Is it safer not to sign the back of your credit cards?

Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports
1

The staff have a very rosy view of the credit card world. Now that the recession is deeper, do they still believe:

“These cards were a good deal for all concerned” ???

and then staff report talks about merchants and banks.

Mega banks and mega merchants have forgotten about the customer, and so have you.

Customers do not like $35 dollar charges for a $15 dollar payment that is a day late, and they also do not like the APR to go from 18% to 28% and their credit score to tank costing thousands more in morgage interest because you are now ‘sub-prime’.

Sub-prime morgages were a big factor in the current recession.

DNC Sportservice is forcing all non-profit (and regular) concessions workers to refuse to accept cards unless the customer signs the card. DNC threatens concession workers with immediate firing. Several customers steadfastly refused to sign their card. Some walked away in a huff, not making any purchase. Some found the cash.

I do not buy your argument. I think there are valid reasons not to sign the back of the card. You ARE giving forgers the opportunity to have an example of how they should sign. Are there really customers that would weasel out of paying, just because they refused to sign the card? You say that they are still responsible anyway, so then it is a mute point.

Someone charged an airline ticket to my Visa a couple weeks ago. It was a check card, so the money has been missing from my account 2 weeks. Do not beleive the banks when they say there is no liabiltity and that money will be restored the next day, or anytime soon. It is 10 banking days, especially when there is a flood 1,000 miles away where the mega-banks credit card service center is. That is a long time if your only checking account is cleaned out.

Visa has a ‘verified by Visa’ program that is supposed to help security. I just signed up. So now I have to give my BANK LOGIN PASSWORD for any web purchases from merchants that support ‘verified by Visa’ . SO NOW I HAVE TO DISCLOSE THE PASSWORD THAT ANYONE COULD USE TO LOGIN TO ALL BY BANK ACCOUNTS !! Sounds to me that REDUCES security greatly. :smack:

Who is the ignorant one?

Visa and my ex-bank.

PS. for now, I am signing my FIRST NAME only on the back of the card and then saying the reciept signature will have the last four digits of my drivers license. (and my full name of course) … btw. I can have my cat’s picture put on credit cards. Why don’t the banks and card companies put the CUSTOMERS picture on the card??? … they can’t do that, it makes too much sense… it might actually reduce fraud, and then they would have to layoff half their Fraud department and reduce what they charge merchants…

It’s safer for every american to boycott credit cards. Lets try it for a month or two.

2

This topic has been discussed at great length over and over ad nauseam on this board. I never understood the fuss though, because I’ve never signed the back of a credit card, use credit cards near daily, and not once has a merchant batted an eye over it. Most of the time these days you just swipe the card yourself and they never see it.

Occasionally they ask to see ID with the card, but that is the exception rather than the norm in my experience. YMMV.

3

The guy ahead of me in line at the pharmacy today had his photo on his credit card. Sounds like you just need a new bank.

4

A. If your card is not signed on the back, then the thief can sign your name on the back of the card in his own handwriting, which will then match his forged signature on the receipt, which he also signs in his own handwriting.

B. If you sign your card in advance, then the thief must try to force his forged signature on the receipt to match your handwriting on the back of the card.

B is harder for the thief than A.

Therefore, sign your card.

5

Hmm that kind of makes sense.

Maybe not signing the back of your card DOESN"T make you “a maverick, who refuses to play by the rules.” Those guys will need another hobby.

6

There’s something to this although VISA says that doesn’t happen:

http://usa.visa.com/download/merchants/card_acceptance_guide.pdf (pdf p. 31)

7

Note that almost every place I use my credit card today (supermarkets, department stores, gas stations, etc) has me swipe the card through the terminal myself, after which I put it back in my wallet. In other words, the cashier never looks at the card. So putting SEE ID on the back is useless.

8

The United States Postal Service will refuse your card in that condition.

They are not alone.

9

Not true. I’ve used my credit card at the Post Office many times. I still find it kind of surreal that the members of this board think this is such a huge deal when nobody has ever looked at the back of one of my credit cards. Maybe it varies by locality.

