Signatures no longer required on in-store Credit Card purchases after tomorrow

[AUS-97HORN 11757]

*except Visa, they are going to do it later this month.

individual stores can still require it but those stores have to make it a settings default.

But, for the most part, after today, you  shouldnt have to sign your name too often anymore on a credit card transaction receipt because the RFID chip kinda removes the need for most verification.

 

https://www.theverge.com/2018/4/12/17225554/credit-card-signatures-us-ending-companies-pin-emv-chip

Credit card signatures are about to become a thing of the past, with Amex, Mastercard, Visa & Discover

r — the four major US credit card companies — set to do away with the requirement for signatures on in-store purchases in the coming days. American Express, Mastercard, and Discover have all confirmed that they’ll be flipping the switch on April 13th, while Visa should be following later in the month.

We’ve known it was coming for a while, with all four companies announcing that they’d be eliminating the signature sometime in April. But tomorrow will mark the beginning of the end for the signature, which admittedly has been on the way out for years. Most credit card companies stopped requiring them for smaller transactions as early as 2010, and things like checks and handwritten letters have been on the decline for decades with the advent of the smartphone and computer.

Plus, as The New York Times points out, the signature isn’t being dealt a single death blow all at once. All that the major credit card companies are doing is getting rid of the requirement for companies to have a signature: it’ll be up to stores to decide whether or not they’d like to eliminate them. Some, like Target and Walmart, plan to get rid of them later this month, while others — like Square, which has card readers used by a huge number of small merchants — will still require you to scrawl your John Hancock to authenticate your purchase.

Different credit card companies are also getting rid of the restriction in slightly different ways. American Express, for example, is nixing the requirement around the world, while Visa is making it optional only in North America for companies that offer chip systems. Mastercard is limiting it to just the US and Canada, while Discover won’t need signatures in US, Canada, Mexico, and the Caribbean. Even though it’s an international change, signatures are largely only a part of the checkout system in the US, since most other countries have switched to chip-and-PIN authentication.

 

[GhostRider 169]

We've come a long way.

[Paper_jam 831]

Ka-chunk chunk

The fuck did those things actually do anyway? I mean I know they printed/copied your credit card info, but how did the retailer actually get paid without an electronic terminal?

 

 

[Don Keibals 113]

48 minutes ago, AUS-97HORN said:

*except Visa, they are going to do it later this month.

individual stores can still require it but those stores have to make it a settings default.

But, for the most part, after today, you  shouldnt have to sign your name too often anymore on a credit card transaction receipt because the RFID chip kinda removes the need for most verification.

 

https://www.theverge.com/2018/4/12/17225554/credit-card-signatures-us-ending-companies-pin-emv-chip

 

 

I always just put an X or a  √ for years now.  never had a problem

[AUinHsv 579]

44 minutes ago, Paper_jam said:

Ka-chunk chunk

The fuck did those things actually do anyway? I mean I know they printed/copied your credit card info, but how did the retailer actually get paid without an electronic terminal?

 

 

I think they had to send them in.  No picture but at one time merchants had a phone book sized list of stolen cards and were supposed to check any card purchase against the list before allowing them to charge.

[AUS-97HORN 11757]

the machine used carbon paper tech to copy the raised card numbers on the invoice slip, and then you would sign the slip.

and I do remember the merchants checking that your ID matched the name on the card, as well as the merchant going in the back room with the card # ( probably to check it against the stolen card list)

[Txzen 498]

Using a CC in Europe (or Canada, for that matter), you realize how backward we still are with this stuff. They had chip for ages, and I really prefer the 'bring the machine to your table' thing, so that it never leaves your possession. 

[Irwin F Fletcher 3550]

1 hour ago, AUinHsv said:

I think they had to send them in.  No picture but at one time merchants had a phone book sized list of stolen cards and were supposed to check any card purchase against the list before allowing them to charge.

 

[Whitman 694]

2 hours ago, Don Keibals said:

I always just put an X or a  √ for years now.  never had a problem

I always sign some famous person's name.  I've signed Frank Beamer,  Dana, Bob Huggins, Hillary, Bernie, Trump, Clint Eastwood, etc.,..Just about anyone who is in the news that day.   

