In a statement Thursday, Chase said that no misuse of the credit card information has been reported and that the tapes are believed to have been destroyed in processing.

"Working closely with federal and local law enforcement, Chase conducted a thorough investigation and believes that the tapes, contained within a locked box, were compacted, destroyed and are buried in a landfill where the trash was taken," the company said.

"We deeply regret that this has occurred and apologize to those impacted," said Rich Srednicki, CEO of Chase Card Services, which issues co-branded and private-label credit cards for Circuit City, in a statement. "We have found no evidence that the tapes or their contents have been accessed or misused. The privacy of our customers' personal information is of utmost importance to us, and we take the responsibility to safeguard this information very seriously."

To prevent similar incidents, Chase said it is strengthening its security procedures and is conducting a review of all data storage and protection processes.

Chase began notifying the affected customers about the incident yesterday and said the process is expected to take two to three weeks. The company is offering one year of free credit monitoring to people whose Social Security numbers were on the tapes.