# should you sign the back of your credit cards?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-you-sign-the-back-of-your-credit-cards/44433>\
**Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\
**Created:** [December 7, 2000, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-you-sign-the-back-of-your-credit-cards/44433 "2000-12-07T04:02:12Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\
**Post date:** [December 9, 2000, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-you-sign-the-back-of-your-credit-cards/44433/21 "2000-12-09T16:07:51Z")

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whimsy, you miss the point of the original statement “no one has to accept a credit card in payment.” If I enter into a contract with MasterCard, I may be breaching that contract by refusing to accept a properly tendered MasterCard. However, that’s a dispute between MasterCard and the merchant, not between the merchant and the buyer of the goods or services who has tendered the card. As a purchaser of goods, I don’t have any ‘right’ to pay in any given way. **I** , the person who tenders the card, don’t have a legal right to enforce its acceptance by the merchant.

What I suggest to anyone who doesn’t have a card accepted on signature only is to complain to MasterCard (or VISA), setting for the information about the merchant. This might result in MasterCard reminding said merchant of its contractural obligation to MasterCard.  
Let’s also clear up the difference between the **merchant** requiring that the purchaser tender photo identification, and the **purchaser** asking on the back of the card that the merchant ask for photo identification. In the former case, the merchant may be breaching the contract with MasterCard. In the latter case, the purchaser may be doing something stupid. But the staff report, while incomplete, as shown by the threads referenced by **AmbushBug** , wasn’t _wrong_; this dispute over how to best protect yourself from the possibility of unauthorized use rages unabated in many forums.

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**Author:** ![diamud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@diamud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/diamud)\
**Post date:** [December 12, 2000, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-you-sign-the-back-of-your-credit-cards/44433/22 "2000-12-12T22:11:21Z")

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I always sign the back of my card, if only to prvent a thief from doing so. And just a brief aside, a disability does not preclude proper grammer and punctuation.

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**Author:** ![diamud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@diamud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/diamud)\
**Post date:** [December 12, 2000, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-you-sign-the-back-of-your-credit-cards/44433/23 "2000-12-12T22:17:42Z")

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Disregard that last post, just one of the downfalls of accessing the SD from work. I left for a coffee break and see that “someone” posted a response for me. My apologies, not only does it belittle someone else without cause, but also contains grammAr and spelling errors! Sorry, whimsy.

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