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The Long, Slow Demise of Credit Card Signatures Starts Today (cnet.com)
Last year, all four major U.S. payment providers -- Mastercard, Visa, American Express and Discover -- announced plans to remove the requirement that merchants collect signatures for card transactions. Those plans officially go into effect today, or Saturday in the case of Visa. CNET reports: [D]on't despair if you actually like writing your signature at retail stores, because their ultimate demise will likely take a while. The change is only optional, with merchants, not customers, given the new power to decide whether to get rid of signatures. So, if asked to sign, please don't insist to your next cashier that you no longer need to -- it won't work. Also, plenty of retailers will likely want to keep signatures, particularly if their workers are paid based on a lot of tips, or they sell pricey items. Still, the change marks a clear awareness from payment providers that the signature doesn't really work as a strong protector against fraud.
The change is being handled a little differently by each payment provider. For instance, Mastercard, Discover and American Express said they'll let retailers make every kind of card payment optional for a signature, regardless of whether you've got a new chip card or you still swipe. Visa, meanwhile, isn't changing its requirements for payments using a swipe card, but it did relax its policy for chip card and contactless payments like Apple Pay. Visa noted that over 75 percent of face-to-face transactions using its cards in North America already don't require a signature, thanks to lower-value transactions.
The change is being handled a little differently by each payment provider. For instance, Mastercard, Discover and American Express said they'll let retailers make every kind of card payment optional for a signature, regardless of whether you've got a new chip card or you still swipe. Visa, meanwhile, isn't changing its requirements for payments using a swipe card, but it did relax its policy for chip card and contactless payments like Apple Pay. Visa noted that over 75 percent of face-to-face transactions using its cards in North America already don't require a signature, thanks to lower-value transactions.
These signing terminals have been a thing for a good 15-20 years now, yet I've never signed one. I sign either Foo Bar or Mickey Mouse, depending on my mood. All have gone through with 0 hassle.
In fact, I bought groceries from Von's today, signed Foo Bar with no issues
Then again, their Just 4 U program ties my phone # to my credit card so there's that.
It was silly for the card networks and banks to chicken out on implementing Chip + PIN. People will have to face the (relatively small) pain of learning how to use it at some time, and better to just rip the bandaid off all at once.
All of Europe, rest of world can deal with using a PIN. What's so special about the US? Just do it, save us all from having to subsidize fraud.
Australia has been using chip-and-pin credit cards for years now, as has Europe and many other places. What is it about the US that makes card companies (Visa, MasterCard etc), banks and merchants so reluctant to introduce chip-and-pin in the US?