Do you still sign credit card payment receipts?

By USAvsDEBT - 19 April, 2018

Have you ever signed a credit card payment receipt with a random doodle instead of your actual signature? Do you still do that? If you have ever done this, you might have laughed off this idea. No cashier would have rejected your signature as invalid as they don’t really notice or bother to take a quick look.

Well, the good news is that you will soon be spared of this part. It means you will no longer need to sign credit card receipts. Finally, credit card networks are ready to acknowledge what has been so obvious to merchants and shoppers for decades – signatures are not a solid way to authenticate someone’s identity. Signatures are centuries old practice to identify someone’s identity. Later this month, Visa, American Express, Discover, and MasterCard will no longer ask customers to put their signature when paying with a credit card.

This significant step indicates the extinction of handwritten authentications that will be limited to only a few special circumstances, like sealing a giant transaction. It doesn’t mean that card signatures will disappear overnight. As the change is optional, it depends on retailers whether they want to stop collecting signatures.

To reduce fraud-related losses, card companies who often cover the cost of fraudulent credit card spending started adding microchips on credit cards. These chips create a unique code for every transaction making it difficult to copy cards. The chips have been popular for a long time, and now card networks punish merchants who still rely on old card swipe technology. At this point, signatures become absolutely irrelevant in resolving fraud claims.

It took technology almost a century to get past of hand written signatures. This history of charge card dates back to 1920s when stores started issuing embossed metal plates with paper signature strips which enabled customers to add the purchase to their ledgers and settle bill later. After thirty years, banks and merchant networks introduced cards that can work with different retailers. In the late 1950s, a shopper can purchase groceries, food and other items through card, secured only by a signature. Signatures were required for all kind of purchase. Merchants who fail to collect them had to cover the loss if a dispute arose in transactions. Then the age of online shopping took off pushing card issuers to come up with new ways to detect and track fraud. As the forensic system improved, signatures became more irrelevant.

At present, plastic cards serve multiple purposes in our lives. If you have overspent and want to know your options to resolve this burdensome debt contact USAvsDEBT-Holdings, LLC. today at 800-648-5771 to hear about your options to resolve your unwanted Debt.