# Sign Paper Only For Credit Cards

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sign-paper-only-for-credit-cards/571217>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [February 13, 2011, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sign-paper-only-for-credit-cards/571217 "2011-02-13T16:31:51Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Alan\_Smithee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/2acd7d/32.png) [@Alan\_Smithee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alan_Smithee)\
**Post date:** [February 15, 2011, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sign-paper-only-for-credit-cards/571217/21 "2011-02-15T23:22:28Z")

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I don’t see why chip-and-pin is better. I’m pretty sure I have the option of entering a PIN instead of signing (at least I know I do with my debit card, which is mostly all I use) but it’s easier to just sign my name. I also don’t see what having the data on a chip instead of a magnetic stripe does. It probably makes it a little more secure, but I don’t think recoded magnetic stripes are a major problem in bank fraud.

I suspect that, like having your picture on the card like one bank started doing ten years ago or so, moving to chip-and-pin is just security theater to make customers and retailers feel more secure about using a card. We’re pretty comfortable with that here already.

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**Author:** ![Jamaika\_a\_jamaikaiake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7993a0/32.png) [@Jamaika\_a\_jamaikaiake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jamaika_a_jamaikaiake)\
**Post date:** [February 16, 2011, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sign-paper-only-for-credit-cards/571217/22 "2011-02-16T01:32:56Z")

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> [@Daylate](#):
>
> One of these days I’m going to give in to temptation and start signing the machine with names like Adolph Hitler, Kin Il Jung, Josip Broz, and the like. I’ll bet it won’t ever be noticed.

I try to sign with the name of a politician of the place I am in. “Jerimiah T Heally” if I’m in Jersey City, “Mayor Bloomberg” if I’m in NYC, “Joe Arpaio” if I’m in Arizona…

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