10

On one of our cards my husband wrote
“Check Photo ID Please’"
on the signature line.

Hugs and Hissessss,
Maria

11

SnakeBabe: All of my CCs say that. Despite people on this thread saying it’s a bad thing, I never, ever have a merchant give me hassle over it. Sometimes they ask me for ID, usually they ignore it.

DSYoungEsq: I use my CCs at the local Post Office, and several local shipping centers (places that take shipments for FedEx, UPS, etc.) and they never give me hassle.

As Ferret Herder states, there are CCs with your picture on them. My AmEx has my picture on it. When I hand it to merchants, they sometimes ask me for ID. I tell them to check the back, and they say OK. The only place that has ever asked me for ID eve after I say to check the back is Game Stop in Simi Valley. AmEx states that I do not have to provide additional ID to complete my purchase, but the person who takes my card won’t complete my purchase unless I provide it. My choice is to go buy the game elsewhere, rather than waste my time, I show the ID.

12

Having the cardholder’s photo on the back of the card is the normal thing here - and I think “here” includes a large swath of Europe at this point - for credit cards issued by a normal bank. Cardholders also sign on an electronic screen at the bank, after the clerk has verified their identity, and the signature is then printed onto the card.

13

The United States Postal Service is not supposed to take such a credit card. They have prominent signs displayed at every post office I’ve been in on the subject (California, Colorado, Ohio, South Carolina and counting now). I’ve had mine handed back for “see ID” on the back, I’ve had it handed back when I had forgotten to sign a new one, and I’ve had it handed back when the signature was wiped off with time.

I guess your milage may vary, but in past threads on this subject, we’ve noted that the USPS appears to be one of the most agressive at refusing such cards.

14

If an employee of the USPS accepted your credit card without looking at the back to confirm the signature, they’ve violated their policies and if seen by a supervisor, they would be subject to disciplinary action for doing so. I have seen at least a half dozen people at post offices who were told that their cards would not be accepted, with or without ID, because they were not signed. Every single one of them wanted to argue about it. They wasted more time complaining over their own failure than it ever would have taken to have signed the card when they got it like they were supposed to.

By refusing to sign your card, you’re violating the agreement you made with the bank that has issued it. But more importantly, there’s just no good argument against it.

15

Well, my argument is I have yet to find a pen that will write properly in the space provided or won’t just wipe off.

16

If you can put your cat’s picture on it, then you can put your own picture on it.

This will also make it harder for your cat to run up charges on your card.

17

Fine point sharpie then cover it with a piece of clear tape

18

It is true that almost nobody checks the back of your card anymore. But merchants have the right to refuse to accept an unsigned card, and in fact, that’s what they’re supposed to do. It amazes me how lax some business can be about these policies when they are the ones on the hook if the card is stolen.

Every day, I deal with merchants who have been charged back by credit card companies for fraudulent purchases. They can submit their copy of the receipt for dispute, and if the signature does not match the one on file for the cardholder, the merchant loses that money.

They say to me, “So all somebody has to do is sign the receipt wrong and they can rip me off?”
Yes, I say, that’s why you are supposed to check the signature on the card.
“What if the card is not signed?”
Don’t accept it.
“What if it’s their wife or kid using the card?”
Don’t accept it.
“What if they have some other ID?”
Don’t. Accept. It.

So, drheaton, you can keep not signing your cards, and yeah, you’ll probably have no trouble using them, but merchants are feeling the recession too, and I think more of them are starting to wise up and following acceptance guidelines more carefully after they get burned a time or two. Sooner or later somebody’s going to give you a hassle, and they’ll be right to do so.

19

If you want to put “ask for ID” on the back, go for it. If nobody hassles you over that or leaving the back blank, more power to you.

But if you do get hassled for either one, they are in the right, you are in the wrong. Don’t argue with them, either comply or take your business elsewhere.

20

So far, 90+% of the time, when people read “Ask for ID” on the back of my Visa, they proceed with the sale accepting the card. <10% of the time, they will follow directions and ask for ID. 0% of the time have I been hassled for it. I use the card almost as often as my AmEx.