Signing Credit Cards

I don't understand this either.

Comments

I think one of his posters is right:

"I was always under the impression that the signature is there to make the card a legal instrument rather than to deter theft."

Someone further down elaborates. Signatures are not a security measure (in the theft-sense), they are a legal one.

Also, they talk about writing "See I.D.". I did that for a while and some merchants refused to accept the card. I'm pretty sure as a matter of law they are not supposed to accept cards without signatures.

Posted by matthew c | June 23, 2007 12:22 PM

People not signing their cards never made much sense to me.

Seems like if I don't sign my credit card and it gets stolen, the thief then doesn't even need to go to the trouble of forging my signature. S/he just signs the card, and the signature is guaranteed to match the one on the receipt.

Personally, I just sign all my cards. However, if I was really concerned, I'd probably go the "Check ID" route. All of it seems more or less moot, though, as most sales clerks don't bother checking signatures anyway.

Posted by Pete | June 23, 2007 1:16 PM

The gas pump always asks for my zip code and rejects the charge if I input a false one. This is the new "security" feature.

At stores I get asked for ID about half the time, even though my AmEx card has my photo on the back.

Posted by Jalmari | June 23, 2007 2:25 PM

As a merchant, I can tell you pretty certainly that it is primarily designed so that I have a leg to stand on if a dispute comes up. If you dispute a charge I made to your card, I have to come up with a signed receipt that matches the card or they yank the money. The fact that people don't check is a failure on the vendor's part that puts him/her in financial jeopardy.

I'm not sure what happens if it matches the card but it was a stolen card that had no signature when stolen. Maybe at that point I'm not liable because the CC owner did not fulfill his/her fiduciary duty (signing the card when activating). That would be cool.

The vendor is not interested in whether or not your card is stolen -- s/he only cares that s/he will get the money that s/he is entitled to (which might explain why s/he'll let you sign the card in front of him/her).

Posted by Beartums | June 23, 2007 9:40 PM