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Credit card signatures: Useless?
SpaceAdmiral writes "Everyone should remember John Hargrave's classic Credit Card Prank on Zug. He tried signing fake names on his credit card receipt, and no one seemed to care.
But that's nothing compared to The Credit Card Prank, Part 2. Can he draw obscene pictures instead of signing his credit card? Yes, it turns out. Is there any way of getting your signature checked? . . . Yes, it turns out. But you have to do an awful lot."
Since the U.S. federal government limits my liability to $50 for someone fraudulently using my credit card, and all of my credit card companies waive even that, I don't care who uses my credit card.
Not entirely true. If it can be shown that your negligence contributed to the fraudulant usage of your card, you can be held liable. Granted, you have to really be careless for this to ever be an issue.
For example, loaning it to your friend to make a purchase. He/she makes other purchases on the card, well... you are screwed. The other common occurence is when you do not report a card stolen right away. Then, you can also be held liable.
I've heard of very few instances of this ever being an issue. But do not take the limited liablility policy to be an excuse to be careless. It can come back to bite you.
See my journal for slashdot ID's by year. Mine created in 2005. http://slashdot.org/journal/289875/slashdot-ids-by-year
In the US if you have a card linked to your checking account, it can be used as a credit or debit card. As a credit card all that is needed is a signature. A debit card is just a fancy name for an ATM card. When the card is processed as a debit card the machine will ask for your PIN. The problem is in debit mode you can be charged foreign ATM fees (by both your bank and the business processing the card). So it is best to just use the card as a credit card when asked, "credit or debit?" There is also nothing preventing the card from being used one way or the other.
The signature on the back of the card is your acknowledgment of the credit card CONTRACT. It's not a security feature. I don't think it was ever supposed to be a security feature. The reason companies are supposed to refuse your card if you haven't signed it is because that means you haven't accepted the credit card contract, meaning that legally you're not allowed to use the card.
Read the fine print in your credit card contract; I did. That's what the signature is there for. That's ALL it's there for.
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I run a medium-sized store. The credit card signing IS useless. Why? What do we do with the credit card signatures? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. They get put in a big box, and every so often, they get thrown away. Visa/Mastercard/Amex/Discover makes no requirements on us to do anything with the signatures. The only reason that we could possibly need a signed receipt is if a transaction is fraudulent, and somebody needs proof that they did NOT sign the receipt. And honestly, that's just a guess. Maybe it's buried somewhere in the 100 pages of fine print, but I've never seen it.
1. Credit card companies don't ask for signatures, even in the case of fraud. It's not worth their time and money.
2. Neither myself or any of my employees are handwriting experts. Somebody could forge a signature very easily. It ain't rocket science.
Really, all the signatures for are to provide a sense of security to the tin-foil hat types. In reality, a credit card is as good as cash, but if you lose it, you don't feel the negative consequences. So, while credit card signatures are useless, I readily use mine everywhere without worrying about a signature.
I don't respond to AC's.
For those of you who are afriad of someone stealing your card and making unauthorized purchases, you can rest easy. The credit card companies have been able to detect fraud at the time of purchase for quite a while now. Ever since they felt comfortable enough to offer everyone "zero liability".
First off, the cashier at your local WalMart isn't a handwriting and signature analysis expert or an identity expert. They aren't expected to be. The credit card companies realized this a long time ago. Strangely enough, if your card is stolen and the clerk compared the signature, the store becomes liable for the fraudulent purchases.
A Visa or MasterCard is what's called a bearer instrument. It's the same as having cash. If I handed you a $20 bill to pay for something, you wouldn't ask for ID. The same rule applies to Visa and MasterCard. They're all three bearer instruments.
On the other hand, AMEX is an owner instrument. Only the owner of the card is allowed to use it. IIRC, Diners' Club is the same way. You must be the owner of the card. If you have an AMEX, and your spouse is on the same account, you will each have your own card with your own name on it, and IIRC a different number assigned to the same account.
Using an owner instrument is a little more tricky. In that case, the cashier should make a cursory check to see if the signatures match, and may ask for ID, however, much more than that is placing liability back on the store instead of the Loss Prevention department of the bank or credit card company.
A few years ago, I was sitting at home and got a call from Nike Online. Within about 10-15 seconds of that call, I had a call from Visa Loss Prevention on call waiting. Someone had stolen my Visa number and attempted to use it to buy a lot of Nike stuff from the online store. Both Nike and Visa caught the fraudulent purchase at the time of sale. They were able to get in touch with me, the local police department, and set up a sting to get the thief. I wasn't charged anything, and had only a minor problem while I waited for my new card to arrive since they had to kill the old number (which sucked as I had just memorized it and the code on the back).
Checking IDs is just as bad as airline security. It does nothing to actually prevent crime. It just gives the underinformed a (false) sense of security.
Plant a tree in a developing country.
Thats slightly incorrect. Having my wallet stolen now a total of 5 times in the last 5 years. (Why, why does it happen to me) I can tell you from fact, that if you have a Bank of america, or washignton mutal debit card, you CAN request them to deactivate all credit purchuses on your card. (its literly one menu-driven command once they are inside your account) Then, if your card is ever stolen, the moment the credit transaction takes place, its flagged, and I get a call. Last time, they caught the person within 30 minuites of trying to use my card. (She tried it in 5 places) So yes, it is possible just to use the debit part only.