[Homercles 10205]

I always sign some famous person's name.  I've signed Frank Beamer,  Dana, Bob Huggins, Hillary, Bernie, Trump, Clint Eastwood, etc.,..Just about anyone who is in the news that day.   

[woohorn 1131]

and I do remember the merchants checking that your ID matched the name on the card, as well as the merchant going in the back room with the card # ( probably to check it against the stolen card list)

I worked at Continental Finer Foods (ha) growing up back when everyone wrote checks (no upc scanners or plastic grocery bags either) and we had these weekly cc number books to look up every card number to make sure it wasn't stolen.

[XYZ 2154]

This is useless. Why do American card processors refuse to use chip-and-PIN?

[ImissWallyPryor 9046]

RFID is so 2014. Signing is stupid with the new chips and their unique one-time codes. I liked the cards that had your photo on the front (hello 1990), but most transactions no longer involve handing your card to someone else. 

[RayDog 682]

5 hours ago, XYZ said:

This is useless. Why do American card processors refuse to use chip-and-PIN?

They like to treat chip and pin transactions as a cash advance and charge higher interest.

[Mo Horn 8831]

11 hours ago, Txzen said:

Using a CC in Europe (or Canada, for that matter), you realize how backward we still are with this stuff. They had chip for ages, and I really prefer the 'bring the machine to your table' thing, so that it never leaves your possession. 

In pretty much every country but the U.S. it is illegal for them to take your card. I still hear people saying they'd rather swipe instead of using the chip because it takes longer. Enjoy your 5 to 10 seconds I guess. 

[Texas_Rocks 346]

lol! A few years ago 20/20 did a piece on check fraud and how easily banks were fooled.

They did and undercover check cash run on a few local banks. 8 out of 10 banks cashed checks that were signed- “Do not cash this check!”

[VolenteHawk 495]

11 hours ago, Whitman said:

I always sign some famous person's name.  I've signed Frank Beamer,  Dana, Bob Huggins, Hillary, Bernie, Trump, Clint Eastwood, etc.,..Just about anyone who is in the news that day.   

I have spent the last few years making an honest attempt at my signature but with my left hand.

 

[Nice Guy Eddie 13509]

We will still sign in every restaurant to ensure the gratuity is added.  

[Liquor and Poker 3659]

14 hours ago, AUinHsv said:

I think they had to send them in.  No picture but at one time merchants had a phone book sized list of stolen cards and were supposed to check any card purchase against the list before allowing them to charge.

You took them to your commercial banker.  Depending on your arrangement they gave you a provisional credit until they cleared for all or part of the total.  The bank would then send them to the credit card company for processing.  The more business you did the better your "advance" terms.

Some smaller merchants got really screwed - if you didn't do enough business you didn't get funds until the card fully cleared, meaning you might wait a month for the money.

[Liquor and Poker 3659]

1 hour ago, Mo Horn said:

In pretty much every country but the U.S. it is illegal for them to take your card. I still hear people saying they'd rather swipe instead of using the chip because it takes longer. Enjoy your 5 to 10 seconds I guess. 

It's funny, I still occasionally do the swipe automatically and then get told by the machine to insert the card.  Muscle memory, I guess.  But the cashier always gets suspicious...

[Prepuce of Doom 21053]

59 minutes ago, Nice Guy Eddie said:

We will still sign in every restaurant to ensure the gratuity is added.  

Username checks out. 

[Biff Tannen 45665]

Having the credit card reader brought to the table in Canada was awesome.  There is zero reason we should not be doing this in the US.  That and reading the chip at the gas pump.  Remember a while back when the fucking Travis County Sheriff had to tell people to stop swiping their cards at the pump because skimming had become such a huge issue?  Ridiculous.

[pops 6980]

They all need to figure out the witchcraft that is Samsung pay. It is the greatest thing ever. The terminal needs no special stuff. If you can swipe, it works. Uses a one time number for each transaction.

I assume Apple and Google pay options are similar but I'm under the impression the terminal needs their specific software to make it compatible. 

Rarely take a card out of my wallet anymore. Best is when the cashier says "oh, you can't pay with a phone on this one".  

[F250 28764]

I've written "help me", "blah" "Not me" and an X on the credit card signature line and it has never been an issue. I am not sure if they ever really required a signature.

[XYZ 2154]

“Help me”, that’s funny