# Showing ID when using your credit card **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 19, 2012, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/showing-id-when-using-your-credit-card/628741 "2012-07-19T16:48:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2012, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/showing-id-when-using-your-credit-card/628741/61 "2012-07-20T20:09:46Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > Wait a freaking second here. The _clerk_ is the jerk. They are wasting _my_ time. > > The single most important thing to remember is that they are _required_ by their contract to not do this. > > It is not within my universe of ethics to assist someone else in breaking the rules. Being an ethical person is non-trivial. If it was easy, far few people would have problems being ethical. Paying attention to the “inconsequential” things is how to be a better person. > > A person obeying the rules cannot conceivably be in the wrong here. We still don’t know why he was asked for an ID. Was every person asked for an ID for every credit card transaction or just him? Yes, if every person was asked for an ID as part of taking a credit card, yes, that’s a problem, but if it was just him, maybe there was an issue like an illegible signature or the clerk didn’t feel they matched up or some other unforeseen reason. ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2012, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/showing-id-when-using-your-credit-card/628741/62 "2012-07-20T20:33:11Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > Wait a freaking second here. The _clerk_ is the jerk. They are wasting _my_ time. > > The single most important thing to remember is that they are _required_ by their contract to not do this. > > It is not within my universe of ethics to assist someone else in breaking the rules. Being an ethical person is non-trivial. If it was easy, far few people would have problems being ethical. Paying attention to the “inconsequential” things is how to be a better person. > > A person obeying the rules cannot conceivably be in the wrong here. You’ve gotta be punking me. ---
**Author:** ![Moonlitherial](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4bbf92/32.png) [@Moonlitherial](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moonlitherial)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2012, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/showing-id-when-using-your-credit-card/628741/63 "2012-07-20T20:40:24Z")
I voted Meh. I’ve never been asked for ID in Canada but I quickly learned that when travelling in the US I keep my DL with my CC and pull them both out together. No one ever looks closely enough at the picture for it to help anyway and if someone had stolen my purse they would have both so I just consider it security theatre and don’t worry about it. It’s really no more difficult to pull out two cards than one. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Feldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lord_feldon/32/341_2.png) [@Lord\_Feldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Feldon)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2012, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/showing-id-when-using-your-credit-card/628741/64 "2012-07-20T21:13:43Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > I don’t see anything in the agreement about the cardholder being allowed to decline showing an ID when asked. It doesn’t say much about what to do in the situation when a cardholder doesn’t have or refuses to show an ID. We know what they can’t do, though, because it says explicitly that showing ID can’t be a “condition of acceptance.” ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2012, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/showing-id-when-using-your-credit-card/628741/65 "2012-07-20T21:40:32Z")
> [@Lord\_Feldon](#): > > We know what they can’t do, though, because it says explicitly that showing ID can’t be a “condition of acceptance.” Where does it say that? There’s actually specific conditions in which the merchant is _required_ to ask for an ID in order to accept the card for payment (specifically, when it’s unsigned). ETA I’m guessing what you meant was that they can’t require an ID to take a credit card. But that still get’s back to my question about the movie theater thing. Was the cashier asking every single person that had a CC for an ID, or just him? That makes a huge difference. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Feldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lord_feldon/32/341_2.png) [@Lord\_Feldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Feldon)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2012, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/showing-id-when-using-your-credit-card/628741/66 "2012-07-20T22:37:25Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > I’m guessing what you meant was that they can’t require an ID to take a credit card. But that still get’s back to my question about the movie theater thing. Was the cashier asking every single person that had a CC for an ID, or just him? That makes a huge difference. What makes a huge difference is that _asking_ for ID isn’t the same as _requiring_ ID. Visa allows merchants to _ask_ for ID, but in the same sentence says that they cannot make showing ID a condition of acceptance (if the card is signed, obviously). ETA: I think one of the companies actually even bans asking for ID. Mastercard maybe, or one of the ones nobody cares about. ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2012, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/showing-id-when-using-your-credit-card/628741/67 "2012-07-21T04:05:43Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > Okay, but you realize that some of us who have credit cards only use them as a convenient way to pay for things that we already have enough money in the bank to cover—and no more impulsively than any other kind of payment. > [@Blaster\_Master](#): > > This is how I use my credit card. I make almost all my purchases with it and I pay it off at the end of each month. As a result, it costs me no interest… I do the same thing. Plus I get cash back from my card. ---
**Author:** ![Mr\_Downtown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Mr\_Downtown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Downtown)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2012, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/showing-id-when-using-your-credit-card/628741/68 "2012-07-21T04:33:53Z")
Many merchants now ask for photo ID with **any** charge card purchase, and that’s the phenomenon we’re discussing here (not the self-imposed _see ID_ silliness). In my experience, this varies by geographic area. I notice I’m asked at almost every merchant in the Dallas/Ft Worth Metroplex, while at home in Chicago only about a quarter of the time. It’s always presented as a store policy, required of every customer presenting a charge or credit card. Why do I resist? Because it’s an inconvenience to me \*that is not allowed \*under terms of the contract the merchant signed. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/showing-id-when-using-your-credit-card/628741.md?page=3)