported by
North Carolina	61,335	Charlotte Observer (N.C. Attorney General's office)
South Carolina	5,176	Charlotte Observer
Massachusetts	142	Charlotte Observer
Indiana	92	Indiana report
Vermont	11	Charlotte Observer
All states	72,912	Indiana report; Charlotte Observer

North Carolina accounts for 84 percent of the total. The company is based in Charlotte: the Observer, citing the company's website, put it at more than 240 locations across the Southeast, with more than 65 in the greater Charlotte area.

How do I contact Preferred Parking about the letter?

The letter's call line is 888-650-4906, Monday to Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. Eastern time. The pages that follow the letter in the South Carolina filing set out the standard steps: free credit reports, fraud alerts and credit freezes.

What the record leaves open

• How the unauthorized actor got into the database.
• Whether card expiration dates or security codes were also in the files.
• Which locations and which months of transactions the stolen card numbers came from.